A publisher's apology

Future Business Models

2011-05-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Association of American University Presses in March 2011 published a paper entitled, Sustaining Scholarly Publishing: New Business Models for University Presses.

The paper defines the role of the scholarly publisher as

➢ Selection processes - selective acquisition, peer review
➢ Editorial engagement - even the best writers can become overwhelmed by their own engagement in a topic
➢ Presentation (Design) - rare is the book that is not a visual improvement over a manuscript.
➢ Advantages of scale – Printing gets cheaper with scale.
➢ Marketing - promote scholarship long after it’s fresh
➢ Metadata - to be discovered within the hundreds of thousands of books published every year, year after year
➢ Rights and licensing - Translation rights, distribution arrangements, excerption permissions
➢ Distribution - time-consuming details of physical distribution and sales
➢ Multiple formats - build quality assurance, in multiple formats, in a way that will be able to evolve along with the reader, browser etc.
➢ Long-term availability - likelihood of existing in the “marketplace of ideas,” is improved by intensive kind of stewardship, migration to new systems

These are useful pointers to give to potential authors why to choose a publisher instead of “self publishing”.

The paper then presents what is new:

• For at least the next ten years scholarly communication will be conducted using a variety of media, on an array of platforms, funded from a range of sources, employing a variety of business models.
• Downward pressure on print prices from e-book prices being lower or even free.
• Rapidly increasing number of e-book options taking up a great deal of publishers’ time and resources, even while e-book sales remain a small percentage of the total market.
• Digital publishing benefits so much more from scale than print publishing.

The paper then gives examples of experiments being conducted by University Presses as well as a new kind of non profit publisher, The National Academies Press and The RAND Corporation. These are called “mission-driven publishing” as they are required to publish all that is produced, without thought of market demand; and they are encouraged by their institutions and authors to be as open as possible. NAP and RAND’s authors, and institutions, want dissemination, influence, and impact; their authors are jockeying neither for tenure nor windfall royalties.

These new Presses’ approach is similar to intellect’s mission. However, they benefit from substantial financial support from their host institutions. The paper argues that traditional University Presses don’t. The link between a university press and its host institution is looser as it only may publish in the region of 10% authors from that institution and is expected to be self-funding.

The paper then presents some suggestions that may assist University Presses to deal with the uncertain future.

➢ build lists in specific scholarly arenas, focus their publishing programs on specific fields
➢ “author fees,” although they are typically paid not by authors themselves but by research grants or other institutional funds (Since there is no tradition of fee-based publication, scholars tend to equate the model with vanity publishing.)
➢ working with large group of digital vendors
➢ selling collections of titles, breaking down the concept of the “book” in favor of packaging “content,” and selling access to collections
➢ take advantage of the full range of features made possible by digital technology.
➢ born-digital titles
➢ launching new programs with experimental business models while maintaining traditional modes of publication with their long-tested—if eroding—business models
➢ a portfolio of multiple business models (each new business model is actually a new business startup, with all the accompanying business issues and risk)

The paper concludes by saying

… it seems likely that the mix of revenues, once derived primarily from the marketplace, will shift such that a greater share of revenue will come from the producers of content, whether in the form of publication fees or institutional support of other kinds.

This is the kind of “little and often” business model which has sustained my company, Intellect in the past few years. The question for me is where to go from here if others plan to do the same.

My first business model

2011-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

I had never thought that I could ever have enough financial resources to start publishing all by myself. However by 1986 I had reached the point that I could not see how I could stay true to my passion without going all the way. Walter Johnson gave me a tutorial on why I did not need any capital to publish my first books. He explained that as I already had a job I was credit worthy and I could use a letter from my bank to open a 30 day credit account with a printer. My academic colleagues were willing to provide their books in Camera Ready Copy (CRC) using early day laser printers. My job was to design the cover, fill some bibliographic forms and take the CRC to the printers with a promissory note to pay them after 30 days.

