Urban Unrest

17 July 2006 | Politics, Technology | Ernesto Aguilar

One of the nation’s most prestigious universities is resurrecting its defunct academic press online — a move that adds a new wrinkle to the debate over who will profit from Web publishing.Rice University in Houston will today announce plans to relaunch its Rice University Press — a money-losing venture that went out of business 10 years ago — under a new all-digital model. Although the new press will solicit and edit manuscripts the old-fashioned way, it won’t produce traditional books. The publishing house will instead post works online at a new Web site, where people can read a full copy of the book free. They can also order a regular, bound copy from an on-demand printer, at a cost far less than picking up the book in a store.

“Our overriding mission is to make this scholarship available for free,” says Joey King, executive director of Connexions, the Rice Web-publishing platform that will serve as the new press’s backbone. The nonprofit Connexions, founded in 1999 by a Rice engineering professor, offers free downloadable educational course materials on everything from electrical engineering to music theory.

Rice’s move comes as many book publishers struggle to adapt their business models to the Internet. Some university publishers — which operate under particularly tough conditions, since many titles appeal only to niche audiences — have stopped traditional printing altogether in favor of digital, “short-run” printing, says Peter Givler, executive director of the 129-member Association of American University Presses. That means academic publishers can more easily order small quantities of books and not commit to large press runs.

Source: Rebecca Buckman, The Wall Street Journal

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