Aurelia,
I have a lot of practice squeezing permissions out of publishers. It took me
a year and a half to get permission to reprint over 100 academic articles
written by my late professor and I used almost every means at my disposal to
track down publishers, including offers by personal friends to camp on
doorsteps. Most publishers don't care much one way or the other whether you
reprint in a small-circulation publication like the IOLI bulletin (it's not
like you work for the NY Times or CNN), so answering your letters isn't high
on their list of priorities. Very often they're understaffed and your letter
has simply gotten lost in the shuffle.
Snail mail is, in general, more effective than e-mail because it's harder to
ignore and leaves a paper trail. Now that you've sent them a snail mail, the
next move is to follow it up. A phone call is fastest and usually gets
results quickly (they'll either say "yes" on the spot or refer you to
someone who will tell you what the reprint fee, if any, will be). If you
would prefer not to do that, you can try faxing them. That's also more
difficult to ignore. My letter of last resort is, "Since I have not had any
response to my letters of February 5, March 28, and August 15, I presume
that you have no objection to my including this article in the collection."
That usually works! A senior professor taught me that trick.
Best wishes,
Avital
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aurelia L. Loveman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "dora.northern" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: [lace] Publisher's e-mail address
Thank you, Dora. That book ("Dentelles de notre temps") is the one that
Doreen Wright gave me as a present, that I mentioned some weeks ago when we
were remembering Doreen here. The book still electrifies lacemakers when
they come in for a visit and I take the book out and show it. What a genius
was (is?) Elena H !
What I was wanting was the e-mail address for Dessain et Tolra. I wrote
them a regular postal letter, asking for permission to reprint a bit out of
that book. No response. Not a yes, not a no, nothing. I was hoping that
maybe an e-mail appeal might bring results. I need it as an illustration
for a reference about Elena in an article that is being published in the
IOLI Bulletin -- should have thought the publisher would be more pleased
than not, to be asked for this!
Aurelia
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