Ablex was willing to purchase 300 copies of my books as a co-edition and that was enough income to pay the whole printing bill. Any more copies I sold outside the US would contribute to my limited over head costs. I made an agreement for non-US distribution with Blackwell Scientific Publications (BSP) who were jointly publishing my journal, Artificial Intelligence Review. They were willing to market and distribute my books but unlike Ablex were not willing to make any firm commitment to purchasing a fixed number of books. I began by publishing 3 hardback books in 1987 and 4 the following year.

I was finally a publisher in the sense that I could decide what topics and at what price the books would be sold. However, the rest of the tasks where done by other who were experts in distribution and marketing based on their own long term heritage. I had learnt that I could leverage the skills as well as financial resources of my suppliers to create my own operation with my creativity instead of finance.

In 1987 I did not know what a business model was. I was not aware of cash flow or commitment accounting but I had started in business any way! I was given a crash course in cash flow management when after 30 days I was chased by my printers while Ablex's payment had not yet materialised. My panic call to Ablex was dealt calmly by the reply - No one actually pays after 30 days! You wait till they chase you, then you say 'cheque's in the post'. So what is the average time it takes to be paid? Between 60-90 days. Only salaries are paid after 30 days!

I set myself the target of not exceeding 60 days credit and be open about that with my suppliers. Some didn't like it but were grateful that I was being honest. I needed 60 days because the average time I could get paid was over 60 days. My aim has been to contribute to reducing the average time it takes to get paid and pay.

It is clear to me that we are part of a big chain of suppliers funding producers by their cash flow terms.

Joining Walter J Johnson at Ablex publishing

2011-01-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

In 1984 I met a legendary academic publisher, the late Walter J Johnson.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/23/nyregion/walter-j-johnson-88-refugee-who-founded-academic-press.html

He had launched Academic Press and sold it off with a handsome profit. Some time later he decided to come out of retirement and established Ablex in New Jersey to cover new subject areas of communication studies, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence.

He explained to me that he had chosen Ablex as the name for his new venture so that in alphabetical listings it would appear before his former project, Academic Press.

I joined Ablex as an editorial advisor seeking for Walter authors and editors in Europe among my own community of academic colleagues.

Walter had a passion for books and having been born into a publishing dynasty gave him a good sense of what would and would not be successful. Although he was financially astute, his publishing decisions on individual projects were not based on profit but on the merit of each project based on the advice of academic advisers such as me. He trusted my judgment and he had a business model which made sure his company overall was handsomely profitable even if some individual projects were not.

From my time at Ablex I learnt the importance of streamlined operations with a very clear business model that works like clockworks.

Ablex published expensive hardback books aimed primarily at 300 libraries with whom it had established a trusting relationship. The librarians trusted Walter Johnson''s publishing choices and had enough budgets to buy his output almost automatically. He would accept libraries returning unwanted books for full refund even if the books were used.

My publishing time at Ablex was a happy one. I had the freedom to choose what books got published without the worry of how they would be funded. However, gradually I began to notice that my authors were unhappy with the prices that Ablex charged for their books, about $60 in those days. Ablex had no interest in lowering the prices as its purchasers were not making their decision on price but the quality of service they got and security that they could return unwanted books for full refund, something I was told hardly ever happened in reality.

The authors felt that they would get a wider readership if the prices were low enough that individual academics could make a personal purchase instead of going via their librarian.

On day I gathered my courage to confront Walter Johnson with this dilemma. Walter explained to me that authors' works were so specialist and the areas of research so new that lower prices would not create enough revenue to keep his business profitable.

In a surprise move Walter invited me to prove him wrong by publishing the books under my own company's imprint Intellect!

How could I manage the financial burden? I had already used up all Intellect's initial share capital on a few experiments in running academic seminars and the launch of my journal Artificial Intelligence Review. For all intents and purposes Intellect had been the editor's expenses account for that journal. There was only £90 left in the bank, not enough for the launch of a new imprint, I thought. Walter Johnson assured me that I was wrong in that assumption. He had started Academic Press with $10 and maybe I could do the same if I got my business model right.

Publishing as an academic

2010-09-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

When I took up my lectureship at Exeter University in 1981 my relationship with publishing faced a dramatic twist. As a young academic there was a tremendous pressure to publish both research and tutorial texts to justify being given a permanent post. I was a "game keeper" in publishing and I was expected to become a "poacher" now!

