Behind every idea or project is a person. As a person I am largely a conceptual thinker. I like to develop things. Call it my creative streak.Creativity actually seems to run in my family. A few years ago, while reconstructing my pedigree chart and at the same time compiling a small book on the diary the artist Albrecht Dürer made of his travels to the Netherlands in 1520-1521, I ironically discovered that one of my ancestors was the famous Renaissance artist Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533), of whom Dürer made a portrait in Antwerp. Suddenly one of my distant ancestors got a face, and a famous one!
Fair use policy and copyright control
Albrecht Dürer was an interesting person. Not only was he the first artist to make prints in large editions, sometimes compiled into a book, his diary shows clearly how he consciously maintained his personal network to widen his circle of potential buyers. Giving ‘freebies’, from individual prints to his immense Große Passion Christi, was part of his marketing strategy.
Dürer was also the first artist to consciously claim and exploit his copyright on his work. He used what we now would call a fair use policy. While retaining full control over his copyright, he had agents who sold his work while he was on tour and who received a fair share in return.
Dürer, in short, nicely fits the picture of the contemporary author, who has become increasingly fed up with the monopoly of the print publishing industry and who wants to regain or retain control over his authorship.
Democratic values in publishing
Dürer’s self-awareness was a product of a new time, formed by the new humanistic concepts circulating within his close circle of contacts. Humanism forms the basis of our modern democratic society, based on equality, mutual respect and a fair share for everyone.
These ideas in turn form the basis of Bax Book Store and of the two partners, who have joined forces to realize Bax Book Store: myself and Sjoerd van Essen, marketing specialist at DX Media and also a conceptual thinker.By stressing fair use and shared values Bax Book Store offers creators of digital content an alternative to the existing monopolies of traditional publishing companies. Instead of being merely merchandise hidden in an online shop, content creators can be in the driver’s seat by partnering with us.
How?
Bax Book Store platform
Bax Book Store provides an international platform for publishers, writers and artists to publish their works digitally as an e-book, video or photo. It also offers authors and publishers the possibility to publish their books through so-called ‘private labels’: your own special section on the store, as an extension of your existing brand or in the look and feel you want it to have.
Next to new books, which are only available digitally and which will increasingly consist of interactive productions, the store also offers books which have stood the test of time because of their intrinsic quality. Declared dead, as of no commercial use to the original publisher, these books are now given a second life in digital format at Bax Book Store, thus offering inspirational value to a new audience.
Fair deals, shared values, joint effort
In short: We at Bax Book Store believe in a fair deal and a joint effort to bring content to the targeted audience, fully respecting the intellectual property of the (co-)creators. We don't review books and we don't judge the makers. That's up to the customers.
If you want to publish in our store we only ask you three questions:
Do you share our values?
Do you want to share your audience with the others?
Does your publication fit in?
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