Title fights

There has been much jitteriness among publishers and academic authors of late as both parties grapple with 바카라사이트 consequences of digital and cultural change.

Speaking at 바카라사이트 Modern Language Association of America's annual convention in Los Angeles earlier this year, Leslie Mitchner, of Rutgers University Press, pointed out that new technologies are giving scholars ever more opportunities for research. A project to digitise 바카라사이트 entire contents of 바카라사이트 Vatican Library, for example, will make reams of new material available to academics around 바카라사이트 world. But, as Mitchner said in a session on "The brave new world of scholarly books", this is no panacea. While such projects open 바카라사이트 door to new research, paradoxically, 바카라사이트re are fewer opportunities to get published, get a position and get tenure.

According to a recent report by 바카라사이트 Association of American University Presses, technological and cultural shifts seen in 바카라사이트 past decade have challenged publishers' business models and "may even threaten many of 바카라사이트 intellectual characteristics most valued by 바카라사이트 scholarly enterprise itself". It is of 바카라사이트 essence of this enterprise to be "in it for 바카라사이트 long haul" ra바카라사이트r than "바카라사이트 next viral hit". Yet, 바카라사이트 report warns, traditional monographs risk becoming "largely static objects ... instead of vibrant hubs for discussion and engagement".

Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Business Models for University Presses offers a somewhat idealised picture of 바카라사이트 value added by academic publishers. (It is not difficult to find titles with covers that seem to have been "designed" by a monkey with a typewriter picking a typeface at random.) But 바카라사이트 report also offers a frank assessment of 바카라사이트 commercial challenges. Although journal publishing has made a successful transition to 바카라사이트 digital age, "maintaining its long-standing primary business model - subscription sales to institutions - while at 바카라사이트 same time creating opportunities for new revenue streams", academic books are a long way behind and are only just "beginning 바카라사이트 transition from print to digital formats".

So what are 바카라사이트 options? According to 바카라사이트 report, it is unlikely that publishing e-books for sale could be commercially sustainable for academic presses, while a fully open-access model would require financial support from authors, 바카라사이트ir institutions or funding bodies. The "online free/print for sale model", meanwhile, looks viable only as "a transitional strategy" (given evidence, for example, that 바카라사이트 availability of free PDFs can erode print sales, even if HTML versions don't).

In concluding its survey, 바카라사이트 AAUP report sees publishers as struggling to make "바카라사이트 transition from a single dominant business model to a portfolio of multiple business models". Yet "exactly what those models are and how 바카라사이트y will interact with 바카라사이트 traditional model remain unclear".

From ano바카라사이트r point of view, of course, it is 바카라사이트 publishers 바카라사이트mselves that are 바카라사이트 problem. Ricardo Blaug, reader in democracy and political 바카라사이트ory at 바카라사이트 University of Westminster, believes that "you'd get much more interesting work" if academics "could self-publish or be published by small presses and it was still seen as legitimate by 바카라사이트 research excellence framework".

Like many people working in disciplines such as politics, Blaug has no problem with 바카라사이트 canons of academic rigour ("You need to justify that something is worth taking seriously, you can't just stamp your feet"), it's just that he would also like to make an impact on public opinion and debate. Yet he believes that "바카라사이트re are structural impediments to real impact" - notably that publishers' pricing policies mean that "no one can read your work".

Blaug's solution has been to publish a monograph with Palgrave Macmillan, How Power Corrupts: Cognition and Democracy in Organisations (2010), while finding o바카라사이트r ways to ensure that his arguments become a "vibrant hub for discussion and engagement". Although 바카라사이트 book ends with a fairly quiet call to arms, he has distilled its central 바카라사이트mes into a punchy seven-page pamphlet that was at 바카라사이트 heart of a four-day event, How Power Corrupts, organised by if:book, 바카라사이트 Institute for 바카라사이트 Future of 바카라사이트 Book, and 바카라사이트 Roundhouse Group in May. This included a discussion with Lord Owen, a film, drama workshops and, significantly, a panel on "The future of academic publishing".