In some ways it disappointing to me that my knowledge and passion for publishing was not much help in my academic carrier. The kind of publishing was different to the one used to at school. I did publish a tutorial book, which sold well and edited and wrote some books. However, my colleagues were at it at the same speed as me even without inside knowledge of printing or publishing.

I differed from my colleagues in one way I wanted to take part in the publishing process beyond the writing while they were happy to delegate that to others.

I formed Intellect in 1984 with two other academic friends to give me a chance to link my passion for publishing with my need to get published.

Intellect began its life not being sure of its business model. I had some experience of organizing academic conferences which lead to edited compilations published by other established publishers. Intellect hosted a seminar which resulted in a book, Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Case Studies published by Chapman and Hall. I also began producing a slim magazine called Intellect Review, which promoted our seminar programme as well as offered short books reviews.

Blackwell Scientific Publications approached me to see if I was willing to turn my magazine into a proper academic journal. At the time I was the secretary of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB). The society had turned an offer down to turn their newsletter into a journal via a partnership. Instead I was able to do a journal on the same topic under the Intellect imprint.

I took up the challenge and Artificial Intelligence Review was born in October 1986. I was doing the editorial work and outsourcing the marketing to Blackwell Scientific Publications in Oxford.

Pull and push styles of publishing

2010-08-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

Access to a printing press on my arrival in the UK was a joyful experience as the Shah's censorship in Iran had denied me the chance to use a proper press. Up to that point the best I had been able to use was a duplicating machine that used "stencil" sheets to reproduce pages at a poor quality by turning a handle. As the runs where short, the same publication was read by many people, there was only a small improvement on my school magazine of one copy posted on the school gate. But in the UK I had found a way of having long runs at minimal cost. You could get a copy in the hands of each student at the university.

I took delight in learning about the mechanical process of printing. How the signatures (sections) could be gathered and folded etc; how we could most effectively match plate and paper sizes to reduce the costs. That is why I insist that all new staff at Intellect visit our printers and at least have an idea of the printing process. Sometimes a small change to the number of pages or the size of a publication makes a significant difference in the costings. Thus an uneconomical proposition can turn into a successful project with creativity on the production side.

As I gained confidence and understood the potential of this new technology I began to understand that the notion of what "publishing" was for me was changing. While at school my publication was a single sheet of paper on the wall, here I had many copies of the same material duplicated. Before I had to bring the readers to the place where the magazine was, now I had to take the magazine to where the readers were. While before I had a record of the reader's reactions now I did not.

In today's jargon my school magazine used a "pull" technology while my university magazine used a "push" technology! Pull the audience to your publication or push yours into their hand. This blog and many other web-based publications remind me of my school magazine. As there is one central copy of the publication you can be sloppy with spelling and grammar as you can go back and correct it. You can also go back and see the reactions of the readers who could be bothered to comment. With the printing press you need to get everything right before you duplicate and when people mark their copy of your publication you have no way of seeing that.

Which system do I prefer? I am not sure!

I think it is a good discipline to strive for excellence and try and get it just right before pressing the "publish" button. But I also think it is good to be able to see a trace of the reader's reactions or at least know the pages were most read. There can be a more intimate relationship with the pull technology while a better quality with the push technology. I presume it will be horses for courses at the end.

And what about Apps that can change the content you see depending on your location or your user profile? Well that is another challenge altogether that I am just getting my head around.

Publishing as a passion

2010-08-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

When I was at school in Iran there was a tradition of producing a magazine like publication on a large sheet of paper, which was pasted on the wall to be read by the pupils. Despite the fact that neither my handwriting nor my spelling was any good I started producing such a magazine at my school.

I was a thin, shy kid and was not comfortable joining in the conversations in the playground but would pick up the chatter among the other kids to feed into the following week's magazine. I would also recycle some the teachers' more interesting words in the magazine.

I would get a great rush of excitement as my schoolmates awaited for the magazine to be posted on the wall at the start of the week. They would add their own comments and graffiti and I enjoyed the interactive nature of the medium. My poor spelling was corrected by small pieces of paper being pasted with correct spelling over the original. Some times the corrections were corrected! Once I saw a teacher doing the correcting. Another time a teacher told me that if I could not spell properly I should not be doing the school magazine!

