[SystemSafety] Fwd: Re: New book

[Nancy Leveson]

I have *not* found it possible to negotiate price -- publishers set it
according to how many copies they expect to sell. If it is a niche book or
you do not have a publishing record of selling a large number of previous
books, the price is likely to be very high in order for them to protect
themselves.

I have, this time, negotiated accessibility, however, because the publisher
really wanted my book. I wanted students, particularly in third world
countries, to be able to use it free and was willing to keep the book
simply on my webpage (unpublished). So I made a deal that required my
publisher to provide a free download of the book to those who wanted that.
There is a button on the publisher's web page that allows the free
download. In return, the price was a little higher (I think) and I agreed
to return most of my royalties until a certain number of books were sold
(to ensure the publisher did not lose money by everyone simply downloading
a free copy). The first numbers I have gotten is that about an equal number
of books have been sold as have been downloaded (to unique URLs).

Nancy

On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 10:13 AM, Peter Bernard Ladkin <
ladkin at rvs.uni-bielefeld.de> wrote:

> On 4/15/13 3:22 PM, SPRIGGS, John J wrote:
>
>> Self-publish next time?
>>
>
> Given my experience, I can't say I would recommend it. (Not that my book
> was technically self-published - the Impressum, namely legal responsibility
> for content, a requirement of German law, lies with my group RVS at the Uni
> Bielefeld.)
>
> Colleagues and organisations do not recognise book-length content on
> merit. They want not only an ISBN but a recognised publisher. That is, for
> example, close to what the "rules" say concerning putting manuscripts in
> bibliographies on any grant applications in Germany (they add: a signed
> contract). (A young colleague preparing a grant application in 2011 for a
> consortium in which I was involved claimed he could find "nothing I had
> published" in 2007-2011. There was of course a subtext, but in many
> organisations there is some such subtext or other.)
>
> As made clear by Nancy's and John's prices, it is possible to negotiate
> accessibility with some publishers.
>
>
> PBL
>
> Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of
> Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
> Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de
>
>
>
>
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>



-- 
Prof. Nancy Leveson
Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems
MIT, Room 33-334
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02142

Telephone: 617-258-0505
Email: leveson at mit.edu
URL: http://sunnyday.mit.edu
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