When Joe Moxley first published Writing Commons, an online textbook, the copyright (as is common) was held by his publisher, Pearson. After five years, their ownership of the work ended and the copyright belonged to Moxley again. He realized that he now had a number of interesting options for the future of his work. After considering the different possibilities, he decided to self-publish the book online under a Creative Commons license.

In his article in the new issue of Academe, Moxley uses his experience as a lens to discuss Creative Commons and other forms of open publishing, and the benefits of publishing your work this way.