By the end of the week the magazine looked nothing like the original sheet I had pasted on the wall at start of the week. For one thing it was thicker in most places and for another it had grown to twice the original size.

I am not sure why this project appealed to me so much at such a young age. Maybe the shyness or maybe because my other hobby was to use the same large sheets of brown paper to make kites which I could sell to rich neighbors. The same table, the same paper, pen and glue was used for both.

The "weekly news" posting in the kitchen at Intellect's Bristol office reminds me of that school project each day.

As the editor of my school magazine I was entered into the national student competition in Tehran. Each team was given a day to produce a magazine with equal amount of resources. My school had not won this competition before as it considered itself focused on academic excellence, journalism was not considered worthy of attention.

When my team came second in that competition that achievement pleased the school and my school fees were waved that year. However, I believed we could have done better with a little more preparation. Instead of reentering the competition the following year I set myself the task of coaching a new team to enter. They won the first place that year with such ease and margin that it surprised everyone.

It became clear to me that I could achieve excellence through supporting others when I may not be able to do it myself. In a strange way I was comfortable with that.

When I arrived in England in 1975 for my university education my first port of call was the office of the student union's magazine office. I explained that although my English was not yet good enough for me to write for the magazine I could at least assist with the layout.

Those were the days when the magazine was laid out on a sheet of paper called the Camera Ready Copy (CRC) using "letterset" typefaces. This was then turned into a metal plate that was used on the printing press in the basement of the student union to produce 8 page sections that were stapled together.

Why are so many books published each year?

2008-07-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought why at a time when people have so little time to read books publishers keep increasing their output?

I think books are being published because more and more people want to write them!

There was a time when there was one book (The Bible) and millions of readers. Then gradually we ended up with more choice of reading material and smaller readership for each publication. However, I feel there has been a fundamental shift of focus from readership to authorship.

When we read other people's writing it allows us to see the world through their perception. In this way we are able to feel what it is like to be the "other" person.

If reading is a window to the world, I think writing is a window to our own soul. When we write we reflect on our own perceptions and are able to feel what it is like to be who we are.

So when the primary purpose of writing is self-realisation then the objective is met through the quality of the understanding reached by the author irrespective of the size of the readership.

The advent of cheaper publishing and distribution methods via the Internet has made the shift of emphases in favour of authorship to be more profound.

The Observer’s retiring literary editor, Robert McCrum on 25 May 2008 wrote that “… while this has been the decade in which millions have found a voice through the internet, only a minority has discovered an audience. Self-expression has been democratised, but books and writers still face that age-old struggle to achieve a readership”.

How international a publisher are you?

2008-05-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Liam Gallimore-Wells sent me the following set of questions and I wish to share my replies with you.

> What are the main qualities / motivations that makes Intellect’s international approach to publishing stand out from other competitors in the market place?

We are an academic publisher of original ideas related to popular culture. The issues we deal with as well as the academic world are international by nature. I doubt if any of our competitors could survive without being open to ideas from other countries. We for sure cannot see any way of doing without it!

> What would be the potential impact on your business without an openness to ideas/ energy / opinions from other countries?

We would not be able to survive as a publisher both economically as well as intellectually.

> What makes being based in Britain special / unique for the purposes of running a successful independent publishing house?

Britain is special as it has a long tradition of tolerance and a long history of international connectedness via the empire and the commonwealth. These connections make it more possible for a publisher of original thinking like us to prosper.

> Are there any drawbacks in terms of attracting / securing new readerships by being a publisher that’s open to printing diverse cross representations of authors’ ideas / thinking? If so, how can these drawbacks be turned into positives?

The main drawback is in marketing terms. If what you publish is new ideas then it is difficult to persuade people to pay for them when there are limited resources at the disposal of academics. Ideally we would like it to be possible to make our books free in order that finance is not a barrier for the dissemination of new ideas. Already in journal publishing the "Open Access" movement is making this idea a possibility by charging the publishing costs to the authors instead of the readers.

