Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Brill's Pricing Hindering Yet Another Book Purchase

I'm frustrated.

A few years back I noticed that Eerdmans was going to publish James Royse's monumental dissertation, Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri — consistentely and frequently cited in footnotes in just about every NT text-critical tome I've read or looked at in the past three years. "Woo Hoo!", I thought. It would be available and might even be less that $100, which means I could buy it at SBL at a reasonable price!

Yesterday, I read the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog post on Brill's NTTSD series, which notes:

For those of you who have waited on James R. Royse's study of Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri finally to be published (the orginal dissertation on which it is based dates from 1981) will be pleased to hear that it is due this autumn (according to Brill's representative whom I met in Vienna). According to the gossip at the SBL in Vienna the delay of Royse's book on the part of the former publisher Eerdman's caused frustration for both the author Royse and the SD editor Epp and led the latter to turn to Brill which has now resulted in this permanent solution.

Well, I'm glad the book is getting published. But Brill wants $369.00 for it! (amazon.com) That means it is destined to only be purchased by university libraries; that it will suck hard-to-come-by money from other book purchases at said libraries, and it will be destined to sit in the office of some NT prof (or a departmental library) away from the main stacks where folks could actually use the durn thing.

What to do?

Don't buy the book. Go to the UMI dissertation express. Search for "Royse, James". It looks like you can get a copy of the dissertation for under 50 bucks, at least in the US. The 751 page dissertation was submitted in 1981, and the text has surely been sharpened in the past 26 years ... but hey, you'll actually be able to read and refer to it on your terms.

Even if Brill releases a paperback, who knows what the price will be. If you've considered the book before because, like me, you've seen it cited in footnotes and have drooled over it, then consider getting the dissertation via UMI instead of spending upwards of $400 with Brill.

Update (2007-08-09): Responding to the comments, particularly to Mike. I know the book would be expensive, but $370 is crazy. Are libraries really going to drop $370 on one title, and that not a substantive reference title? I am very glad Brill is publishing the title. My hope is that a few years down the road, after the libraries pay off the book's cost, it'll be put out in paperback, perhaps even by the SBL, and it will be do-able price-wise. I understand the economics of publishing and know there are costs for publishers to account for -- they don't grow money on trees. My post was a bit of a rant (hence the "rant" category), but also to point out that the primary substance of Royse's book, his dissertation, is available at a much more reasonable price for those who are really interested in the work but don't have a good library close (or who, like me, might be able to get it at a library but are such zealous bibliophiles they don't like to let go of books they've read, particularly if they could be useful in future studies). Anyway, c'est la vie, Scribal Habits. If I deem my text-critical reading needs to require Royse before a paperback is available, I'll head to UMI to get the dissertation.

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Post Author: rico
Wednesday, August 08, 2007 5:27:30 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00) 

#     |  Disclaimer  |  Comments [8]
Thursday, August 09, 2007 1:46:40 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I received an e-mail indicating that Brill was offering a 25% discount to all SBL members, and the e-mail specifically mentioned this book. If you buy it before mid-October it is $277. Still pretty bad, but anything is better than full price.
Jeremiah Bailey
Thursday, August 09, 2007 1:06:11 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I know some of this story too.

Eerdmans among others does a lot of books that are very scholarly and specialized. However, they don't make a lot of money on such.

This book in the end, would have to have been done in a small print that might well have exceeded the $100.00 price tag.

Anyhow, while I sympathize...I also get it that publishers have to make tough calls.

From a fellow book lover...

-Mike
Michael
Thursday, August 09, 2007 7:13:53 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
SBL has some sort of paperback deal with Brill. I don't know if this book will be a part of it, but, if it is, it will be substantially cheaper (e.g. an arm but not the leg).
Stephen C. Carlson
Monday, August 13, 2007 6:17:46 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I feel your pain. That's the same pain I felt when I saw that Logos was offering a Josephus collection from Brill and then I clicked on the details and saw the price of $80 per volume. The first two volumes are available quite cheaply so it's the Antiquities volumes that have pushed the collection price so high. It wouldn't be so bad but it's only Antiquities books 1 through 10. I'd pay $380 for all of Josephus' works but not these five alone. Hopefully Logos will come out with a paperback edition and the price will come down :)

Tom
Tom Reynolds
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 3:46:02 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I've always wondered about ebooks and why they are the SAME cost as printed copies. The books have been digitized already for the printer. There is no storage, no shipping, they use the same SSL shopping cart as they do for their other books but...

