Re: Print-on-demand at university presses

[Jean-Claude Guedon <jean.claude.guedon@umontreal.ca>]

Thank you, Sandy, for this precious information.

What I am wondering is what would happen to the POD phase if the 
book were also available in OA electronic format? Surely, the 
revenues from the POD phase are minor and it may be that the POD 
sales would be stimulated by the OA electronic version available.

As for the Romance Studies: bravo!! And i would very much like to 
see how this experiment is faring. Your site is OA but obviously 
favours browsing and I suspect that many people will be tempted 
to buy. Yochai's Benkler experience with an OA electronic version 
of his book (Wealth of Networks) was quite spectacular: the spike 
in sales after the book was announced to be in OA on the OA lists 
was bigger than the spike he got from the review in Time 
Magazine.

Incidentally, I wonder whether one big file for the OA electronic 
version is not better to incite buys than sections. The issue is 
not owning or not the book, but being able to read it online. By 
breaking it up in sections, you may be unwittingly inciting 
people to read sections online and not buy the paper book.

Have you announced the PSU Romance series on Peter Suber's blog? 
I bet this would create some stir.

I have sent the news to Athabasca U. Press and to Jean Kempf who 
is part of the new European project OApen and head of Presses 
universitaires de Lyon in France.

Again, and incidentally, if POD had mirrors across the globe, the 
cost of shipping would go down drastically. A group of university 
presses, worldwide, ought to be able to organize such a network.

Thanks again for the fascinating information.

Best,

Jean-Claude