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Questions tagged [books]

Related to academic books, including scholarly books, textbooks, and reference books. Considerations related to publishing academic books, choosing textbooks, etc., come under this tag.

133 votes
16 answers
28k views

Is it ethical to profit by having my students buy my textbook?

This question was suggested to me by How can I sell my text book to my students in e-book format? which asked about the practicalities but attracted many comments about the ethics. So this question is ...
Nate Eldredge's user avatar
47 votes
3 answers
135k views

Difference between International edition of a book and a non international one

Most of the textbooks I used during my undergraduate studies (outside north America) are International editions, so what is the difference between a national and an international edition of a book? ...
The Hiary's user avatar
  • 5,233
39 votes
6 answers
5k views

If an author does not intend to make much revenue from a book, why not make it open-access?

Many authors do not intend to make much revenue from books (textbooks or research books) they contribute to, yet they don't make it open access. Why?
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
32 votes
7 answers
47k views

How much revenue do academic authors make on their published books?

Is there any dataset that look at how much revenue academic authors make on their published books? I am aware of the question How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold? but answers there ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
93 votes
22 answers
39k views

What is the point of a lecture when you have a textbook?

I never really understood the point of having a course with lectures when the course has a textbook. Sometimes the subject is so high-level or specialized or so modern that the contents are changing ...
math_lover's user avatar
  • 1,211
28 votes
4 answers
30k views

How does a book chapter in an edited volume compare to a peer reviewed paper?

I have been invited to write a book chapter in an edited volume, relating to my field of work. I have a paper ready that I have not published and was planning to submit it soon. So, I am wondering is ...
blackace's user avatar
  • 3,531
38 votes
7 answers
3k views

What incentives do academics have to write text books?

As noted in this question, academics should write research articles. In many fields, these are way more important than books. It's original research that counts for getting a PhD position, a post-doc, ...
gerrit's user avatar
  • 42.9k
22 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is there any value in self-publishing a book as an academic?

Recently, I contacted a publisher about the draft of a book that I wrote about a year ago. I found their advertisement over the net. This is a scientific book that I have worked on for about two or ...
enthu's user avatar
  • 7,548
14 votes
7 answers
4k views

How do I improve my ability to learn?

I am decent at learning from videos. But poor at learning from textbooks, wikipedia articles etc. Unless the material is really easy to follow, I am unable to learn most of text content. How do I ...
raveenatandon's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
9k views

How do I convert my PhD dissertation so that it can be published as a book?

I have just completed a PhD by research, which I think has some merits in being available as a book (This is, of course, my personal opinion). The research cuts across several fields (e.g. sociology, ...
Javeer Baker's user avatar
  • 5,507
6 votes
1 answer
672 views

Chapter in printed thesis vs. journal article

My computer science PhD thesis contains a chapter which is heavily based on an already published conference paper. I have published my thesis online, and fulfilled the requirements for my degree this ...
Joachim Breitner's user avatar
71 votes
7 answers
5k views

How to publish an academic book but make the PDF freely available online?

Background I like the idea of writing an academic book. It currently looks better on a CV when applying for jobs, grants, promotions, etc. than a blog post, or a website. Libraries and people ...
Jeromy Anglim's user avatar
45 votes
5 answers
18k views

Is it legal (USA) and ethical to use international edition textbooks? When I pay for a textbook, where does the money go?

Background: I am a student. I didn't have anything in life for four years, and I worked myself silly at times for it. So now I ask - when I pay hundreds of dollars over the production cost (new ...
user1833028's user avatar
32 votes
2 answers
6k views

Why is the city of publication important in most bibliography format?

Most bibliography formats require the city of publication for books. Why? In this digital era, ISBN would be way more important. But even before the digitalization of everything, why was the city of ...
Chang's user avatar
  • 1,124
27 votes
3 answers
20k views

Is it legal in the US for a student to download a copy of a textbook, to study?

(this is coming out of a comment thread regarding this question.) The USA has a Fair Use legal provision restricting its copyright law: 17 U.S.C. § 107 Notwithstanding the provisions of ...
einpoklum's user avatar
  • 39.4k

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