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Louis wrote: "I have a big problem with this. The issues being addressed in HM books are of interest to a global audience. For many people, the cost of a Haymarket paperback is about as prohibitive as a Brill hardcover especially if you are living outside of the USA. I got a feel for that sending the book on Syria to people in Europe. Speaking of that book, Ukant sold it for cost ($15) just like all the other books they publish. Is that the case with Haymarket? I doubt it." "This may sound radical but I feel that Marxist books should be published on the Internet. That addresses the cost question as well as distribution. Of course, many Marxists feel that they should be paid if they spend a year working on a book but to tell you the truth they can make more money working for McDonalds than what they'll get from Verso." I feel the same, actually, Louis. But this is a different subject. In some cases it's impossible for a mass quality paperback company (Pathfinder, Haymarket, on the left, tons others in the commercial arena). I'm saying, or asking: is there another way. Many Marxists publishing books are doing so because of a one-off need to "get published" for their own academic career. In a way, I agree with this. Or, no other company BUT Brill will publish their monographs. The real question, not asked by your or Scott's interesting essay is "why quality paper backs"? Quality paperbacks and a notch or two up from the old "pocket book" editions that many of our parents used to read for their romance novels, mysteries, etc. They are still widely published today and much of my favorite genre of literature, science-fiction, is still published in this manner. I remember back in the early 70s when Pathfinder explained that were making a serious attempt to break into this "quality paperback" arena. It's the form most books sold in university bookstores sell their softcover books. Glossy softcover, bleached white paper, usually slightly thicker and sturdier than pocket books, which were only a notch or two above newsprint. But...back in the day...Pioneer Publishers and International Publishers published books in pocket book form: cheaper paper, cardstock covers, etc...and books and pamphlets could be sold quite cheaply because of it. I think it would be great if Haymarket were to release a "line" of these kinds of books. I just don't see massive tomes like John Riddell's latest works on the Comintern every coming out cheaper, at least not in book form, than they are now or in any version that is of less quality than Haymarket has published them in. I suspect this is what Louis is griping about even with Haymarket, where he states, factually, that even Haymarket's prices are out of reach for people in developing countries or those in the West who can't put out $25 or $30 for a book. I had, years ago talked to Daniel Gaido about this. Daniel is an Argentine Trotskyist who published his "Witnesses to Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Record" (along with Richard B Day) with Brill. Daniel, along with being a scholar, is also a volunteer on the Marxists Internet Archive which is how I "met" and got to know him. I asked him "Daniel! WTF?!? $138!!!!". Now, this is from memory, but I remember him saying "it was either Brill or no one would publish it". About 18 months later, Haymarket published it for $38 or so...which I understand allowed for a few bucks over the actual cost of the printing. So...what is it that allows Haymarket to publish material like this? The reason is very simple: Haymarket doesn't do the typesetting (or formatting since everything is published today off of PDFs). It's already done by Brill! Brill assembles and *edits* the works and puts them into PDF format. All Haymarket has to do is run them to the printer and design and print their own covers and QED. But it still costs. I don't know what or if Haymarket pays Brill. Be interesting to find out. I think Louis does have a point about the prices even Haymarket charges. We all rely on Haymarket. In fact, if it wasn't for them, about any theoretical and historical discussions on this list would be a lot more...anemic. Haymarket publishes other books...like the Chomsky, Klein and books that are not "socialist" to make money, which goes to subsidize, actually, their HM series. But the differences between $15 and $25 is not that different to make a *quantitative* difference in how many books are being sold that are wanted outside the U.S. At least I don't think so. In the last 2 years, postage rates into and out of the U.S. have gone up close to 400%. I used to send a hard drive of the MIA (one our fundraising things) to some one in Europe and it costs now about $20! Two years ago it was about $4.60. So we are up against the issue of postage as well. Secondly, like Louis, I'm an advocate of placing as much as possible on the Internet. It is the internet that assures distribution of *ideas* more than anything these days. It makes a difference for revolutionaries around the world and those who, regardless of where they live, want to read about history (not to mention as an organizing tool). No small part of my day job is organize the scanning and distribution of digitized workers of our common, Marxist history. I'm for internet only published works and those with sets of monograms should consider this. It's not as if anyone is going to make any money having Haymarket or Brill publish their work. I was able to work as a sort of *consigliere* between the owners of the copyright of the translation for Leon Trotsky's *1905* and Haymarket Books. It should be released this year or early next. It already IS published on the MIA with the copyright holders permission. No one is making any money on this, including Haymarket. So it *is* done as a service, despite whatever price they will charge for it. I think at the end of the day, Marxists, be they part of the Academy or not, should start moving away from the printed page. However, until that happens, we will be having these discussions *ad infintum*. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
