[FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Tom Johnson tom at jtjohnson.com
Sun Jul 5 17:13:18 EDT 2020


Nick: The advantage of being in a journalism dept. was that I got battle
ribbons for publishing in the non-academic publications that also paid me
for that work.  Hell, they even paid expenses.  A semi-double-dipping, one
would think.  Though I did publish in a few academic journals, usually upon
invitation, that was never my main focus.
Tom

============================================
Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
*NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
*Check out It's The People's Data
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On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 3:07 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, Tom, I take that to be a rhetorical question.
>
>
>
> However, in my experience, no publisher has ever failed to give me back a
> copyright when I asked for it, so I have never had to put the concept to
> the test.
>
>
>
> If you ask me to express my honest feelings in the matter I would say that
> I was overwhelmingly lucky to be paid by my university to write, and to the
> extent that that writing brought me income beyond my salary, I was doubly
> and unreasonably blessed.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Tom Johnson
> *Sent:* Sunday, July 5, 2020 3:01 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed
>
>
>
> Nick: How and who is going to define "no longer promotes it."?
>
> t
>
>
> ============================================
> Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
> Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
> 505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
> *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
> *Check out It's The People's Data
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>*
>
>
> ============================================
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 2:46 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> At the very list, the contract should explicitly say that rights revert to
> the author when the publisher no longer maintains the book in print and
> promotes it.  I often edited my magazine contracts to give only first
> rights.  I agree with Tom, that copyright should stay with the author.
>
>
>
> N
>
>
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Tom Johnson
> *Sent:* Saturday, July 4, 2020 2:32 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed
>
>
>
> Another advantage of self-publishing is that you retain the copyright.
> Ergo, you can license it to a publisher for an updated edition or just
> distribution.
>
> Tom
>
>
> ============================================
> Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
> Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
> 505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
> *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
> *Check out It's The People's Data
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>*
>
>
> ============================================
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 2:25 PM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net> wrote:
>
> Thanks. Yes, self-publishing is an option. I am looking for an official
> publisher mainly for one reason, namely that other scientists and
> researchers can cite it, since I still cling to the illusion that someone
> would actually do it. Normally self-published texts are not considered as
> reliable or trustworthy sources. I didn't expect that finding a decent
> publisher would be so difficult.
>
>
>
> -J.
>
>
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
>
> From: Tom Johnson <tom at jtjohnson.com>
>
> Date: 7/4/20 20:10 (GMT+01:00)
>
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
>
>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed
>
>
>
> Jochen:
>
> The deal being offered strikes me as a bad deal.
>
>
>
> Background:  I have been practicing and teaching about "Be Your Own
> Publisher" for nearly 15 years.  There are, in my opinion, some major
> problems with all publishers today.  It starts with control of the
> copyright.  I think YOU should want to maintain control of the copyright to
> your work.  It will depend on the contract, but many or most publishers
> will try to lock down the copyright in their favor for all -- ALL -- forms
> of your work in perpetuity and throughout the universe.  Sometimes quite
> literally.
>
>
>
> Second, you should assume -- especially with a small publisher and you,
> not being as well known  as Stephen King or Daniel Steele  -- the publisher
> will do little if anything to promote your book beyond a mention in its
> catalog and, maybe, some promotional links on Amazon.  Given that, a 5
> percent royalty should be seen as a con.
>
>
>
> Third, given your computing experience, you should find it easy to format
> and produce the book yourself.  I have used Lulu.com for years.  It is
> especially good if you want to have both hardback, paperback and PDF
> editions.  Again the advantages: you keep the copyright, you can set (and
> change) the prices and to a degree the royalties.  Also, Lulu and Amazon
> handle all the backend financial arrangements and administration and pay
> directly and quickly.  I also use a very good, high quality digital printer
> in Albuquerque for paperback editions.  It is Lithexcel
> <https://lithexcel.com/services/print.html>.  It handles all the printing
> (one copy to any number) quickly, along with all the fulfillment and
> accounting. The folks there will also, for only $25, set up your book in
> the Amazon inventory search engine.  Finally, there is Amazon's
> self-publishing arm
> <https://www.bookbaby.com/free-publishing-guides?utm_campaign=GOOSL31&utm_source=SITELINK&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=sNzCXe5z8_dc%7Cpcrid%7C238281756657%7Cpmt%7Ce%7Cpkw%7Camazon%20book%20publishing%7Cslid%7CcWU1oXIv%7Ctargetids%7Ckwd-362938383597%7Cgroupid%7C48812614458%7C&pgrid=48812614458&ptaid=kwd-362938383597&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnFci42apQ6vWUruvHuYX-FOum9VCF7bx83c_tSMHGoby8yylL_RTMaAjOEEALw_wcB>.
> While Amazon might take a bigger slice, the control over all aspects is in
> your hands.
>
>
>
> Here's the problem/challenge with all of these.  *YOU* have to do the
> marketing/publicity/promotion.  But so what?  If you today sign with any
> publisher of any size you will have to do the same thing.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.  Feel free to contact me with questions.  Also you might
> want to see https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc
>
> Tom
>
>
> ============================================
> Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com
> Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
> 505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
> *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org>
> *Check out It's The People's Data
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>*
>
>
> ============================================
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 1:29 AM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net> wrote:
>
> At one end of the spectrum there are the 5 big commercial publishers
> Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon &
> Schuster. They only publish stuff their agents select to make a lot of
> money. There are also the big academic publishers like OUP, CUP, HUP and
> MIT Press, which preferably publish strictly peer-reviewed content from
> professors at Ivy League universities who made their PhD at the age of 20.
>
>
> At the other end of the spectrum there are "predatory publishers" who
> publish anything you submit as long as you pay enough money for it. Open
> access books can also be very expensive. Publishing an "open access book"
> at De Gruyter for example costs up to 8000 $. You pay for it so that other
> people read it. It is basically some kind of advertising of your own work.
>
>
> For my own new book I finally have an offer from a small publisher in
> Washington D.C. who is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. They are
> really small and offer 5% royalties. Should I accept this offer or wait for
> a better one? It is the only one from more than 25 publishers I have asked,
> and the publishers at the moment are flooded with submissions. :-/
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/novel-writing-during-coronavirus-crisis-outbreak
>
>
>
> -J.
>
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