The Origami Forum

New designer here...

I know many people want to make money off of their designs. I don't. I'd just be happy to get as many people folding my designs as possible.

I'd like to release diagrams I create under a creative commons (with attribution) license. However, if I were to do that, would it affect my chances of getting those designs published in convention books or other compendia?

It depends. Some Origami Societies are happy to publish diagrams that have been published on the internet before, others prefer new diagrams. It is also common that diagrams first get published in several convention books and after some time has gone by, lets say a year or so, get published on the internet as well.

So if you have several designs, I would keep some to send to Origami Societies for their Convention books and publish the rest. If you have one or more new unpublished diagrams that you don't plan to put online or publish elsewhere before February, you could also send them in for the Christmas Origami Book.

Thanks!

I once write a blog article called Posting vs. Publishing. It might help you make up your mind.

As of the particular case of Creative Commons license I don't know what convention book editors think. If I were you I would ask a bit more about the licenses through the Creative Common contact form in the official website and I would ask directly to editors of convention books.

I'm curious what is it exactly that you want to protect through the CC license? I'm wondering if it isn't just enough with the copyright for your work. I would love to know your answer

It's useful to note that the Creative Commons licenses don't add more protections, they promote sharing while one retains copyright. That's why, for many of us, routine copyright alone--which still applies-- is insufficient for our desire to not just share work, but make it easy for others to share and make use of it themselves. It adds clarity.

fncll stated my reasoning. I want to make it easy for anyone to share it.

Most commercial publishers in the United States don't want work that has been previously published at all; I don't think the licensing really makes a big difference. But I wouldn't worry about it when you're just starting out-- go ahead and make diagrams, send them around, get feedback. Especially in your first couple years of designing, seeking out criticism (and if you don't agree with the criticism, figuring out why you're right) is a really great way to improve. You can worry about pulling together enough material for a book later.