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Forget Kindle! Big Opportunity For Smart People In Academic Publishing

by Martin Luxton
9 replies
Looks like there could be an "offline gold" opportunity here for low cost formatting/epublishing services.

Harvard University says it can't afford journal publishers' prices | Science | The Guardian

Martin
#academic #big #forget #kindle #opportunity #people #publishing #smart
  • Profile picture of the author DianaHeuser
    Hey Martin

    That's a really interesting article. I wonder where we could get hold of all their email addresses and send them a note telling then how we could help them?

    Di
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
      Originally Posted by DianaHeuser View Post

      Hey Martin

      That's a really interesting article. I wonder where we could get hold of all their email addresses and send them a note telling then how we could help them?

      Di
      Fed up of publishers making a fortune off your research?

      Sign up here for . . .
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    Guess I should give up on that Kindle bestseller I was gonna write and start putting some books together on Quantum Physics.
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      As a former college professor, I can tell you that self-publishing for academics is a total non-starter. (I assume that is the opportunity you were referring to, helping academics get published on their own.)

      Any book, article or research paper that has not been "peer reviewed" or that comes out from an unknown publisher does not count for anything at all when it comes to being hired, promoted or achieving tenure. It can even hurt.

      In addition, if you don't have an academic background yourself, you wouldn't know which characteristics of the manuscript were most important to format correctly or how to create a bibliography that matched the expectations in that particular discipline. (Different fields use different methods of referencing sources.)

      In short, this will neither be profitable nor easy.

      Marcia Yudkin
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      Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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      • Profile picture of the author Henry White
        Education is possibly the next bubble to burst - long overdue by decades IMO.

        "Open access" sounds promising, but there are way too much money, power and influence involved - none of which is going to meekly surrendered by those in control of an antiquated system.
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      • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        As a former college professor, I can tell you that self-publishing for academics is a total non-starter. (I assume that is the opportunity you were referring to, helping academics get published on their own.) Marcia Yudkin
        Marcia,

        It's not about the peer reviewing (of course that is mandatory).

        What the article mentions is that the publishers (appear to) do little more than format and distribute the research papers and are leeches on the body academic.

        And maybe the academic world needs a shakeup. There are quite a few dodgy journals that seem to be organised as cash cows rather than reputable scientific testing grounds.

        Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Coleman
    Originally Posted by Martin Luxton View Post

    Looks like there could be an "offline gold" opportunity here for low cost formatting/epublishing services.

    Harvard University says it can't afford journal publishers' prices | Science | The Guardian

    Martin
    That's actually a radical move for Harvard. I wonder if they were influenced by Kindle and Jeff's frugality? ;-)

    Paul
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    Bookpumper.com - The Kindle Revolution
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  • Profile picture of the author knish
    So from what I understand, universities are looking for cheaper ways to market and publish their research? If so, this does sound like an awesome opportunity.
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  • Profile picture of the author Haluvibe
    I would be very surprised if their isn't a tech startup working on this issue right now!
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