I'd hate to say it's a money thing. I really hope it is just the fact that the publishing houses, Eerdmans among them, can't make the jump to e-publishing...

Peace
Aoan
Alan
Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:35:01 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
I feel your pain too. I have never managed to afford the Brepols "Clavis Patrum Graecorum" for the same reasons: 9 volumes, 1025 euros, nearly $1,400. When we are old and grey, and sick, and alone -- and all of us will experience this one day, except those who die hideous and lingering deaths at a tragically young age --, the only thing to comfort us will be whatever money we have saved. On that day, we will curse throwing away anything like that sum of money on something that meant nothing 10 years later.

I wonder if the problem is that the print runs of these books are very small, and that publishers find, by experience, that the number they sell of these is not influenced much by price? George Kiraz at Gorgias books started off selling his reprints very cheaply, targetting scholars; the price has now risen quite a bit and targets libraries. That was the commercial reality that he faced.

But I also notice that firms are aware of the problem. Indeed they want to get their books into the hands of senior scholars, since these will make them set books and force their students to buy them! They know that the price can be a barrier to academics, who, as a class are impecunious, lazy, greedy and mean -- in short, normal members of the human race. So I have noticed that some publishers tend to go along to prestigious conferences, and offer 50% discounts at them.

Perhaps your solution is along those lines. Find out which conferences Brill goes to (you could ask them) and then ask the conference organisers what discounts they give (DON'T ask Brill that!)

Sadly Brepols don't discount the CPG.
Roger Pearse
Thursday, August 16, 2007 11:14:35 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
Thanks, all, for the comments. A few things to note --

1. On those who comment about Logos pricing; let me just say that there is more to creating an electronic resource than simply zapping some files from the publisher with the magic push of a button. Pricing takes that and several other things into account. While I'm familiar with many of the issues; I'm on the technical side of the house (not sales & marketing) so I'm really not the right one to make too many comments in this area. Generally, though, if you buy Logos resources in collections instead of a la carte, you'll realize a decent savings.

2. I'm aware that books get cheaper when they hit paperback, and even cheaper during conferences. I've saved many a dollar at the ETS and SBL national conferences (and plan to again in November).

3. I know that economics plays an issue.

4. And yes, I can get cranky sometimes. Hey, there are good reasons why one of the categories for this post was "rants"!

5. My primary reason for posting this was to point out that Royse's actual dissertation, upon which the title from Brill is largely based, could be had for around US$50. Much cheaper than $370, or $280, or any other number over, say, $50.
Rick Brannan
Friday, August 17, 2007 6:00:27 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)
As one who has been waiting for this book to come out, I rant with you! Why do scholars even want their books published at a $369.00 price tag? Is the publisher name as beneficial to one's career as a wider readership would be? Perhaps it is.

I'm the kind of sucker who would actually pay the price if I wait 'til I'm in the right mood. It hurt when I was too late to get the 50% off display copy of Brill's collection of Epp essays at the 2005 Philadelphia SBL meeting. I only ended up getting 25% off the $245.00 price tag. I was also willing to pay 100 pounds from a publisher in the UK for Zuntz's "The Text of the Epistles" from his Schweich Lectures. I was happy to get the display copy of Brill's 529 page "Salvation in the New Testament" tome at the 2006 SBL International meeting in Edinburgh. But I did have to think about it and go back to the table about 5 times before I could actually bring myself to pay the 50% price. And these large purchases have certainly meant that there are other books that I have not been able to buy. A loss to me and to all those other authors and publishers.

So I'm thankful for the heads up about UMI Dissertation Express. It reminded me about the deals I recently learned about from the Theological Research Exchange Network. I've blogged about this at AGAPHSEIS.blogspot.com. I didn't realize before yesterday that TREN authors can get every other e-TREN title on PDF for free. And TREN has $100 and $200 subscriptions that give you 25 or 70 titles within a 6 month or year long period. I don’t know how long these things have been true, but I’m glad to know it now.
Zephyr
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