[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Advice needed - book publication



First of all I would never send a publisher an original and certainly not an irreplaceable one!!!  Make copies and send the copies.  Keep the negatives.  The one publisher I have dealt with recently advised against sending negatives or my only prints or even original slices.  Instead they recommended sending copies.  I did that.  It was a university press, but I would think that a knowledeable and reputable commercial publisher would do the same.

The only reason I could think of for a publisher to approach you to prepare a book would be that the publisher anticipated making a goodly sum of money on it.  What part of that money will you and/or your institution receive?  If that is not in the contract, by all means insist upon a change in the contract.  Is there some indication in the current in the current contract that you actually give the publisher the right to reproduce the materials?  If not it should be there, and you should certainly indicate that the permission is for one time use only.  Hence any reprints or new editions will require a new permission.

If I were in your situation, I believe that I would assert more control over the whole matter.  After all it is your institution that has the original materials.  I do not know if your institution has the copyright.  If you do not, do you know who does?  I believe that I would also insist that as the holder of the original copies, that your institution has the right to use them whenever and however it chooses.  If that is not acceptable, then I believe I would find a different publisher.

    

Charles R. Schultz, CA
Professor and Clements Archivist
Cushing Library
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-5000
c-schultz@tamu.edu
979-862-1555
FAX 979-845-1441

State-of-the-art automation will never beat the wastebasket 
when it comes to speeding up efficiency in the office.
Ann Landers Gem of the Day, July 27, 1994



<<Texas A&M University Libraries, 5000-TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-5000>>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>