I’m not the only one who self-published on the web…

I gave a talk at the recent Computers and Writing Conference on self-publishing my textbook, The Process of Research Writing, a talk which I’m hoping to eventually make available here– stay tuned. But this morning, I came across this article from Inside Higher Ed from last week, Douglas J. Amy’s “Adventures in Web Publishing.” In short, Amy self-published a book that he could not get a popular press to take on and he said he wasn’t interested in working with a university press since the readership would be so small. So he put it up on the web.

Part of what he discusses in this article is what I discussed in my presentation, which is the “capital” one collects from projects like this; for example:

I have also received a surprising amount of feedback on my work. I could probably count on both hands the number of letters or e-mails I have gotten from strangers about my other books. But I’ve received hundreds of e-mails about the materials on this Web site. Undoubtedly, part of this is due to simple convenience: Readers merely have to click on the link “Contact the Author” to send me a message. But also, the culture of the Web is a very interactive one, with people used to making comments and discussing issues online.

2 thoughts on “I’m not the only one who self-published on the web…”

  1. Hi Steve,

    You should consider publishing with Bookboon.com. There the book will be 100% free for your students and you will make some money from the adverts that are in the book. Further your book will be marketed all over the world.

    Best regards,
    Thomas

  2. Hmmm. Well, part of the problem here is when it comes to making money McGraw-Hill still owns the rights. So Thomas, if you want to pay them those rights to have the chance of publishing the book on bookboon, let me know.

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