> As founder of Intellect, how has your own personal and professional path/journey complimented or informed your culturally inclusive approach to business?

I was born in Iran some fifty years ago, my family migrated to the UK some 30 years ago. It is inevitable that having been welcomed by the culture of British tolerance and inclusivety I would also reflect these qualities in my dealings with others.

Does it help to put “international” in the title of a journal?

2008-05-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

A journal does not become such by being called “International journal of X”!

Both European Science Foundation and UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council define a journal as being international when it fits in either Category A or B below.

1) A journal is international (Categories A and B) when the following requirements are fulfilled in addition to those that apply to all journals:

• A genuine, varied and regular international cohort of contributors and readership
• Consistently high-quality scholarly content
• Broad consensus within the field concerning international status and visibility.

2) In addition, they will have some, though not necessarily all, of the following characteristics:

• Active international advisory board
• Open to unsolicited contributions
• Highly discriminating and selective in the choice of articles published
• Published on time and to an agreed schedule

The difference between category ‘A’ and category ‘B’ journals is likely to be the degree to which they conform to 1) above, and both the number of characteristics under 2) to which they conform as well as the degree of conformity. Generally, ‘A’ journals should conform to more of these characteristics, and to a greater extent, than ‘B’ journals.

What quotes need copyright permission?

2008-05-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

As a publisher one of the most frequently questions I am asked by authors is:

How long does a quote needs to be before one needs to get copyright holder’s explicit permission for reproduction?

I used to reply 150 words, but I was wrong!

There is no answer that applies to all cases as it very much depends on the context.

The British Academy and The Publishers Association have published a very useful guide for academics to copyright entitled, Guidelines for researchers and publishers in the Humanities and Social Sciences (April 2008) where the following are taken from:

" Section 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states:

Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

Some previous publishing industry assumptions, for example that taking up to 400 words is ‘safe’, are now unreliable. So, for example, an extract of 250 words from James Joyce’s Ulysses (less than one thousandth of the entire work) was held to be substantial on the basis of their unique and distinctive quality. Similarly, an extract taken from the musical work ‘Colonel Bogey’, consisting of some 20 bars and lasting only 50 seconds, was held to be a substantial part, because it was that bit of the music which the public would immediately
recognise (the ‘hook’).

Generally speaking, to be fair dealing any excerpt or extract made from a copyright work must not be an appropriation of an entire work or of that part which would represent the substance of the author’s skill and labour.

Lengthy extracts from another work have been allowed in one case where the court was satisfied that the purpose was purely to enable criticism to be made effectively, rather than simply to provide the same information as the original work and to compete with it. In many cases, the effect of good criticism and review is to increase rather than diminish the market for a work.

Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for the purposes of research for a non-commercial purpose does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement (emphasis added)."

Who should cover the costs of publishing?

2007-12-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, readers are expected to pay for the production costs of books and magazines. However, in the majority of cases others also contribute. Advertisers are a good source of revenue to the extent that many publications are fully funded by them. In academic publishing ‘open access’ is another way of saying that someone else other than the reader pays.

Many pharmaceutical companies cover the costs of publishing medical research so that doctors have no barriers in accessing results that help to sell their products! But such benefactors are in short supply when it comes to arts and humanities publishing.

If we are honest, the main beneficiary of academic publishing is the author whose ideas are ‘perpetuated’. As such, they should be the ones who contribute to the costs of making publication a success. In practice, there are already resources to support publications based around creative practice.

Unfortunately, most of these funds are wasted on self-indulgent self-publishing. Most artists’ concept of publishing is limited to production of a physical artefact without considering the wider issues of marketing and distribution. They use their limited budgets fully in producing a book based on their own aesthetic sensibilities without considering the potential readers. Most authors are also not aware of ways that the book could be produced using value-for-money formats. Any resources saved by the publisher in production could then be spent on marketing.

A professionally produced academic book benefits from the experience of the publisher in many ways. To begin with, the process of peer review eliminates vanity publishing. Secondly, the publisher acts as a proxy for potential readers, thus making the book more welcoming to the readers instead of being an obscure object of self-indulgence. Most importantly, the publisher places the book in the mainstream of potential readership through its existing contacts.

