Self-Publishing on a Shoestring (Huffington Post)
When you first enter the world of indie-publishing, things can get confusing, fast. The learning curve is steep. And now that companies have realized how lucrative it can be, self-publishing and vanity imprints are springing up like wild mushrooms, working hard to convince people to spend between $1,000 and $25,000 with them, to publish their book.
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Why Hasn’t Scientific Publishing Been Disrupted Already? (The Scholarly Kitchen)
Looking back on 2009, there was one particular note that seemed to sound repeatedly, resonating through the professional discourse at conferences and in posts throughout the blogosphere: the likelihood of disruptive change afoot in the scientific publishing industry.
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Practicing Freedom in the Digital Library (Library Journal)
When we were creating our first strategic plan at my library, we held some focus groups with faculty. One of them said something that still resonates with me: “It’s not about technology, it’s about pedagogy.” He thought we were paying attention to the wrong thing.
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European Commission Report Says Open Access at ‘Tipping Point’ (Techdirt)
Techdirt has been reporting for some time on the growing number of moves towards making academic work freely available to the public — for example this recent major boost from the University of California. But what about the bigger picture?
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Kindle Daily Deals: “Pavilion of Women: A Novel of Life in the Women’s Quarters” by Pearl S. Buck (and 3 others)
The two pieces on academic publishing (a 2009 Scholarly Kitchen article and the more recent EC report) take positions opposite one another but fail to illuminate this murky landscape for those of us who are interested and looking on.
The vested interests of scholarly publishers are essentially holding academic writing hostage so that they may continue to exist despite their gross inefficiency and despite the promise of digital technologies to set us free of the tribute that they demand.
What’s not made clear is that Open Access often simply shifts the cost of journal access from academic libraries to the researchers themselves (Gold OA). The publishers still get their pound of flesh.
The lever that publishers have in this environment is their control over the validation of academic writing and the importance of a publication record to an academic career (publish or perish).
I hate how many people are trying to make a buck off of Indies. Much of what they offer is over priced and for stuff you can do on your own. I did it on my own and have written up how a cheap guide to self-publish. Check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/Land-Unaltered-Confederation-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00DD158FK/