Unglue.it, started by Eric Hellman of Gluejar, is a publisher and distributor that provides a different model of e-book distribution service to libraries. With the goal of “making e-books free,” Unglue.it authors release their titles under Creative Commons licenses; crowdfunding supports the creation of the books. This way, authors get compensated. Libraries encourage their patrons to participate in crowdfunding books as well.

It’s clear from these examples that, though the rapid proliferation of publishing startups has died down, entrepreneurs still have creative ideas about how to create, publish, and distribute all kinds of books to all kinds of readers.