tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post2308240962612951555..comments2023-08-01T01:15:40.086-07:00Comments on Northwest History: The Death of Scholarly Publishing?Larry Cebulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-10696338917626202732009-05-29T14:54:24.453-07:002009-05-29T14:54:24.453-07:00Hey JURN looks to be a very interesting project! I...Hey JURN looks to be a very interesting project! I need to blog about it--is there anything I should know beyond what is at the site and project blog?Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-24310344442055496082009-05-29T12:48:21.526-07:002009-05-29T12:48:21.526-07:00I agree about the high street vapourware (but, the...I agree about the high street vapourware (but, these days: "bookshops, wot they?"), and blogged at length on the topic back in 2006...<br /><br />http://www.d-log.info/?p=1886JURNhttp://jurn.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-13771591430734308582009-05-29T11:44:00.526-07:002009-05-29T11:44:00.526-07:00Jurn, you are quite right that Lulu works and work...Jurn, you are quite right that Lulu works and works well, for what it is. If you follow the link "my experiment with one of them" in the post you will see that I was pretty happy when I used Lulu to get a printed copy of an out-of-print Google book.<br /><br />But it is still a pretty arcane process, via the internet, for public domain books, your own book, or for books that have self-published online. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think many peer-reviewed history books are available this way.<br /><br />The POD that I want, and that I have been reading about for more than a decade, is where I can go into a bookstore and tell the clerk "I MUST HAVE e a copy of Larry Cebula's Plateau Indians and Search for Spriritual Power, 1700-1850! I can't live another hour without reading this compelling narrative!!!!!" And then the clerk says "A lot of people feel that way, I'll have it for you in a few minutes." The clerk pushes some buttons and a copy of the book is printed with a machine in the back room, while I order a latte.<br /><br />And I take the book, get in my flying car, and wing my way home.Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-838014926583752692009-05-29T05:33:37.047-07:002009-05-29T05:33:37.047-07:00Larry, POD is perfectly viable now and has been f...Larry, POD is perfectly viable now and has been for some years. Just upload a PDF and hook up with http://lulu.com/ to offer your readers a printed and bound book version of your file, if they really need it on their shelves or in their archives.JURNhttp://jurn.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-63740387188013276192009-05-27T07:24:36.308-07:002009-05-27T07:24:36.308-07:00Laura: I'll check out the podcast. I also used to ...Laura: I'll check out the podcast. I also used to think the reports of a crisis in scholarly publishing were exaggerated, but when I look at the rapid contraction of the newspaper industry and the current budget crisis in almost every state university system, things look dire.<br /><br />Arhutch: Yes, POD is theoretically viable. So where is it? I think we have been promised the imminent arrival of widespread POD for a decade or more. It is the flying car of publishing futurism.Larry Cebulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16798046652983001155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-12081238020245455572009-05-27T05:54:29.072-07:002009-05-27T05:54:29.072-07:00Where the market for a product (in this case schol...Where the market for a product (in this case scholarly monographs) is so very small, production has to be as efficient as possible in order to break even on costs. Especially where each individual title appeals to what may be a few dozen customers, it is terribly difficult to justify the costs that printing, binding, distribution, warehousing present.<br /><br />That said, I think print-on-demand is a viable compromise and we will see more and more of it as the technology improves. (The buyer doesn't even have to know)arhutchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17672081974258415184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3533010775907799154.post-71076726672632659222009-05-26T21:56:44.805-07:002009-05-26T21:56:44.805-07:00I think an obituary for print books is premature, ...I think an obituary for print books is premature, though the market is likely to continue to contract. <br />While I personally embrace the flexibility offered by various digital forms, I also think there will be a place for print in the foreseeable future, in part because<br />of the limits of Kindle and other readers. I expanded on this argument on-line just last week at the Making History Podcast blog.Laura Mitchellhttp://makinghistorypodcast.com/2009/05/20/whats-print-got-to-do-with-it-new-frontiers-of-digital-of-scholarship/noreply@blogger.com