Sandra, Janice and List members....

Let's start by being clear that we're NOT talking about putting the latest
Tom Wolfe novel, or the Physicians Desk Reference on-line --- we're talking
about putting stuff that would otherwise be out-of-print...

Reading stuff on-line, or downloading and printing the WHOLE document is a
big pain in the neck.

But it's great to give a good solid preview to a potential reader, or to
permit specific targeted research for a larger document.
	In the case of the former (preview), there's a direct sale
possibility---in the case of the latter (research) you create a reference
in a second book which may translate into added demand from future readers
of the reference work.
	Also if, for example, you read parts of Jones' book on "Alpha"
on-line, it probably whets your appetite to buy his books on "Beta" and
"Gamma." Spend a half-hour browsing Amazon.com and see how seductive the
whole process is.

So for my money, putting the document on the web is just free advertising
--- especially if you can get the small publishing houses or in-house
presses to work at one-off (i.e., xerox) or short-run publishing .... or
better yet, set up reasonably priced CD-ROMs for exactly the same materials
that they have on the web. CDs are still easier to use than on-line
documents.

The publishing program here at Island Resources Foundation is very small,
but I have seen little evidence that being very generous with what we put
on our web site at http://www.irf.org/ has negatively affected our sales,
and I personally think it has actively helped --- specifically that we are
now getting [a few] more orders for items that are ON the WEB...

bruce

------------------

>Dear Bruce,
>
>I like your the suggestion about putting out of print stuff on the web and
>sorry to be so techno-thick but could you bear to explain how a commericial
>enterprise (eg publisher), or for that matter a struggling university press,
>benefits from making texts available on the web?
>
>Sandra Courtman
>I am involved (as a volunteer, not on the payroll) in establishing a
>>>> >Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
>>>> >Derek Walcott will be on campus tomorrow (March 30) and
>>>> >Rachel Manley will be here at the end of April.  Our cornerstone
>>>> >Caribbean collection at the UIC library is the H. D. Carberry (of
>>>> >Jamaica) Collection, housed in the Special Collections Division, which
>>>> >contains a range of Caribbean fiction and non-fiction from roughly the
>>>> >1940's to the 1980's.  A short-version bibliography is now available
>and
>>>> >we're still working on getting it online.  E-mail inquiries to Gretchen
>>>> >Lagana, head Special Collections librarian:  [log in to unmask], or her
>>>> >associate John Cullars: [log in to unmask]
>>>> >
>>>> >My personal interests are Caribbean literature, history, rare and
>>>> >out-of-print travelogues (endlessly fascinating perspectives) and the
>>>> >support of Caribbean cultures in all of their diversity and
>commonality.
>>>> >
>>>> >I became aware of this group through the Montserrat group, Electronic
>>>> >Evergreen, and look forward to the exchanges.
>>>> >
>>>> >Janice Buslik
>>>> >
best wishes

bruce potter
Island Resources Foundation
27 Years of Environmental Planning for Development

><+><Web Site><+><+><http://www.irf.org/><+><+>< Web Site><+><

Island Resources Foundation	|+|Island Resources Foundation
Headquarters & Library 	|+|Contributions and Publications
6292 Estate Nazareth No. 100	|+|1718 "P" Street NW, Suite T-4
St. Thomas, VI 00802-1104	|+|Washington, DC 20036
Phone 340/775-6225	|+|Phone 202/265-9712
fax 779-2022 		|+|fax 232-0748
Internet: [log in to unmask]	[log in to unmask]

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 Promote Island Resources---Send Your $35 Membership to the DC Office
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%