From: Frances Pinter <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 18:07:49 +0100

You are correct Sandy, the KU Title Fee is the 'getting to first copy
cost' including overheads. These were set by publishers and range from
$7,000 to $17,000. I think where there is on-going confusion is to
conflate what you call the 'full cost of publishing' with discussions
around fixed vs variable costs, cross-subsidisation etc. I believe
your figure of $25,000 is a ‘fully loaded’ cost which varies from
press to press and there is disagreement over what should or should
not be included in this. The study* released by the Mellon Foundation
last week puts a figure similar to yours, calculated on a similar
basis to yours at around $25,000 - $27,000.

*http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/113671/IU%20Michigan%20White%20Paper%2009-15-2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Of course, if publishers only cover their fixed costs then they will
need other ways of making all ends meet for as long as they follow
traditional financial thinking. Book publishing models still stick
stubbornly to a manufacturing model replicating expected income on a
unit-by-unit basis. It would look different if a service model were
adopted.

We still do not have a large enough dataset to know just how well OA
books sell in print and on aggregated platforms with enhanced
functionality, but the signs are good that there will still continue
to be an income stream – even if the mix and prices change. Of course,
print will always have its place as a form of packaging, but if fixed
and variable costs were more transparent it would go a long way to
making OA sustainable.

As Geoff Crossick
(http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/year/2015/monographs/) said,
there is no single model that will work for all monographs. But, could
we come up with better language to help move the discussion further?
My first attempt at defining the $25,000 cost was as follows: It is
the total substitutional amount required by a publisher if they are to
reach and maintain a level of income that eliminates all risk,
preserves their current way of working and reduces the need to think
differently about products and services provided in the future; and it
assumes no further changes in the knowledge infrastructure ecology in
which we all operate. But this isn’t a particularly elegant way of
expressing it.

The AAU/ARL/Mellon model endorses the fully loaded cost and assumes no
further risk to be carried by the publisher. It is commendable in its
goal of reducing the instability of university presses, especially as
institutional subsidies to existing presses contract. The threat this
poses to the dissemination of scholarship is real. However, the
programme, as envisaged now is restricted to North American university
presses and institutions. It still excludes the vast majority of
monographs published by the global community of scholars by presses
outside the AAUP membership (As CEO of Manchester University Press I
have pondered setting up a subsidiary in the US to become eligible as
we have many authors in North America!). One positive impact of the
initiative though would be to reduce the number of monographs
competing for the small amount of money available in the global
system. So, we suspect the KU model and others will be able to sit
happily alongside this initiative.

However, moving on to answer your specific questions please see the
website http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org

A list of each Title Fee for each monograph that is in KU's Round 2
collection can be found in Appendix A of the Round 2 Prospectus:

http://collections.knowledgeunlatched.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Round-2-Prospectus1.pdf

I believe that our library FAQs may help answer your remaining
question about the new service charge:

http://collections.knowledgeunlatched.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Round-2-FAQs.pdf

KU is aiming to be as transparent as possible therefore we appreciate
your interest in the KU model. You may also be interested in hearing
that Penn State University Press is amongst the nineteen university
presses included in the 26 publishers who are participating in the
second round.

Best,

Frances Pinter
__________________
Dr Frances Pinter, HonDLitt (Curtin)
Founder and Executive Director
Knowledge Unlatched

Winner: IFLA/Brill Award for Open Access 2014
Winner: Curtin University Award for Best Innovation in Education 2015