Re: e-book publishing

On Mon, 5 Jun 2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, May 31, 2000, Dodi Schultz <schultz[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 30 May 2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > But now when we are almost in the 21st millennium it seems that
> > > publishers might be using contracts to retain as many rights as
> > > they can.
> >
> > Book publishers do not "retain" rights; rights are granted to the
> > publisher by the author, per the contract. I believe the word you
> > want is "acquire."
>
> Many publishers' contracts (depending on the type of book) state
> that rights will revert to the author when the book goes "out of
> print." The point is that electronic publishing changes the
> meaning of that term, and that new contracts are needed.
> Publishers now see potential profit in hanging on to the book,
> and can be using the old contracts to profit unduely from their
> publication in electronic form.

If the publishers keep marketing the work, why shouldn't their investment continue to reap returns?

On the other hand, maintaining a ebook is not without cost. Publishers may want to clear space on their servers.

They may not wish to keep obsolete data formats when they upgrade, they may change direction and decide they are no longer interested in certain audiences. Most of emedia is fragile and vulnerable to viruses or simple degradation. In short, there are many reasons why an ebook may go "out of print" with rights reverting to the author. Many old egames have disappeared from the market already. Why not ebooks?

There is a movement in Congress to force all publishing into e-formats, abandoning print, in connection with the library depository program (which distributes free copies of government documents to 1300 libraries around the country). The movement argues that epublishing will save money. For whom? First the libraries must buy more computers to provide access. Second, they will probably buy paper and microform copies from private sector programs set up specifically to supply this information in archival media wuch as paper and microforms.

We should have learned some lessons, by the way, from bitter experience with "brittle paper" that developed from 19th century papermaking innovations. The new medium was cheaper and more abundant. It also carried the potential to self-destruct. Learned publishers now select neutral pH paper. Most periodicals are also copied onto microfilm upon publication.

Although computers process data with impressive speed, they have yet to prove they can keep it around for more than a few years. There is an argument that seems to be that anything worth keeping will be kept in digital form (at considerable cost). Who will pay? Who will decide?

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 1994-2000 <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Wed Jun 07 2000 - 11:35:05 GMT