[SystemSafety] Fwd: Re: New book

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

On 4/15/13 4:23 PM, Nancy Leveson wrote:
> 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.

Thanks for the info. I would guess it's helpful for a lot of people here - in particular those who 
might at some point be involved in publishing conference proceedings - to know the possibilities.

Some smaller publishers in Germany, such as the one I am using -rather, hope to be using if the 
university's lawyers indicate they are happy- keep prices low, as well as expectations of sales. 
They share initial risks by asking for a payment up front from the author/editor and indicate at 
what point that cost will be covered by royalties. They also do not insist that authors sign over 
copyright, which is a very big plus in favor of this model, in particular if one is publishing 
conference proceedings involving papers from engineering companies who wish to retain their 
intellectual property.

Such publishers can benefit greatly from exploiting print-on-demand technology and electronic book 
format.

Where they are disadvantaged is in prestige value, and the resources they are able to put into 
advertising.

As Felix indicates, there is no such small-press industry in Britain any more. Except in poetry and 
(some) novels. The people who used to publish all the IMechE literature (including texts), 
Professional Engineering Publishing, have been taken over by SAGE. The German electrotechnical 
engineering society, VDE, still has its own press, putting out moderately-priced volumes (€60 range, 
still suitable for engineers but not for students).

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