To truly grasp the magnitude of the problem, you have to add a couple of zeros to the numbers of books being sold. The $200 into biology book will sell tens of thousands of copies a year in the US while a high school text may sell hundreds of thousands of copies if it is adopted by states like California or Texas where textbook decisions are made by state committees. Consequently most of what we see going on is happening for less than altruistic reasons.
Since international publication rights are handled separately, what happens in your world works fine in many ways and not in others. Personally, I don't care if I get zero royalties from developing countries although since it's my intellectual property, I should have some say in the matter, which is usually not the case. Prices in developing countries are set at just high enough that students won't copy the material. So, for example, I get less than $0.10 per book from the PRC. That says a lot about related issues but that's another discussion. More of a problem is that smaller developing countries usually have no access to recent technical books in any form. since they can't negotiate contracts as can India and the PRC. In many ways, books for developing countries are much like what happens with the drug companies. They manipulate the system to guarantee high prices for sales in the US which lets them price lower in other countries and still make huge profits. Publishers can't get away with this any more since it's so easy to make and distribute illegal copies. 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) [email protected] 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel On Apr 19, 2012, at 11:26 AM, Sarbajit Roy wrote: > Dear Earthlings of the United Federation > > What kind of society do you live in where in a population of 300 > million people and speaking only about 3 or 4 languages you have print > runs of 50-100 for educational books costing US$200 each ? > > On my planet we have solved the problem through Section 32A of our > Copyright Act which is based on International Laws / Treaties / > Conventions. It allows "anyone" to apply for a licence to reproduce > any literary work for "teaching research and scholarship" at a > "reasonable price considering prevailing local conditions" within 6 > months of the edition being published internationally and the original > copyright holder refusing reproduction rights at the aforesaid > reasonable prices to the applicant (usually all that is required is > for an airmail letter to be sent to the last known address of the > copyright holder) > > http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf > > So if anyone wants 100 copies of an undergraduate biology textbook at > US$10 each instead of US200 each you know where to go (see hints > below). > > PS: Even bigger money to be made if anyone wants their self-written > text books (otherwise selling in the low 50's) to be prescribed / > approved course material at one of the many universities we have in > India > > Sarbajit > > NB: > (a) "developed country" means a country which is not a developing country; > (b) "developing country" means a country which is for the time being > regarded as such in conformity with the practice of the General > Assembly of the United Nations; > > (d) "purposes of teaching, research or scholarship" includes- > (i) purposes of instructional activity at all levels in educational > institutions, including Schools, > Colleges, Universities and tutorial institutions; and > (ii) purposes of all other types of organised educational activity.] > > On 4/19/12, Edward Angel <[email protected]> wrote: >> The contract is pretty amazing. I can't believe any author would agree to >> the terms. My experience is mostly with college books but most of the issues >> are similar. The book market for high school and grade school books involves >> a lot more money and is highly politicized with publishers working very hard >> to get state-wide adoptions in states like California and Texas. You can >> check out how the publishers have been forced to remove or, at best, >> deemphasize, evolution if they want to get their books adopted. >> >> A couple of observations: >> >> Some of the major publishers were known for contracting with multiple >> authors for books in the same area and then only publishing one of them. At >> least, authors had an advance so they didn't come away with nothing. The >> Apple contract doesn't even propose that. Authors I've spoken to in both he >> trade and college book area feel that when signing a contract they figure >> they won't make money beyond the advance. But no advance? >> >> I've always worked with Addison-Wesly which has acted honorably and didn't >> engage in such practices. However, they were bought by Pearson a while ago >> and as publishers struggle to figure out how to survive things are changing. >> For example, my book now has a Kindle version, something I have no control >> over. Fortunately (?), students don't really like technical books in >> electronic format (yet). >> >> But the part that is most alarming is that the students are getting screwed. >> Even though the numbers of books I sell each year has declined due to piracy >> my royalties have remained pretty constant over 15 years. Why? The prices >> have sky rocketed so the honest students are paying a ridiculous price. For >> example, at UNM, the first biology course requires a book that costs over >> $200. With Apple students will also have to own a compatible device. I don't >> think many students in Santa Fe can afford it. >> >> Unfortunately I don't think there are any easy answers. The potential of >> what you can do with new media is something we'd like to have available to >> all students. Maybe what Bruce has done with Glow Script is the best >> compromise for now. >> >> 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) [email protected] >> 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel >> >> >> On Apr 18, 2012, at 10:03 PM, Bruce Sherwood wrote: >> >>> And be sure to read >>> >>> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/apples-mind-bogglingly-greedy-and-evil-license-agreement/4360?tag=content;siu-container >>> >>> for which there's a link on the page shown below, but you don't want >>> to miss it. The Apple contract just blows one's mind. >>> >>> Bruce >>> >>> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 9:16 PM, Bruce Sherwood >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> See >>>> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/why-the-apple-textbook-program-will-never-work/6526. >>>> A sample: "My colleague Ed Bott has done a thorough job tearing apart >>>> the Apple licensing agreements and technical details that turn the >>>> iBooks textbook program into a “mind-bogglingly greedy and evil >>>> license agreement”." >>>> >>>> I had the same reaction when I saw the Apple terms announced some weeks >>>> ago. >>>> >>>> Bruce >>>> >>>> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 9:06 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>>> Oops, forgot: Apple is getting into text books big time .. here is their >>>>> ad: >>>>> http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/ >>>>> >>>>> They know its going to take a long time, transitioning to a new media, >>>>> dealing with legal and authoring issues. They are working on an IDE for >>>>> books, so to speak .. software that helps create the new books, with >>>>> interactive media etc. They also want to take readers way beyond the >>>>> current relatively static ebooks. Hard to say if they succeed, but they >>>>> have worked quite a bit with schools, and iTunesU is quite successful. >>>>> >>>>> -- Owen >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 8:59 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> How do we deal with fair author protection? Certainly the current >>>>>> business model doesn't work. As prices soar, so does piracy. >>>>>> >>>>>> We have several authors on the list. Have you insights? >>>>>> >>>>>> -- Owen >>>>>> >>>>>> Just FYI: If you'd like to see the titles of the now-defunct russian >>>>>> site >>>>>> of 80,381 text books: http://backspaces.net/temp/all/all.txt Although >>>>>> the >>>>>> site is gone, my guess is that all of these are available via torrents. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ============================================================ >>>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> >> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
