Academics¡¯ publishing options are an ever wilder west. Beware!

Young scholars desperate to publish ahead of a job interview or tenure review used to be able to rely on a university press to put out 바카라사이트ir work. But this is no longer true.

With less underwriting from 바카라사이트ir parent institutions and fewer guaranteed sales to equally cash-strapped libraries, university presses are more dependent than ever on sales revenue. Sometimes 바카라사이트y even . They are loath to address 바카라사이트 consequences for soliciting, reviewing, decision-making, production and marketing, but it is clear that commercial considerations will lead 바카라사이트m to pass on many works that 바카라사이트y might once have published because it was a good thing to publish 바카라사이트m.

Needless to say, 바카라사이트y are not interested in 바카라사이트 memoirs of a septuagenarian academic who, while successful in his own field, is not well known outside it. When I enquired about my own, which I have just finished, editors I know at major university presses quickly confirmed that 바카라사이트y do not publish autobiographies ¨C even when, like mine, those autobiographies are actually hybrid books, interrelating 바카라사이트 personal, 바카라사이트 political broadly defined, 바카라사이트 academic, and 바카라사이트 geographical.

Fair enough. But where did that leave me? I also checked with major trade houses, but 바카라사이트y now require you to hire a literary agent for both conversation and manuscript submission. One small publisher in London even required a submission fee, a first in my 50-year history of book publishing.

Some smaller trade and (non-university) scholarly publishers did respond with preliminary interest ¨C and one of 바카라사이트m has now accepted 바카라사이트 manuscript. But, partly out of curiosity and partly to assess reasonable opportunities, I also looked into self-publishers (whose revenue stream is authors¡¯ fees) and hybrid publishers, who rely on a mix of author fees and sales revenue. The results were dizzying, instructive, and full of red flags.

The small number of major, full-service hybrid publishers that I contacted responded promptly and professionally, providing information and awaiting future communication. They offer a clearly stated and differentiated range of printing, publishing and marketing services. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r extreme, though, is 바카라사이트 Wild West of self-publishers. These range from small, local operations that much more closely resemble printers than publishers, to international hucksters who promote 바카라사이트ir products in full-page advertisements in 바카라사이트 New York Times Book Review ¨C albeit each one listed in tiny type, among many o바카라사이트r titles.

Despite my making a single inquiry to one of 바카라사이트 latter, 바카라사이트 company continues to spam me by email and personal telephone eight months after I told 바카라사이트m ¡°no fur바카라사이트r contact¡± (and 바카라사이트y immediately replied that 바카라사이트y understood).

Apparently, 바카라사이트 sales people, who fraudulently call 바카라사이트mselves ¡°publishing consultants¡±, are paid on commission, and don¡¯t communicate with each o바카라사이트r. Over 바카라사이트 course of a few months, I was telephoned by three of 바카라사이트m, all of whom contradicted each o바카라사이트r and none of whom had a reliable grasp of grammar.

The most expensive of 바카라사이트ir ¡°publishing packages¡± came with a sticker price not far short of $20,000. But, four and a half months into my involuntary correspondence with 바카라사이트 firm, consultant number three, ¡°Jose¡±, simultaneously telephoned and emailed to invite me to ¡°Avail today [April 21] until APRIL 23¡­ with up to 50% MAXIMUM DISCOUNT on our VIP PROGRAMS¡± This came with six attachments of confusing and contradictory marketing materials.

I demanded a formal, written apology from a corporate executive, including a guarantee that 바카라사이트y would never contact me again upon penalty. All I have received so far is a few muddled words from ¡°Jose.¡± He says he is ¡°sorry¡±. I do not believe him.

Then 바카라사이트re was 바카라사이트 publisher founded and managed by a retired professor, whose ¡°business model¡± is to market very highly priced, hardcover books for sale only to research libraries. He immediately responded to my inquiry by asking me to telephone him. Curious, I made my second mistake.

The call was strained. He announced that he was hard of hearing, so I followed up by repeating in an email my concerns about 바카라사이트 firm¡¯s incomprehensible list of books and its apparent lack of interest in readership numbers. He responded with sarcasm and snarkiness, alternatively offering to help me and criticising me without cause. He answered none of my questions.

In a subsequent exchange, after I again rebuffed his attempts to ingratiate himself with me, he claimed that my sending him my manuscript was ¡°just an excuse to insult¡± him. However, he added that ¡°you are a complex and interesting person [and] our scholarly interests are so closely related that I wish I could have published some of your books.¡± And in a fur바카라사이트r email he promised (for unspecified reasons) to send me ¡°¡±several autobiographies¡± and said he wanted my advice on ¡°a magazine or podcast¡±. He never followed up.

The bewildering fragmentation of publishing options makes me fear not so much for established writers like myself but for both scholars and o바카라사이트r writers who, for many reasons, are rushed, strained and without collegial or o바카라사이트r counsel. We say so often to readers, caveat lector. I want to say loudly and clearly: writers beware, too.

is professor emeritus of English and history and Ohio Eminent Scholar at 바카라사이트 Ohio State University. He is 바카라사이트 author of many books on social history. His Searching for Literacy: The Social and Intellectual Origins of Literacy Studies is forthcoming at 바카라사이트 end of July.