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News & ArtsMonday, March 23, 2009
Books The Beginning of a Domino Effect?
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 12:37 PM
University of Michigan Press is going digital.
The University of Michigan Press announced that more that at least 50 of the more than 60 monographs they produce each year will now be released in digital form.While a system will be in place for readers to create print-on-demand versions of the individual texts, digital copies will be the main form for the majority of the press' output.
This is huge, and I fully expect a bunch of university presses to follow suit very soon. Especially depressing/honest is this quote:
"I have been increasingly convinced that the business model based on printed monograph was not merely failing but broken," said Phil Pochoda, director of the Michigan press. "Why try to fight your way through this? Why try to remain in territory you know is doomed? Scholarly presses will be primarily digital in a decade. Why not seize the opportunity to do it now?"
2
Oh god, producing monographs is so fucking expensive, especially considering that a Cambridge Univ Press book on 18th century Welsh church construction will sell less than a thousand copies.
This means that graduate students will accumulate libraries not of books, but photocopies. Will big university libraries still purchase physical copies?
This means that graduate students will accumulate libraries not of books, but photocopies. Will big university libraries still purchase physical copies?
3
Digital presses are already at the point where you can't tell the difference between a digital copy and an offset copy. The only thing left is to improve and automate the binding process to the point where anybody can output a book that's indistinguishable from a book made from more traditional processes. Oh wait, some digital presses already can. So what's the difference between a "physical book" and a "photocopy"?
Also, I know this is more the fault of Houghton-Mifflin and McGraw-Hill, but if a physical copy of a textbook costs $150+ what the hell is keeping us from switching to digital copies? I would definitely call that a "broken business model."
Also, I know this is more the fault of Houghton-Mifflin and McGraw-Hill, but if a physical copy of a textbook costs $150+ what the hell is keeping us from switching to digital copies? I would definitely call that a "broken business model."
4
Good. University Press monographs are way overpriced for their content. The ability to take what you need from these types of books and disregard the rest is a step forward.
7
Long overdue. Monographs are a waste of paper and trees, and much more usable digitally by people who actually want or need to read them.
8
It all makes sense, but get ready for Even More Egregious DRM (copy-protection, etc) which will make the ephemeral bits even more so. Barf.
9
Seattle U school of law is beginning a program to develop a method of switching case books to digital format, either giving students e-readers to read the texts the teacher assigns
10
This is totally depressing. One of my academic monographs sells for $95 (though the paperback version is only $15 and has a prettier cover!), another one sells for over a hundred (again, the paperback version sells for less than $20). My upcoming textbook will sell for $50 (in paperback) even though I begged them to keep it below $35 so my own students could afford it. They can't keep this whole system going by selling overpriced hardbound monographs to libraries.
11
@8 - you can't DRM what the federal government already owns (due to the grants involved) ... fwiw.
12
" you don't need a momograph... "
didn't a siren sing something close to that at some point in the past?
didn't a siren sing something close to that at some point in the past?
13
@2: I suspect grad students and faculty will acquire pdfs, not paper in the future.
I'm not totally surprised by this. I've put at least a year of effort into an edited collection of academic articles for a university press. They might pay us a couple hundred bucks and give us a dozen or fewer free copies of our own book, which will mainly go to libraries and specialists. The economic and environmental costs of the model are probably not sustainable, and either way university presses basically won't pay their authors almost anything.
However, I found this quote to be the most interesting about MSU Press's plans for the future: "No jobs will be eliminated -- although duties will probably shift for some employees." I'd call that at least a silver lining.
I'm not totally surprised by this. I've put at least a year of effort into an edited collection of academic articles for a university press. They might pay us a couple hundred bucks and give us a dozen or fewer free copies of our own book, which will mainly go to libraries and specialists. The economic and environmental costs of the model are probably not sustainable, and either way university presses basically won't pay their authors almost anything.
However, I found this quote to be the most interesting about MSU Press's plans for the future: "No jobs will be eliminated -- although duties will probably shift for some employees." I'd call that at least a silver lining.
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