Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
I read some of the university press books and find it broadly true generalization that well-reviewed university press books, on the same topic, are just less interesting.
As for funding of research by university presses, my strong impression is that their advances against book proposals are lower than those of commercial publishers. |
Steve. I do not equate academic authors and experts in a field purely with university presses. They have the same access to self-publishing as everyone else. If they are an expert in a field and choose to write for a popular audience they too can reap more of the rewards.
For a worthwhile project various new funding models are available on the internet, which do not involve an author effectively surrendering all of their rights. I suggest to you that this view of Large Publishers as philanthropists through giving commercial advances has rarely if ever been true. Personally I don't think we will miss this. It is certainly not a good argument for preserving the archaic and exploitative system we once had. Large publishers of academic journals and textbooks are now feeling the pinch and fighting desperately to preserve their relevance and businesses in a world that has left them behind. Personally I will not miss them.