As readers of this blog will know, I've made my previous academic books available over the internet via Google Books. Anyone wishing to read Television's Window on the World, based on my doctoral dissertation, Global Television and the Politics of the Seoul Olympics, co-authored with Prof. Heung Soo Park, Television in the Olympics, co-authored with Miquel de Moragas and Nancy Rivenburgh, and several other books and monographs, may do so via the internet.
Now, I'm in the middle of writing my own account of the role of telecommunications in Korea's transformation. It is written in the first person, in order to draw upon my personal experiences spanning the past four decades or so.
My question is very simple. Should I seek a reputable academic or commercial publisher, as I've always done in the past, or publish it myself? (via one of the services that allow e-book and more conventional formats) I'm well aware that the book publishing industry has been turned on its head by the information revolution and perhaps even more aware that there is no financial reward for publishing academic works.
I'd love to hear reader opinion on this, since it may influence just how I "publish" this new book. Thanks in advance for your input.
Mr. Larson:
ReplyDeleteYour latest book from Routledge, Digital Development in Korea - Building an Information Society, seems like an interesting book, but for $133, I can't afford it. I'm pretty sure that most of that cost goes to Routledge, and not the authors. There is then also the balance between price and the number of books sold. I wouldn't buy this book at 133, but would consider it at 30. The ebook is also 100 dollars, well out of my price range.
Self publishing no longer has a stigma that it did in the past, and it should be able to get wider distribution at a lower cost. In addition, I no longer buy paper books - if it is not available in electrons, I'm not interested in it - I no longer have the room! Self publishing would allow for more formats, and more options (ebooks, selling by chapters, print on demand).
Just my 2 cents.
bj