[FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

[Tom Johnson]

And who among us will hire the lawyers to press this case?
T

On Sun, Jul 5, 2020, 10:11 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh by the way,  if I remember correctly, one of the fundamental
> obligations of a publisher is to defend infringements of copyright.  Thus,
> if they fail in this obligation, copyright, FWIW, reverts to the author,
> no?
>
>
>
> 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 *Edward Angel
> *Sent:* Sunday, July 5, 2020 5:48 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed
>
>
>
> Thanks but the story is more complex.
>
>
>
> What transpired is in retrospect somewhat amusing. I received an email
> from someone at a university that was using the book asking if I knew there
> was a ps file on the web of the whole book. I checked it out, contacted the
> instructor who had it taken down. I had no idea how anyone had obtained a
> perfect copy of the book. Even during copyediting, I never was given access
> to a final ps version with even the typesetting marks. My editor started a
> big investigation at Pearson to see who had violated security during
> production only to find out after weeks that the people at Pearson who
> dealt with accessibility issues were sending out the file to every school
> that adopted the book (at the time around 200 just in the US).
>
>
>
> What is odd to me is that the last time I checked libgen.io, which was a
> while ago, the version there was not a ps version put a pdf in which you
> could use the TOC interactively so I figured it was the kindle version
> which my editor, who had become somewhat expert at this, showed me how easy
> it is to get the kindle version. Apparently what is the the situation now
> is that the ps version is libgen.is so someone else must have uploaded it.
>
>
>
> The material on the Indian decision on respect to fair use was very
> interesting. I was familiar with the fair use policies in the U.S. and the
> U.K. In spirit, they are the same. However, the problem is not fair use but
> with sites like libgen, where anyone can upload a file irrespective of
> copyright or ownership  That file is then available worldwide to everyone.
> Consequently, the holders of the copyright have no protection at all other
> than some people having ethical issues with libgen. Sadly, I find many of
> my colleagues and students do not see this as an ethical issue.
>
>
>
> Ed
>
>
>
> _______________________
>
>
> Ed Angel
>
> Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory
> (ARTS Lab)
> Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico
>
> 1017 Sierra Pinon
>
> Santa Fe, NM 87501
> 505-984-0136 (home)                         angel at cs.unm.edu
>
> 505-453-4944 (cell)
> http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel
>
>
>
> On Jul 5, 2020, at 4:14 PM, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Edward
>
> The PDF of the 7th edition of your book being widely circulated was very
> likely not generated from its Kindle version, but from the Postscript
> version used to print your book. It was generated using Adobe Distiller 7+
> for a Macintosh. Must have been cloned from one of those unwatermarked
> copies dished out by your publisher's marketing team to "potential"
> customers.
>
>
>
> Sarbajit
>
> On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 2:52 AM Edward Angel <angel at cs.unm.edu> wrote:
>
> I’ve been a book author since 1972 and a textbook author since 1989. My
> computer graphics textbook has been the most popular book in the area for
> 20 years and just came out in its eighth edition with various editions
> being available in Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian. Sadly, the book
> business has changed over that time; changed in way that is bad for almost
> everyone, especially authors. I think you’re faced with a lot of bad
> choices. I hope some of the following will prove helpful. And if not
> helpful, at least interesting.
>
>
>
> Before I forget, you might enjoy reading of my adventures writing the
> first edition of my present textbook while on sabbatical in Venezuela,
> Ecuador, Hong Kong and Nepal. There’s a pointer to it on my home page
> www.cs.unm.edu/~angel
>
>
>
> When I had to pick a publisher, I knew the editors and  local book reps at
> Academic Press, Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall and Benjamin/Cummings. They
> dominated the CS field and did so largely because they had editors who knew
> the field, excellent book reps who knew the needs of the faculty and
> students, a willingness to invest in a book, and in-house production. None
> of these exist anymore and, as Tom pointed out, you're largely on your own.
> It’s unfortunate if you care about how many copies get sold and your
> royalties. I have many friends who self-published in the past. It’s a lot
> of work either way but I prefer to put my effort into content and not
> type-setting or marketing. None of my self-published friends have ever sold
> many books.
>
>
>
> I had three excellent editors over 20 years. When I did my first edition,
> my editor hired a development editor at great expense to improve the
> quality of my writing. She worked with the CS faculty and grad students at
> Caltech and Stanford. It made a huge difference. Now almost none of these
> jobs exist within the publishers. All production is contracted out to the
> low bidders (art, typesetting, copy editing, etc) most of whom are in
> India. I no longer have an editor. There is one person working for the
> publusher with whom I communicate with to try to get things done correctly
> with the contractors. This last edition has been a long painful experience.
>
>
>
> So what happened? Books were always expensive for students, especially
> when sold through college bookstores. Then used book sellers appeared and
> Asian students started importing low cost Asian versions of the standard
> textbooks. Under US copyright laws, both are legal. The publishers
> responded by upping prices which reduced sales even more.
>
>
>
> And then came electronic media. At first, my book, like most others, was
> still print-only. But the publisher sent perfect unwatermarked pdfs to all
> the schools what adopted the book for use by students with special needs.
> Wasn’t long before those pdfs made it to the Web. Then they had a
> electronic version and a kindle version that students could rent for a
> semester or year. The publisher, the largest in the business, was clueless
> about web security and had no idea that Kindles are not secure. Very
> quickly, the book appeared (with most of the other cs texts and various
> best sellers) on a Russian website as a “public service.” End of paid sales.
>
>
>
> The new edition is only available in electronic form and the publisher
> claims it is only available on a secure site. I doubt anyone on this list
> believes that.
>
>
>
> Although I never in the past had issues with the publisher having the
> copyright, which was pretty standard, I wish I had it now. Since there is
> no hope of making significant royalties now (we used), my coauthor and I
> would like to put the book out for free on our websites rather than having
> it appear on various illegal Russian sites known to most students.
>
>
>
> Personally, I no longer care about royalties but the long term issue I
> worry about is why would any young person write a textbook. It’s a huge
> amount of work and usually not something that in the academic world is
> valued as highly as research papers and grant funding.
>
>
>
> Ed
>
> _______________________
>
>
> Ed Angel
>
> Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory
> (ARTS Lab)
> Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico
>
> 1017 Sierra Pinon
>
> Santa Fe, NM 87501
> 505-984-0136 (home)   angel at cs.unm.edu
>
> 505-453-4944 (cell)  http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel
>
>
>
> On 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 <http://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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