I acknowledge that many new avenues of self-publishing have emerged via the internet. However, the role of a publisher remains as critical as ever. In this respect I was pleased to read Vint Cerf’s opinion (Media Guardian, 3/12/07) that while blogs and video-sharing websites have opened up new outlets to millions of people around the world at the same time, the appetite for professionally produced content continues to grow.

Why we need ‘peer review’!

2007-11-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

Manuel Alvarado in his reply to my earlier comments makes a very clear case against the process of ‘peer review’ in academic publishing in the arts and humanities. He presents 3 reasons behind his objection:

1) When trying to create new intellectual disciplines, a body of literature does not exist, nor is there a body of experts for the peer review process. Therefore, he suggests we should only use peer review in long established areas of scientific and medical publishing.

2) When the subject matter of the books may date quickly we should avoid slowing down the process by peer review.

3) Peer review is inherently conservative and would hinder publication of intellectually stimulating and groundbreaking work. Peer review does little more than confirm that conventional academic protocols have been observed. Reviewers may have academic and personal prejudices and hobbyhorses.

I happen to disagree with Manuel and would like to respond to each of his points.

1) It is true that publication as a method of dissemination is new to the arts and humanities. However, there is no good reason why publication of academic work in these areas should be exempt from the review process. In fact, the process of educating academics in these subjects to become good reviewers contributes to their development of a solid academic community. If we allow a poor publication model to be applied to the arts and humanities, we will end up with these becoming poor academic subjects. It is of paramount importance to a publisher to promote and encourage high standards as these new subjects are developed.

2) Academic publications are “archival repositories of verified knowledge”. Material that requires rapid dissemination need not be considered for inclusion in a long-term repository. Part of being academic is to take time to reflect on whether one’s discoveries can take the test of time.

3) It is true that peer review in a very small measure acts as a filter that rejects some material that may be good. But for sure it also rejects a lot more material that is poor in quality of presentation and some that is plainly not worthy of publication. And what is wrong with art and humanities publications following consistent style concentrations? Clarity of presentation helps in better communication.

To be honest I don’t believe that Manuel has bypassed peer review in his past publishing enterprises. My view is that as a result of his being both an academic specialist as well as being the publisher, he has been able to perform the peer review process in-house. His dual role has allowed him to speed up the publication process, giving the illusion that peer review was not needed.

In fact, most of what Manuel says confirms to me that peer review and the rest of what an academic publisher offers an author is a discipline that does the author more good than harm!

Publishing is a process of mediation and conflict! At each stage the author negotiates an improvement:

• the refereeing process (proposal, MS) - need to persuade peers it is worth publishing it.
• copyediting process - need to be clear to a non-specialist reader
• design and layout - need to fit into a house style while making sure that ‘form’ reflects the ‘content’ of the publication.

Manuel is right in mentioning the web as a crucial tool in the process of dissemination. The web comes into its full potential as an alternative when the author is unwilling, unable or in too much of a rush to negotiate publication via a caring academic publisher. A publisher adds value to the author’s work, but at a price! It requires the author to be more patient as well as increasing the financial costs.

Why do artists want to publish?

2007-11-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well, most artists don’t. They may like to have someone interview them and write about them. But most creative think that art speaks for itself!

“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper (American Painter. 1882-1967)

But some artists also work as art teachers, and some even teach in universities. These ones have got to publish in the same ways as their colleagues in science, engineering and even humanities need to do.

Manuel Alvarado calls this “the dead hand of the pressures of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).” For those who do not know what RAE means, I can explain. The British Government in its wisdom decided that the part of a university’s budget allocated for research should be distributed through a periodic assessment of the quality of research produced by UK university departments. It seems that measuring the volume and quality of research output via publications is the easiest way of doing this. University based artists and others in practice-based work have found themselves challenged to back up their creative artefacts with written material that contextualises them in their academic context.

Of course, there are other mediums where one’s ideas can be communicated to an audience:

• a website, blog, DVD
• a video diary, television programme, movie
• a radio series
• a song
• a painting, a photograph
• an installation, exhibition
• an ad series
• a peaceful demonstration
• an act of terrorism
• a bombing raid

But writing has won the day! In some way I am glad about this because I like words as a cultural currency.

