From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2015 19:52:23 -0700

Sandy, I published a three-volume work with Oxford Press in 1992; in
1995, the editor apologetically told me that though they had sold it
out twice, they had decided not to paperback it.  I said, oh, no, no,
that's just fine, really, and took back my rights.  I then had the
material digitized and placed upon the web for completely free access
to all:  http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/conf/      This gave me the
ability to disseminate a highly technical and useful body of material
to a far wider audience, which was able to use it in teaching and
research to a far greater extent than was possible when no institution
had more than one or two hardback sets.

Since that time Oxford has reprinted, with *my* permission, the whole
thing twice; once in about 2000-2002 in a discount hardcover reprint
with limited run by "Sandpiper"; and then in 2012 they decided to go
ahead and paperback it, where it remains in print for about 1/2 the
nominal dollar price of the original hardcover.  The web freeware
version and the later for-sale hard copy versions seem to get along
nicely.

Just saying, there are things that an author can imagine doing with
their work that the original publisher can't or won't.

Jim O'Donnell
ASU


On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 4:06 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2015 20:09:54 -0500
>
> Doesn't this beg the question of why any publisher these days would
> ever want to cease keeping a book available via POD indefinitely?
> Since POD has made keeping a book available virtually cost-free, the
> "out of print" clause in publishing contracts has ceased to have much
> meaning.  Under special circumstances, where an author has an
> opportunity to revive a book for a new audience and finds a publisher
> willing to do extra marketing, redesign the jacket, etc., retrieving
> rights may make sense, but this rarely happens for academic books.
>
> Sandy Thatcher
>
>
> From: Ann Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sat, Apr 11, 2015 at 7:07 PM
>
> http://www.authorsalliance.org/2015/04/09/keeping-your-books-available/
>
> "Today, Authors Alliance releases Understanding Rights Reversion:
> When, Why, & How to Regain Copyright and Make Your Book More
> Available, a guide that arms authors with the information and
> strategies they need to revive their books. This guide is the product
> of extensive outreach to the publishing industry. In the process, we
> interviewed authors, publishers, and literary agents, ranging from a
> CEO of a major publishing house to contracts and rights managers of
> trade and academic presses, editorial assistants, novelists, and
> academic authors.
>
> "We were happily surprised by the consistency of publishers'
> responses: across the board, publishers told us that they want to work
> together with their authors and that they are often willing to give
> authors their rights back if its in the books' best interests.
> Publishers share the desire to "do the right thing" by books that
> would otherwise languish out of print. Time and again, we received a
> warm reception from the publishers, authors, and agents that we spoke
> with during our outreach, all of whom saw the value in a guide that
> would help authors keep their works available to readers."
>
> *******