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How do I download something?

  • You can download free comic books, e-books, magazines, artworks and other digital content without an account, simply by clicking the "Download" button on the product page. Once you set up an account on LM you will be able to both purchase digital content, as well as upload your own work to Literate Machine.
  • Click on the "Buy" button and your purchases will be added to your Shopping Cart. When you are done shopping just click on "Checkout" in Shopping Cart and follow the instructions. Once your purchase is completed it will be added to Your Library where it will be available for download without re-purchasing for as long as the creator offers it.

Do creators retain copyrights to the work they publish on Literate Machine?

  • Creators retain all copyrights to their work. Answers to questions about copyrights and the rights and protections provided in the United States can be found at http://www.copyright.gov/ Copyrights in other countries are governed by the applicable laws in those countries.

DRM

  • We do not provide any DRM or similar copy protection. Creators may upload their work in any digital format that they like. If the creator has any DRM or form of protection that they wish to apply to their own documents, they are free to do so.

What stops someone from stealing my work?

  • No method of software based DRM technology has proven to be foolproof, and often serves to frustrate honest consumers more than to curtail the activity of those who wish to obtain something without paying for it. We believe that the majority of people are willing to pay for and support the hard work of creators, especially when presented with an affordable and convenient option. That being said, creators are free to utilize any DRM they choose on their products.

What is the minimum I can charge for my work on Literate Machine?

  • You can offer anything for free as a download at Literate machine, but $1.00 is the minimum you can charge for a purchase. The maximum is up to you.

How much money do I get when I sell products and when do I get it?

  • Literate Machine takes 20% plus $0.30 of every transaction. Our portion also helps cover the cost of the credit card transactions themselves,as well as the cost of maintaining the site. So if you charge $5.00 for a product and someone purchases it, you get $3.70 and we get $1.30.
  • Payments will be mailed to you as checks each time the the total owed you reaches $20.

Do you accept payments by PayPal?

  • We currently only accept payments through PayPal. Payments can be made with credit cards or from a PayPal account.

Do you accept international payments?

  • We accept international payments by credit card via PayPal, as well as from a PayPal account.

Do you require exclusivity?

  • We do not require exclusivity of any kind. You can put your work up here while also having it up anywhere else you'd like.

What digital formats do you suggest for books?

  • PDF is the most common format for downloadable books and magazines.
  • For comic books/graphic novels and similar media .CBZ and .CBR formats are common, as well as the PDF format.

How do I read a book or comic I purchase on my computer?

How do I make a digital comic book?

There are many different methods of creating digital comic books. One process for transferring a traditional paper comic into digital form is:

  • Use a scanner to scan a page. 72dpi is about the minimum for clearly viewing a page on an average computer screen, but a setting of 150dpi is usual. You may want to scan your images at a higher resolution than you will use in the final collection to aid in the cleanup and editing of your pages.
  • Make sure that your scans are legible and are not distorted, blurry, or have artifacts added to them by a dirty or malfunctioning scanner.
  • An image manipulation program such as Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or Gimp will come in handy at this point for editing your work, but achieving clean, uniform initial scans is most important for preparing your comic book for digital display.
  • Clean up your pages. Make sure that the pages are uniformly cropped and aligned correctly.
  • Check that the brightness, contrast, and colors of the pages are uniform.
  • When you are finish editing a page save it into a folder as either a .jpg or a .png file. The pages need to be arranged with some sort of uniform sequential naming and numbering system. For example:
    00_MyComic_AwesomeCover
    MyComic 001
    MyComic 002
    Or
    (MyCompany}Mycomic_v01_p000.png
    (MyCompany}Mycomic_v01_p001.png
    (MyCompany}Mycomic_v01_p001.png
    . ect.
  • When you are done saving into a folder archive or compressing the files into a .zip or .rar file you rename the file extension to turn it into a Comic Book Archive file.
  • If you have a .zip file the extension should be renamed .cbz.
  • An .rar file extension should be renamed to .cbr.
  • Test the new file with an image viewer to make sure it is working correctly. If there are any problems you can change your Comic Book Archive file back into a regular archive by changing the extension name to its original (.cbr back to .rar, .cbz back to .zip) and uncompressing it.

Can I upload fan translations?

  • Literate Machine believes in respecting the rights of creators. Only work submitted by creators or their authorized publishers or agents are allowed. Fan translations and scanlations and other unauthorized re-publishing are not accepted on Literate Machine, and any suspected fan translations and/or scanlations will be removed from the site when discovered.

Can I upload Public Domain works?

  • Because we cannot review the public domain status of everything that could be uploaded to the site, as well as the laws regarding what is in the public domain differing from country to country, Literate Machine will most likely remove any questionable works unless it is supplied with a statement from the creator allowing it to uploaded to the site. Uploading a public domain work for profit will not be allowed.

Can I upload pornographic work?

  • Currently, we are allowing "R"-rated work, as long as it's clear in the product description that the work is intended for a mature audience. "X"-rated work is not permitted. In the future we may create a separate adult section for this kind of material.