Writing:
• is cheaper than staging a play
• can preserve the creative work
• offers reflection on Practice
• helps build a creative heritage

Of course, there are drawbacks when we use writing as the main currency. For example, documentation establishes a standard version, there is less freedom for improvisation, and there may be fewer variations!

What kinds of academic writing are there?

2007-11-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

There are many kinds of writing that originates from academia. In my view there are three clear-cut categories that can use for them.

1) Research papers (in journals or as monographs)

They

• assume an audience with a basic knowledge of the area
• avoid the use of jargon wherever possible
• are written in a style which is disciplined and precise, and avoid the use of convoluted constructions
• emphasise original contributions
• give full standard citations.

2) Survey papers (in reference books or monographs)

They

• assume an audience with a basic knowledge of the area
• are written in a style which is disciplined and precise, and avoid the use of convoluted constructions
• emphasise tools, techniques or products
• define the extent of the survey area
• give full references for further reading or information.

3) Tutorial papers (in textbooks)

They

• assume an audience that is inexpert in the topic
• define the extent of the topics covered
• are written in a style which is disciplined and precise, and avoid the use of convoluted constructions
• emphasize basic concepts.

Why do academics need to publish?

2007-10-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the phrase “publish or perish” applied to academics. But why? In one of my workshops I asked some recently appointed lecturers why they thought they needed to publish. Their replies included:

• Reproduction of experiments
• Critical evaluation
• Funding application
• Distribution of ideas / Sharing your ideas
• Teaching
• Patent/ Credit/ recognition of effort
• Feedback
• Quality Assurance
• Self satisfaction
• Ego/ prestige/ good on CV
• Helping the economy / IPR
• Collaboration
• Closure/ end point of a research project

While I agree with all of the above as important (especially the one about ‘closure’), I feel there is something more important then all of these! Vygotsky (The Collected Works of L.S.Vygotsky, Vol. 1 NY: Plenum Press) has observed that people clarify what they mean while they try to articulate it in words. This is endorsed by the experience of many that when they try to talk about something they discover flaws in their argument and correct them before others get round to pointing it out to them.

It is now widely accepted that talking about something can consolidate an individual's knowledge and even lead to discovery of a solution. In other words, publishing is an integral part of the discovery of new ideas. Not just because it brings the idea to the attention of others, but also because it allows the author to have a more critical relationship to their own ideas.

The potential audience’s role changes the objective of publishing. If your main concern is with the ‘development of ideas’ then your audience size may be zero, and you can get away with cryptic notes. While if your objective is the ‘distribution of ideas’, then you want as wide an audience as possible, which in turn means writing in a way that recognises their needs and limitations. There is a trade off here, which in my view is best seen in a PhD thesis. A thesis is aimed at impressing two or three examiners, and as such does not make good reading as a general book. While a general readership book does not pass a PhD examination.

There is a second trade off between the ‘ownership of ideas’ you have developed, and the ‘size of the audience’. If you want to protect your idea, then you limit the size of its audience. While if you want the widest readership, you may have to let others champion them in their own way.

Is there a future for an academic publisher?

2007-10-10T05:27:00.002-07:00

The focus of publishing is no longer the production of an elegant book (or some other artefact) at the right price. There was a time that if a publisher produced a book that satisfied the reading habits of a community of readers, the chances of selling copies of it were influenced by the product, its price as well as the publishers marketing efforts.

The role of the publisher is changing in today’s environment, where books and other material overwhelm communities of readers directly presented to them by the authors. The focus has become on building a long-term relationship with a community of readers who come to recognize and trust a publisher’s brand.

Most academic authors do not need a publisher to produce their books or articles. They can easily produce elegant books with computer based page layout systems. Digital print-on-demand facilities also make it easy for the authors to produce copies with minimal up front investment and have them despatched to the readers. In addition the distribution via the web makes the print medium less critical.

