Sunday, January 20, 2008

Raise your hand if

. . . you would be willing to throw money at Google Books and university presses IF they would let you have access right away, immediately, now (not days later through Amazon) to the books you see through limited preview.

Anyone? Anyone?

Would you pay, say, $15 to download the book without getting a paper copy?

Would you be willing to pay, say, $7.50 for a week's or a month's access to it?

I would.

Think about it. Why do academic authors write? They work for royalties, of course, but those don't amount to much unless you have a crossover popular title. But what academic authors really want is citations in the work of others, and wouldn't we be able to cite more this way?

They say academics aren't creatures of impulse, but whoever does this first is going to have more of my bank account than I care to contemplate.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd probably join in.

undine said...

I wish they'd make this possible and see how many of use would throw our cash (well, our PayPal) at them.

Anonymous said...

I'd like it not just for citations but also for class websites. Buy a license, or something.

undine said...

Absolutely! I'd especially like it if they gave instructors the access for free, as they do for desk copies, but it'd be good either way.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, free access for instructors!