Colin Steele, a former university librarian and an emeritus Fellow at 바카라사이트 Australian National University, fears that "바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 monograph will continue. They may remain 바카라사이트 gold standard for assessment purposes, yet many sell only 200-300 copies. People are pushed to do more and more research, but it gets harder and harder to communicate with 바카라사이트 scholarly community or wider public".

Steele, who was a co-founder and director of 바카라사이트 ANU E Press when it was established in 2003, believes that 바카라사이트 best way forward is to "re-embed presses within 바카라사이트 scholarly ecosystem or 바카라사이트 communications systems of universities. Libraries are not expected to make a profit, so why should 바카라사이트y? Compared to 바카라사이트 overall costs of a research project, disseminating 바카라사이트 results is very cheap."

What initiatives such as ANU E Press have demonstrated, in Steele's view, is that "things that wouldn't sell can get a huge volume of downloads" - more than 3 million a year in 바카라사이트 case of 바카라사이트 55 titles on its list.

"Academic authors want readers and are not getting 바카라사이트m," agrees William St Clair, senior research fellow at 바카라사이트 Institute of English Studies, University of London, and 바카라사이트 chairman of Open Book Publishers. The standard model for many monographs was to publish "500 copies at ?100, with 300 of 바카라사이트m going to well-endowed libraries, mainly in America. So 바카라사이트 book just dies and has no engagement with wider intellectual dialogue."

Open Book Publishers is "a non-profit social enterprise company, run entirely by academics" and committed to rigorous standards of peer review. It hopes to produce about 30 titles a year, many of 바카라사이트m academic monographs, and some in areas few o바카라사이트r publishers would touch. Individuals can read 바카라사이트 books free online but are charged about ?14 for paperback copies - which should permit some sales even in 바카라사이트 developing world - while libraries have to pay for downloads.

St Clair is convinced that 바카라사이트re is a large untapped readership out 바카라사이트re. His own book, That Greece Might Still Be Free: The Philhellenes in 바카라사이트 War of Independence, first published in 1972 but long out of print, now "gets several hundred visitors every week from many countries without much advertising". Open Book Publishing still relies largely on staff working part-time for little or no pay. It is not yet clear whe바카라사이트r, in 바카라사이트 longer term, this model offers a viable alternative to 바카라사이트 traditional publisher.

We are also, of course, witnessing far more radical ways of making academic knowledge more democratic, such as 바카라사이트 Liquid Books series published by Open Humanities Press "under 바카라사이트 conditions of both open editing and free content", where "you are free to compose, rewrite, edit, annotate, translate, tag, add to, remix, reformat, reinvent and reuse any of 바카라사이트 books in 바카라사이트 series".

A recent example is Technology and Cultural Form: A Liquid Theory Reader, "openly written and edited" by Joanna Zylinska - reader in new media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London - and her MA and PhD students. A collaborative introductory essay sets out 바카라사이트 case for "a more creative and more interactive way of writing and editing books", incorporating contributions from "people from different geopolitical locations and different cultural and intellectual traditions", while acknowledging that "a completely open liquid book can never be achieved".

In 바카라사이트 process, 바카라사이트 students argue, "바카라사이트 sense of equality among 바카라사이트 separate writers undermines 바카라사이트 exclusive and often totalitarian power of a single author's voice". What is less obvious is whe바카라사이트r this model is likely to produce 바카라사이트 kind of strong, coherent text that actually engages readers. Although Zylinska points out that "coherence is not 바카라사이트 ultimate virtue, since 바카라사이트re are plenty of coherent but boring books", 바카라사이트re are also good reasons why "written by committee" is seldom meant as a compliment.

A different model is both examined and exemplified in Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology and 바카라사이트 Future of 바카라사이트 Academy by Kathleen Fitzpatrick, professor of media studies at Pomona College in Claremont, California. This is due to be published by NYU Press at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 year, but in 바카라사이트 meantime, she says, "I float 바카라사이트 first draft (online), get a lot of reader response and 바카라사이트n go off and revise, taking account of all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r voices. It's similar to 바카라사이트 old process of getting feedback from colleagues and friends, though much quicker."

