From Suspicion to Sustainability: Open Access Saves Humanities Monographs

1. From Suspicion to Sustainability:How Open Access Can Save the Humanities MonographSeptember 2019John Sherer, Director – University of North Carolina Press @jesherer

2. History’s Garbage Heap of Failed Digital Reading Experiments CD-ROM, 1996 Franklin eBook Man, 1999 Casio PDA 2002

3. November 19, 2007First Kindle Offered for Sale in U.S.

4. The Great RecessionDow Jones AvgOct 2007: 14,093Dow Jones Avg Mar 2009: 8,451$10.2 trillion wealth losthttps://www.businessinsider.com/2009/2/america-lost-102-trillion-of-wealth-in-2008

5. eBook Hockey-Stick Sales Growth Source: AAP 2012 Statshot

6. The End of Days for Publishing “The End. The book business as we know it will not be living happily ever after.” —Boris Kachka, New York Magazine (9/14/2008) “Technology has disrupted every industry. Now, it's book publishing's turn. Archaic beyond belief, it's an industry that treats its most important asset--the author--badly. Can this go on?”—Sramana Mitra, Forbes (5/16/2008) “Two years? Three years? Five years? It's a parlor game in publishing circles to speculate how long it will take before e-books constitute a majority of the industry's sales in the U.S. But the tipping point aside, no one doubts that that is where the market is headed.”—Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine (3/21/2011) “First, Amazon killed the bookstore…. Now, the online retail giant might be coming for book publishers.”—The Week (10/18/2011)

7. Not Even an S-Curve in eBook Sales Source: Association of American Presses 2018 Statshot

8. Analog Strikes Back “The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved.” —Umberto Eco “The ebook is a stupid product. It is exactly the same as print, except it’s electronic. There is no creativity, no enhancement, no real digital experience.” —ArnoudNourry, CEO Hachette

9. Boxed in by the Walled Gardens Apple Barnes & Noble Amazon Google

12. Students Appear to Prefer Print Source: Naomi Baron, Words on Screen (2015), p. 86

13. eBooks Are 12% of the Trade Book Market Source: AAP Statshot 2018

14. Scholarly Searches Begin Digitally, but Reading Happens in Print Source: Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2018

15. The Fungible Book

16. Longleaf then

17. Longleaf Now

18. Mellon-Funded Initiative to Publish up to 125 OA History Monographs University of British Columbia Press Cambridge University Press University Press of Colorado Cornell University PressDuke University Press Fordham University Press University of Georgia Press University of Hawaii Press Kent State University Press Liverpool University Press Louisiana State University Press Manchester University Press University of Michigan Press University Press of Mississippi University of Nebraska Press University of New Mexico Press University of North Carolina Press Oxford University Press University of Rochester Press University of South Carolina Press University of Virginia Press University of Washington Press

19. Uncoupling the Publishing Process Accelerates the Workflow, Reduces Costs, and Creates High Quality Digital Formats

20. Affirmative Case for the Author • Unparalleled access to your scholarship • Books are optimized for digital discovery and re-use • Analytics and impact • Qualitative feedback • Speed to market

21. “You’ll never stop piracy. So what you have to do is compete with it.”—Steve Jobs

22. Monographs Are Expensive to Produce • Cost to acquire, peer review, developmental editing: ~$7,500 • Cost to copyedit: ~$3,500 • Cost for cover design, composition: ~$4,500 • Manufacturing/warehousing: ~$4,500 • Cost for marketing: ~$7,000 • Cost for overhead: ~$8,000 • Total Minimum Costs: ~$35,000 • Average Sales Revenue: ~$18,000 • Net Income: ~($17,000) Based on UNC Press costs per Ithaka Report for standard, 350 pp manuscript and 800 copy print run

23. Monographs Are Expensive to Produce • Cost to acquire, peer review, developmental editing: ~$7,500 • Cost to copyedit: ~$3,500 • Cost for cover design, composition: ~$4,500 • Manufacturing/warehousing: ~$4,500 • Cost for marketing: ~$7,000 • Cost for overhead: ~$8,000 • Total Minimum Costs: ~$35,000 • Average Sales Revenue: ~$18,000 • Net Income: ~($17,000) Based on UNC Press costs per Ithaka Report for standard, 350 pp manuscript and 800 copy print run

24. Monograph Macroeconomics $30 Million 4,000 new monographs a year $7,500 per book to Presses

25. Monograph Macroeconomics $30 Million 4,000 new monographs a year $7,500 per book to Presses ~1,000 libraries/institutions 350 pay $15,000 350 pay $30,000 350 pay $40,000

26. Facing the Future “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”—Clay Shirky