Some academic authors find the intervention of a publisher in the production process annoying! Academic publishers demand that all manuscripts be subjected to peer-review. This incorporates a long delay in the production process and in most cases requires the author to revise the manuscript. Publishers also use trained copy-editors who revise the language and style of the publication to a level of consistency within the publisher’s house style with which the authors may not be comfortable.

In my view publishers are winning on two fronts and losing on a third when it comes to academic publishing.

1) Most academic articles are published in established journals and publishers own these. Academics are locked into these brands and attempts to break out of this have had limited success. The publishers clearly add value to the process and their brand helps bring the authors to the attention of an established readership. The idea of “open access” in my view is a red hearing as it still acknowledges the role of the publisher. It only shifts the payment to them from the reader to either the author or a third party benefactor.
2) Reference and textbooks are growing to be the main stay of academic publishers. They meet the needs of communities of readers and publishers are better at finding out such needs and getting authors to fulfil them. As the potential audience for a textbook or a reference book is large publishers are willing to take risks to make them work.
3) It is the publication of research monographs that has most suffered in recent years. The readership for an original idea is small and expensive to reach in marketing terms. Authors are not convinced that they need a publisher's help to reach readers. The publishers see little financial gain in ever smaller audiences for ever larger number of books.

What does a publisher do?

2007-10-10T05:27:00.001-07:00

A publisher connects readers to writers. This is done through some kind of “media” which needs to be a permanent artefact, such as ink marks on paper. The oral communication of ideas in my view should be excluded from the publishing process unless there is a recording (such as an audio book).

Publishers are not passive intermediaries. They play a “creative role” in bringing readers to the authors.

Some publishers start with the needs and desires of the readers (such as a desire in celebrity gossip or desire to learn how to cook) and then find the best author to produce the product to meet that need. Some other publishers start with authors who have something to say (on religion, politics, ecology etc.) and then search for readers who are willing to listen.

Most publishers claim that they are some where in the middle of the above spectrum. These publishers normally have a rough idea of who their typical readers are even if they do not specifically attempt to meet their needs. In this case the publisher tries to choose among a mass of submissions those that may meet the needs of the typical reader. The editorial revisions are the publishers’ way of making the square peg of an author’s submission fit in the round hole of the readers’ interests.

From the time a manuscript is chosen to the time it is read it is subjected to the creative act of publishing. In this period it is checked for accuracy and ease of comprehension (edited); checked for grammar and spelling (copyedited); laid out for the page (typeset) and produced (printed). It is then marketed, distributed, sold, monies collected, bills paid and the author given a royalty statement (and maybe a cheque).

Who am I?

2007-10-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

I am a publisher.

The question of identity is a central part of anyone’s existence. In my case being a publisher is the central part of my identity!

But it was not the case before. “A publisher” a few years ago replaced “ a teacher” as the central part of my personal identity. Although I retired as a Full Professor and as a Dean I had for almost 20 years seen myself first and foremost as a teacher. Gradual promotions and the introduction of various audit systems within the British higher education took the joy out of being a teacher and I decided to focus my attention on another part my identity. I have been a practising publisher ever since I entered secondary school education. Then at the age of 50 I came out and felt that being a publisher was my main avenue of serving humankind.

It is worthwhile saying that I was born in Isfahan (in the centre of Iran, a city of great many blue Mosques) where people are born to be good with money matters! A part of being a publisher involves making a little bit of money go a long way!

Most of my childhood was signified by the fact that I was very thin, as I did not like the taste of meat. My parents thought I was clever but lazy. I enjoyed reading books, any books, on any subject. Seeing the film Farenheit 451 (based on Ray Bradury’s book of the same title) articulated for me what I had felt about books. Books and other forms of representation of ideas via words were my favourite cultural artefacts. In the same way as music, art or performance resonates with some people, books gave me a handle on life – that of my own and of others.

I got into editing the school magazine, as it was a way of getting out of doing the compulsory Physical Education classes. By the time I was sixteen I was being published in the national press under various pseudonyms, as well as competing in the national school journalism competitions.

I wanted to become a journalist but my parents did not approve of that career choice, as it was dangerous at that time in Iran with Shah’s regime. I ended up enrolling for an electrical engineering degree. I managed to publish my first book. My second, a children’s story, was turned down by the censors.