Re: Bringing out-of-print math books into print

In article <fuq5hf$vh5$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Aatu Koskensilta <aatu.koskensilta@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2008-04-23, in sci.math.research, J.S. Milne wrote:
It seems to me that this will achieve essentially the same thing as
going through Dover or AMS but will be vastly easier.

Alas, as noted already, not all the authors are alive anymore.

Indeed, and even if the author is alive, there is still a need for a site
like the one I suggested, to demonstrate the demand. Authors are busy and
may not want to take the trouble to get their copyright back and make the
book available unless they are convinced that there is demand for it.
Conversely, if the demand is clear, then it's much more likely that someone
(author or publisher) will be motivated to undertake the (sometimes tedious)
process of getting the book back into print.

In another article, Michael Hardy suggests that the problem might solve
itself in a few years. The on-demand-publishing part of the equation may
indeed be solved (in fact, on-demand publishers already exist), but that's
not the only problem that needs to be solved. The copyright and the text
still typically reside with the original author or publisher, who needs to
be persuaded to make these things available. So, evidence of demand for
the book is still needed. And that's what the website I suggested is
designed to address.

As for whether such a website will materialize anyway without my pushing
for it, I don't know. It's true that buzzwords like "Web 2.0" and "the
long tail" are in vogue nowadays, but while I believe that there is financial
payoff to be had here, it's not likely to be a huge money-maker, so it's not
clear that entrepreneurs will inevitably move into this space. Scholars and
not entrepreneurs stand to gain the most, so I think scholars need to push
for it.
--
Tim Chow tchow-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu
The range of our projectiles---even ... the artillery---however great, will
never exceed four of those miles of which as many thousand separate us from
the center of the earth. ---Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences

.

Relevant Pages

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