IVP - Andy Unedited - Academic Publishing Archives

Merchants of Culture 5: Not All Digital Is Created Equal

The online subscription model has worked wonderfully for academic journals, as John Thomson summarizes in Merchants of Culture, because

Students Hate/Love Print

Everyone thinks they know where digital publishing is going. Everyone, that is, except for all of us. Take Exhibit A and Exhibit B, brought to my attention by fellow blogger Dan Reid.

The Importance of What You Don't Publish

Sometimes what a publisher doesn’t publish is just as important as what it does publish.

Francis Schaeffer: Fifty Years after Time

Fifty years ago today, Time magazine published an article on Francis Schaeffer, who with his wife founded "one of the most unusual missions in the Western world." What made their ministry, nestled in the Swiss Alps, so different? They focused on intellectuals--artists, musicians, students, atheists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants--an eclectic mix of people that in 1960 the church tended to neglect.

Mashup Mishap?

Creativity usually isn't concocting something totally new. Mostly it is combining two or more pre-existing things never joined before--or never in quiet this way. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is an example to chew on. Or consider the printing press--five hundred years ago it was a delightful combination of books and a wine press. And that's still a good combo.* Today, we have a name for such inventions--mashups.

What Students Want in Used Texts

What do students look for in used textbooks? Well, it's often more than just paying less money--as important as that is.

Further to my blog about Kindle DX and textbooks, Clive Thompson notes the work of Microsoft researcher Cathy Marshall on this topic. She "found that university students carefully study used textbooks before buying them." Are they hoping to learn about biology while drinking their triple-shot latte without having to pay for the book? No.

Saving the Textbook--or Not

We know the problems with textbooks: stratospheric retail prices that have put the used book market into hyperdrive that has forced publishers to put out new editions more frequently that has pushed retail prices even higher. Who will save us from this cycle of futility?