Tim (and list)
Indeed, Routledge failed to live up to their promise to put the book Richard Black and I did on the MDGs into paperback. I am sure there IS a market and they are being very short-sighted. I've had 3 books with Routledge, as my first book with MacMillan received NO marketing at all. Routledge have been a LITTLE better, but not a whole lot. I do not think I will publish with them again.
Howard
PS The MDG book is still worth buying even in hardback! Richard Black and Howard White (2004) 'Targeting Development: critical perspectives on the MDGs', London: Routledge
-----Original Message-----
From: Economic growth, social and ethical development on behalf of Forsyth,TJ
Sent: Thu 11/24/2005 8:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Are publishing standards declining ?
Dear All,
Has anyone has similar experiences?... is there is a trend? ...if so, can we do something collective about this..?
I wonder if anyone has experienced bad treatment from publishers recently? Every now and then I hear anecdotal stories about publishers who fail to deliver on promises, or refuse to publish books except in expensive hardback, or fail to market books in effective ways... etc...
I ask because I have had a bad experience with Routledge and think this needs alerting to people. I edited a major work, the Encyclopedia of International Development. But there have been persistent problems in getting contributors to be paid as per their contract. Some of them have had to wait between 2-4 years for payment; their emails have not been responded to. Months ago, I contacted a senior director at Routledge with one complaint, and (despite a concerned email in response) even this contributor has still not been paid.
I wonder if other people have had similar problems?
Moreover, are there other trends? eg I was told that the Encyclopedia would be out in paperback when I agreed to do it. Now I am told it may not be in paperback. For a reference work on Development, this seems seriously short-sighted.
Of course, I know publishing is a business, and business conditions are changing with internet etc... but I hear so many stories about publishers not delivering, I wonder if these changes are actually resulting in an unhelpful change of culture.
There may also be good performers as well as bad. Does anyone else have good or bad experiences with publishers? I must admit, after my experience with the Encyclopedia, if anyone asks me, I would say ''Don't use Routledge!''
Best regards
Tim Forsyth
Development Studies Institute
London School of Economics and Political Science
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