The first Pay What You Want eBookstore that helps passionate activists gain useful knowledge, be more effective and have a real impact on the world we live in.
Our goal is to create a community that shares knowledge, experience and important values that can lead to effective activism. We want to support authors that write about change, our social or environmental impact and share personal stories that can inspire and help us to reach important goals. We also want to provide readers with a liberating shopping experience: downloading a whole eBook first and Paying What They Want for it after reading. Both readers and authors are welcome to share their opinions on free, personal blogs. We also allow copying and sharing eBook files to help authors reach a wider audience and get more support.
We do all of this with one goal in mind: do the most good we can do - a simple message of effective altruism that made us change how we see publishing and the role of books in our lives.
What is an open book?
OPEN DOWNLOAD
Readers can download whole eBook & pay after reading
OPEN TO CONTRIBUTIONS
OpenBooks.com takes only 30% of net revenue in order to run our service, so the majority of a reader’s payment goes straight to the writer.
OPEN SHARING
Readers can copy eBook files & share them with no limits.
OPEN FINANCES
Readers always know how much money goes directly to the author and publisher.
OPEN TO YOU
You can rate and review our books as well as write your own blog.
OPEN PUBLISHING
Authors keep all rights to their books.
OPEN PRICING SYSTEM
Readers can pay the price recommended by the author or pay what they want.
OPEN TO THE LESS FORTUNATE
The more readers pay for a book, the more chance it’ll stay open and available for those who can’t afford to pay much or can’t pay at all.
Books are powerful tools that can make a real difference. Start with downloading one or a few (PDF, MOBI, EPUB) to find relevant content.
Pay It Forward
Have you read something that pushed you toward an important change in your life? Maybe you’ve found an uplifting story that helped you with your everyday routine? Share it with friends, copy eBook files and enjoy real freedom in sharing stories.
Say Thanks
To say thank you to the author, use the links embedded in the eBook to Pay What You Want. Let talented writers know that they can count on your appreciation and support.
Join the community
Are you a passionate activist, volunteer, writer? Create your own blog and share your story. Let’s build a place where we can learn from our failures and successes.
Having cofounded the highly successful game series 'The Witcher' and GOG.com (the world's second largest independent platform for game distribution), he has proven that he can turn even the most outrageous ideas into reality.
Project manager
Professional philosopher, book-geek blogger, writer. Big supporter of true talents. Her passion for ethics makes her devoted to bringing strong moral values back to the publishing market.
Ula
Cto, co-founder
15 years experience in developing flawless products. Involved in creating forward-thinking customer technology in the gaming industry. Brings the progressive concept of OpenBooks.com from the drawing board to the Web.
Tomek
PR/Marketing
Specialist in promoting new ideas and NGOs. Passionate traveler and blogger. In her free time she hangs upside down on a climbing wall, builds schools in Nepal or teeters on a slacklinie.
Martyna
Developer
Front-end developer in love with Javascript. Not afraid of challenges - often leaves his comfort zone to face unknown technologies. After nearly a decade of work with online projects, little surprises him. He likes tofu.
Kuba
Developer
Software engineer with 5 years of experience in US startups. Passionate about fantasy, s-f, computer and board games. Too lazy to provide poor quality. Champion of sarcastic retort.
Jan
Developer
Self-taught programmer. 10 years of finance and banking convinced her to learn RoR and become an 'IT specialist'. She loves riding around on her scooter.
Maria
Writer & Blogger
Life-lover, talented writer, dedicated motorcyclist. Elvish soul in a hobbit body. Firm believer in the power of sharing. Admires the power of social media at the same time as being annoyed by it.
"OpenBooks.com has a radical idea: read a book and then pay what you think it is worth. That means that you can get away with paying nothing for it, because no one can tell what you really think of the book. But will many people do that? Or are most people decent enough to pay a fair price for a book they get something from? In a way, OpenBooks.com is conducting an intriguing experiment in ethics. The rights for all my books are, at the moment, already sold, but I hope one day to have a book I can give to OpenBooks.com, so that we can carry out such an experiment."
"As a booklover myself, I’ve often wanted to recommend books to friends, but until now you could only send a link to purchase the book. Some call it progress, but I actually think it’s a regress. The OpenBooks.com lets you directly share the books you love easily and quickly, whilst also supporting the authors too. It’s a back to basics approach that utilises modern technology to reignite a passion for reading that’s been overshadowed by large corporate publishing machines that simply don’t put the interests of readers or authors first."
"As a professional writer, I am all for changes in book distribution...I believe that people are more generous these days, and prepared to pay for what they really like. I have been working closely with a young woman friend of mine who runs a cancer research charity shop and I have seen how generous people can be."
"We at Panoma Press are excited about the new transactional model created by OpenBooks.com. Readers will love being able to download the books they want to read, and pay what they feel that book was worth. As a publisher that is always innovating, we like to support partners who offer innovative solutions. Well done, OpenBooks.com!"
"I see some really great authors on OpenBooks.com and am proud to be in their company... I think through indie publishing and OpenBooks.com you will find much more purity of work, perhaps less polished, but more diverse and honest. Plus, you will get a direct connection between readers and writers that you might never have imagined through a more traditional model."
"Working with OpenBooks.com is very satifying and can be challenging as well. I can illustrate classic books and new releases, and I have to step out of my comfort zone and work on something different to what I’m used to. I’m happy to work for a bookstore that’s caught the modern vibe, allows clients to set the price after reading and cares about authors and artists."
Contact Us
If you want to help with our project or have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at: ula@openbooks.com
