From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2015 19:21:28 -0500

But of course, Jim, that is exactly how many of the experiments in OA
publishing have worked. The press has mounted the book for OA access
while at the same time providing the opportunity for purchase of a POD
edition. My guess is that having the book on the press's platform may
make it more discoverable than on an individual faculty member's web
site, especially if the press works hard at SEO.

Sandy Thatcher


> 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."
>>
>>  *******