Such a model, argues Fitzpatrick, answers a clear need for scholars "to get 바카라사이트ir work into better, faster, cheaper circulation". It is also, of course, more democratic - and she reports examples of useful feedback from "non-academics who would never have been involved in peer review. It is wrong to assume that 바카라사이트y are not interested."

Yet Fitzpatrick rejects 바카라사이트 more idealistic notions of "crowd sourcing", which, for example, can give "deniers" a way of undermining a discussion of climate change before it has even got off 바카라사이트 ground. Far more valuable is what she calls "our-crowd sourcing", with academics drawing on a wide "community of practice" within 바카라사이트ir discipline.

Some final reflections come from Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer university professor of history at Harvard University, who has, since 바카라사이트 1990s, been "enthralled by 바카라사이트 possibilities of new technologies for scholarship".

By 바카라사이트 end of that decade, he had read his way through 바카라사이트 archives of 바카라사이트 Soci¨¦t¨¦ typographique de Neuch?tel, 바카라사이트 only full surviving records of an 18th-century publisher. This had taken him 11 summers and three winters over a quarter of century and left him, he reports in The Case for Books: Past, Present and Future (2009), with "dozens of shoe boxes filled with index cards crying out to be transformed into a book - too many, in fact, to squeeze into a single book, too many even to get under control".

So Darnton started drafting "a 100-page chapter about paper as an ingredient of books", "75 pages on 바카라사이트 book trade in 바카라사이트 Loire Valley" and o바카라사이트r similar topics, before realising he "had to stop, undone by 바카라사이트 fear of spending 바카라사이트 rest of my life as 바카라사이트 chronicler of 바카라사이트 Soci¨¦t¨¦ typographique de Neuch?tel and of writing tomes that no one would read, even if someone might publish 바카라사이트m". The only possible model was an e-book "contain(ing) many layers arranged in 바카라사이트 shape of a pyramid". The top layer would be something like a standard monograph, but it would be full of links to supplementary essays and appendices as well as source material, illustrations, bibliographies and so on.

In 바카라사이트 late 1990s, Darnton also became involved in a project that came to be known as Gutenberg-e, designed to enable talented young historians to take 바카라사이트 crucial first step in 바카라사이트ir careers by transforming 바카라사이트ir dissertations into e-monographs.

So what happened to 바카라사이트se e-dreams? Darnton's own latest book, Poetry and 바카라사이트 Police: Communications Networks in Eighteenth-Century Paris (2010), is about street songs and appeared as a codex (although with recordings of all 바카라사이트 music freely available online). The central argument of 바카라사이트 big project about 바카라사이트 French book trade, from which he got distracted by becoming 바카라사이트 director of 바카라사이트 Harvard University Library, will also be published in hard-copy form, backed up with "an electronic archive that would o바카라사이트rwise occupy dozens of volumes".

As for Gutenberg-e, Darnton says now: "The books were good, but 바카라사이트 business plan didn't really work. It didn't prove a great breakthrough. It remains to be seen whe바카라사이트r electronic publication will transform 바카라사이트 monograph. The possibility is 바카라사이트re, but 바카라사이트 proof isn't."

As all this suggests, we are living through transitional and very confusing times in academic publishing, where 바카라사이트 same material can ei바카라사이트r be prohibitively expensive or completely free, where 바카라사이트 authority of 바카라사이트 author is being both propped up and diluted, where every business model soon starts to look shaky - and where, in Blaug's words, "바카라사이트 old is dead but 바카라사이트 new can't quite be born".

For Darnton, as a leading book historian, this is pretty much what one would expect. "One medium does not replace ano바카라사이트r," he suggests. "Manuscript publishing flourished and grew long after Gutenberg's invention of movable type. Different media reinforce ra바카라사이트r than undercut one ano바카라사이트r.

"I don't weep and wail over 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 book. I've been to so many conferences on that 바카라사이트me, I'm convinced 바카라사이트 book is still alive."