# Create and share books

> Separate shared curriculum from class delivery, choose edit permissions, and plan distribution.

Source: https://www.curacourse.com/help/reusable-books

## Books and courses serve different jobs
A **book** holds shared instructional material for an organization. A **course** delivers that material to an enrolled class. Students enroll in courses, not books. This lets an author develop shared curriculum without rebuilding a separate copy for every class from scratch.

## Create a book in your organization
Open your organization’s **Library**, then create a book. Choose the organization, title, description, and license. Book creation requires the appropriate organization role; if no organization is available, ask its administrator to check your permissions.

## Choose editing permissions deliberately
**Editable** and **Locked** licenses determine how adopted material can be customized. These are product editing permissions, not a substitute for a copyright or commercial licensing agreement. Confirm your rights to text, media, and third-party material before distributing it.

## Author and publish the material
Organize the book’s pages, add your explanations and activity blocks, and publish ready pages. Shared code files have their own **Publish library** action in book settings; adopted courses use the published library version.

## Adopt the book into a course
When creating a course, select books available to your organization. The course can use published material from those books. Follow [first-course setup](https://www.curacourse.com/help/create-a-course), then [publish and share](https://www.curacourse.com/help/publish-and-share) for class access. When a book changes, review the linked-page update behavior before changing an active class.

## Organization sharing and public distribution
New books are created for the organization. Public Bookstore listing is currently administered by CuraCourse; creating a book does not automatically list it publicly. For public distribution, commercial licensing, or a publisher arrangement, [discuss your curriculum with us](https://www.curacourse.com/contact?topic=curriculum). No existing online audience is required to author material for your own courses.