This FAQ is meant to deal with questions relating to licensing and money. Enter at your peril…

How are TorrentBoy products licensed? All TorrentBoy products are released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike license, which means they can be copied and traded and remixed, so long as you do not attempt to charge money for them, and always credit the original author.

So I can print out a copy of a book and give it to my friend? Certainly! However, we’d appreciate it if you would ask them to buy a copy instead, because the more people that see TorrentBoy in its final, polished state, the better chance we have of making it a success. That said, there’s no legal reason not to print out a copy (though you can’t sell it, obviously).

Why can’t I sell the TorrentBoy stuff I make? We restrict the sale of TorrentBoy merchandise for several reasons, but the primary one is quality control. If we didn’t control what could appear for sale, it would be easy for our brand to be damaged. Also, we want to avoid flooding the market with too many variations on the theme at once. The best way to avoid these issues is to restrict the sale of products. They can still exist, but they can’t be sold.

Who decides what gets its license upgraded? Currently, the decisions are made by MCM, creator of TorrentBoy. Ideally, the decision-making process will eventually be taken over by a panel of objective community members.

How do you decide what gets upgraded? Decisions are based on the marketability of a product, which can take into account many factors such as quality of the work, “hook” for the reader/viewer, and how it fits into the overall sales pitch for the concept. In other words, things that fit easily are more likely to be upgraded (but that does not preclude other works from being upgraded as well).

My idea was great and hasn’t been upgraded! There are many reasons this could have happened: your end product wasn’t at the level that we need, or the execution felt wrong, or it just didn’t fit. If that’s the case, put in a request in the Help Me thread to see if someone can give you some tips on improving your work.

If I branch the concept, does that mean I will never get my license upgraded? Depending on the situation, it’s less likely. If we get enough critical mass behind a branch, we may do a branded branch in addition to our principle one, but it’s not a certainty.

If my license is upgraded, does that mean derivative works can sell their products too? No, the permission to sell is restricted only to you. Derivative works need to be upgraded separately.