And who among us will hire the lawyers to press this case? T On Sun, Jul 5, 2020, 10:11 PM <[email protected]> wrote:
> Oh by the way, if I remember correctly, one of the fundamental > obligations of a publisher is to defend infringements of copyright. Thus, > if they fail in this obligation, copyright, FWIW, reverts to the author, > no? > > > > N > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Edward Angel > *Sent:* Sunday, July 5, 2020 5:48 PM > *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed > > > > Thanks but the story is more complex. > > > > What transpired is in retrospect somewhat amusing. I received an email > from someone at a university that was using the book asking if I knew there > was a ps file on the web of the whole book. I checked it out, contacted the > instructor who had it taken down. I had no idea how anyone had obtained a > perfect copy of the book. Even during copyediting, I never was given access > to a final ps version with even the typesetting marks. My editor started a > big investigation at Pearson to see who had violated security during > production only to find out after weeks that the people at Pearson who > dealt with accessibility issues were sending out the file to every school > that adopted the book (at the time around 200 just in the US). > > > > What is odd to me is that the last time I checked libgen.io, which was a > while ago, the version there was not a ps version put a pdf in which you > could use the TOC interactively so I figured it was the kindle version > which my editor, who had become somewhat expert at this, showed me how easy > it is to get the kindle version. Apparently what is the the situation now > is that the ps version is libgen.is so someone else must have uploaded it. > > > > The material on the Indian decision on respect to fair use was very > interesting. I was familiar with the fair use policies in the U.S. and the > U.K. In spirit, they are the same. However, the problem is not fair use but > with sites like libgen, where anyone can upload a file irrespective of > copyright or ownership That file is then available worldwide to everyone. > Consequently, the holders of the copyright have no protection at all other > than some people having ethical issues with libgen. Sadly, I find many of > my colleagues and students do not see this as an ethical issue. > > > > 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 Jul 5, 2020, at 4:14 PM, Sarbajit Roy <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Edward > > The PDF of the 7th edition of your book being widely circulated was very > likely not generated from its Kindle version, but from the Postscript > version used to print your book. It was generated using Adobe Distiller 7+ > for a Macintosh. Must have been cloned from one of those unwatermarked > copies dished out by your publisher's marketing team to "potential" > customers. > > > > Sarbajit > > On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 2:52 AM Edward Angel <[email protected]> wrote: > > I’ve been a book author since 1972 and a textbook author since 1989. My > computer graphics textbook has been the most popular book in the area for > 20 years and just came out in its eighth edition with various editions > being available in Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian. Sadly, the book > business has changed over that time; changed in way that is bad for almost > everyone, especially authors. I think you’re faced with a lot of bad > choices. I hope some of the following will prove helpful. And if not > helpful, at least interesting. > > > > Before I forget, you might enjoy reading of my adventures writing the > first edition of my present textbook while on sabbatical in Venezuela, > Ecuador, Hong Kong and Nepal. There’s a pointer to it on my home page > www.cs.unm.edu/~angel > > > > When I had to pick a publisher, I knew the editors and local book reps at > Academic Press, Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall and Benjamin/Cummings. They > dominated the CS field and did so largely because they had editors who knew > the field, excellent book reps who knew the needs of the faculty and > students, a willingness to invest in a book, and in-house production. None > of these exist anymore and, as Tom pointed out, you're largely on your own. > It’s unfortunate if you care about how many copies get sold and your > royalties. I have many friends who self-published in the past. It’s a lot > of work either way but I prefer to put my effort into content and not > type-setting or marketing. None of my self-published friends have ever sold > many books. > > > > I had three excellent editors over 20 years. When I did my first edition, > my editor hired a development editor at great expense to improve the > quality of my writing. She worked with the CS faculty and grad students at > Caltech and Stanford. It made a huge difference. Now almost none of these > jobs exist within the publishers. All production is contracted out to the > low bidders (art, typesetting, copy editing, etc) most of whom are in > India. I no longer have an editor. There is one person working for the > publusher with whom I communicate with to try to get things done correctly > with the contractors. This last edition has been a long painful experience. > > > > So what happened? Books were always expensive for students, especially > when sold through college bookstores. Then used book sellers appeared and > Asian students started importing low cost Asian versions of the standard > textbooks. Under US copyright laws, both are legal. The publishers > responded by upping prices which reduced sales even more. > > > > And then came electronic media. At first, my book, like most others, was > still print-only. But the publisher sent perfect unwatermarked pdfs to all > the schools what adopted the book for use by students with special needs. > Wasn’t long before those pdfs made it to the Web. Then they had a > electronic version and a kindle version that students could rent for a > semester or year. The publisher, the largest in the business, was clueless > about web security and had no idea that Kindles are not secure. Very > quickly, the book appeared (with most of the other cs texts and various > best sellers) on a Russian website as a “public service.” End of paid sales. > > > > The new edition is only available