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RECYCLING ORPHANS
AND OTHER OUT-OF-PRINT BOOKS
Posted June 17, 2002
| SUMMARYEventually a book loses the earning power that a publishing house needs to keep it in inventory. That, however, doesn't mean the book is done. Through self-publishing, an author can keep an orphaned title in print and up-to-date. |
By Frank Silverman
Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin
Many academic authors will experience having a book go out of print when there is nothing wrong with it. A book, for example, may become an "orphan" after the publisher goes through a corporate merger and allowed to die a slow death through neglect. |
When a book goes out of print for whatever reason, you have two options: Allow it to remain out of print or get it back into print, either as is or revised. If you choose to revise your book, you again have two options: Find a new publisher or self-publish. The copyright, of course, has to revert to you before you can do either.
Are you likely enough to find a new publisher for such a book to make the effort worthwhile? Based on personal experience, the answer is yes. I've gotten three books back into print in this way.
A mistake that authors frequently make when attempting to find a new publisher for a book is sending copies to potential ones. Acquisition editors are likely to assume that a book that wasn't kept in print by its original publisher probably has something wrong with it. Consequently, a better approach is to treat the book like a new one and only submit a proposal and the manuscript for a sample chapter.
The second option for keeping a book in print is to self-publish it. This entails, among other things, setting up a small publishing company. I did this for a few hundred dollars.
© 2001, Franklin H. Silverman. All rights reserved.
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SILVERMAN
| Silverman's book, Self-Publishing Books and Materials for Students, Academics, and Professionals, is available from Amazon.com or from CODI Publications, P.O. Box 261, Greendale WI 53129. Price: $29.95. |
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