Independent Open Access Book Publishing 101

Gelfer, Joseph, Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality

In a previous editorial (Gelfer, 2009), I wrote about the economics of open access journal publishing. Specifically, I noted how a particular viewpoint expressed by Conley and Wooders (2009) glossed over some of the skills involved in open access publishing, and how this resulted at once in a devaluation of the publishing profession, and the co-option of free labor from academics. The outcome of this combination is that open access publishing can be seen as the privilege of those who can afford to support a volunteer economy. However, I am still an advocate of alternative publishing models, as demonstrated by JMMS being an open access journal. In this editorial I want to assume that we have made peace with the nature of volunteer economics, and offer some further practical thoughts not in the domain of journals (because this has been done in many other places), but books. Further still, I want to talk not about open access books in the increasing number of institutionally-supported open access monograph initiatives (important though they are), but genuinely independent publishing that is delivered not just online as open access content, but also via other channels such as print and Kindle.

My thinking on this subject was encouraged by the idea of writing a nonacademic book about masculinity that could be written exactly as I wanted (in other words, not mediated by what a …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Independent Open Access Book Publishing 101. Contributors: Gelfer, Joseph - Author. Journal title: Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality. Volume: 6. Issue: 1 Publication date: January 2012. Page number: 1+. © 2009 Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.