in electronic form and the publisher > claims it is only available on a secure site. I doubt anyone on this list > believes that. > > > > Although I never in the past had issues with the publisher having the > copyright, which was pretty standard, I wish I had it now. Since there is > no hope of making significant royalties now (we used), my coauthor and I > would like to put the book out for free on our websites rather than having > it appear on various illegal Russian sites known to most students. > > > > Personally, I no longer care about royalties but the long term issue I > worry about is why would any young person write a textbook. It’s a huge > amount of work and usually not something that in the academic world is > valued as highly as research papers and grant funding. > > > > 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 Jul 4, 2020, at 2:25 PM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Thanks. Yes, self-publishing is an option. I am looking for an official > publisher mainly for one reason, namely that other scientists and > researchers can cite it, since I still cling to the illusion that someone > would actually do it. Normally self-published texts are not considered as > reliable or trustworthy sources. I didn't expect that finding a decent > publisher would be so difficult. > > > > -J. > > > > > > -------- Original message -------- > > From: Tom Johnson <[email protected]> > > Date: 7/4/20 20:10 (GMT+01:00) > > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > > > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed > > > > Jochen: > > The deal being offered strikes me as a bad deal. > > > > Background: I have been practicing and teaching about "Be Your Own > Publisher" for nearly 15 years. There are, in my opinion, some major > problems with all publishers today. It starts with control of the > copyright. I think YOU should want to maintain control of the copyright to > your work. It will depend on the contract, but many or most publishers > will try to lock down the copyright in their favor for all -- ALL -- forms > of your work in perpetuity and throughout the universe. Sometimes quite > literally. > > > > Second, you should assume -- especially with a small publisher and you, > not being as well known as Stephen King or Daniel Steele -- the publisher > will do little if anything to promote your book beyond a mention in its > catalog and, maybe, some promotional links on Amazon. Given that, a 5 > percent royalty should be seen as a con. > > > > Third, given your computing experience, you should find it easy to format > and produce the book yourself. I have used Lulu.com <http://lulu.com/> for > years. It is especially good if you want to have both hardback, paperback > and PDF editions. Again the advantages: you keep the copyright, you can > set (and change) the prices and to a degree the royalties. Also, Lulu and > Amazon handle all the backend financial arrangements and administration and > pay directly and quickly. I also use a very good, high quality digital > printer in Albuquerque for paperback editions. It is Lithexcel > <https://lithexcel.com/services/print.html>. It handles all the printing > (one copy to any number) quickly, along with all the fulfillment and > accounting. The folks there will also, for only $25, set up your book in > the Amazon inventory search engine. Finally, there is Amazon's > self-publishing arm > <https://www.bookbaby.com/free-publishing-guides?utm_campaign=GOOSL31&utm_source=SITELINK&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=sNzCXe5z8_dc%7Cpcrid%7C238281756657%7Cpmt%7Ce%7Cpkw%7Camazon%20book%20publishing%7Cslid%7CcWU1oXIv%7Ctargetids%7Ckwd-362938383597%7Cgroupid%7C48812614458%7C&pgrid=48812614458&ptaid=kwd-362938383597&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnFci42apQ6vWUruvHuYX-FOum9VCF7bx83c_tSMHGoby8yylL_RTMaAjOEEALw_wcB>. > While Amazon might take a bigger slice, the control over all aspects is in > your hands. > > > > Here's the problem/challenge with all of these. *YOU* have to do the > marketing/publicity/promotion. But so what? If you today sign with any > publisher of any size you will have to do the same thing. > > > > Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with questions. Also you might > want to see https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc > > Tom > > > ============================================ > Tom Johnson - [email protected] > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) > *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org/> > *Check out It's The People's Data > <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>* > > > ============================================ > > > > > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> > > Virus-free. www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> > > > > On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 1:29 AM Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote: > > At one end of the spectrum there are the 5 big commercial publishers > Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & > Schuster. They only publish stuff their agents select to make a lot of > money. There are also the big academic publishers like OUP, CUP, HUP and > MIT Press, which preferably publish strictly peer-reviewed content from > professors at Ivy League universities who made their PhD at the age of 20. > > > At the other end of the spectrum there are "predatory publishers" who > publish anything you submit as long as you pay enough money for it. Open > access books can also be very expensive. Publishing an "open access book" > at De Gruyter for example costs up to 8000 $. You pay for it so that other > people read it. It is basically some kind of advertising of your own work. > > > For my own new book I finally have an offer from a small publisher in > Washington D.C. who is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. They are > really small and offer 5% royalties. Should I accept this offer or wait for > a better one? It is the only one from more than 25 publishers I have asked, > and the publishers at the moment are flooded with submissions. :-/ > > https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/novel-writing-during-coronavirus-crisis-outbreak > > > > -J. > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
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