Book People Archive

Sustaining on-line book sites (re: Named Word and copyright)

Jim Weiler <NakedWord@[redacted]> wrote:
> I should also announce to the bookpeople that The Naked Word, the website at
> www.nakedword.org will, effective May, which means now, no longer offer free
> unlimited access to the public domain content we have offered for so long. We
> can no longer afford to subsidize the hosting.
> 
> All existing content has been copied to the eTextCollective site, still
> providing free access at
> 
> http://members.nbci.com/etcollective/
> 
> Sorry for the inconvenience, you guys who are maintaining indices, but the
> site has been sucking my pocketbook dry so I'm calling it quits.

I'm very sorry to hear this.  Naked Word has been a very useful and
entertaining project, with its own distinctive focus and attitude, and
it's too bad that it hasn't been sustainable in its present form.  Many
thanks to you for all the work you've done for Internet readers, both
with Naked Word and with the new eTextCollective.

I've changed my links to point to the eTextCollective site at nbci.com.
Folks who are interested in these texts may also want to grab and perhaps
mirror copies of texts they're interested in.  Unlike some of the examples
discussed in the "copyright" thread, Jim's project has always been up-front
in saying that anyone is welcome to "pretty much use [the texts] any way
you want to".  Many thanks for that.

I'd also like to ask folks on the list, especially those who maintain
sites of their own, about what can be done to help sustain free on-line
book projects.  There's always been a cost involved in providing "free"
books to people, and it's been paid for in many different ways.  Public
libraries can use local taxpayer funds to supply free access to books
to the community, for instance.  On-line, some sites are sponsored or
hosted by nonprofit institutions (such as universities) who are interested
in the content, or who provide space to members of their community.
Others are put up through commercial providers, who ultimately
hope to make money through ads or premium services.  Still others are paid
for out of the provider's own pocketbook.  Some try to support themselves
through side businesses (such as the sales of print copies of books),
or through asking users for donations.  (Public broadcasters have
gotten particularly skillful at that, though I don't expect that their
technique of interrupting one's programming every few months with a pledge
drive will translate well to the Web, even if people get a nifty
tote bag for their donation.  But maybe I'm wrong about that.)

All of these techniques have their pros and cons, and some of them
are less stable than others.  (For instance, the rates for web site ads
have plummeted in the last year, by as much as a factor of 10, so I'm
therefore concerned about the long-term future of sites that were depending
on them. Will nbci.com still be here by the end of the year, for instance?)
Some sites have reported success with selling print copies, like Baen and
National Academy Press, but I don't know how well this does in all cases--
I know that Naked Word has been offering that as well, and I infer from
Jim's note that it hasn't been enough to fund the site on its own.
Most of the "independent" projects that I'm aware of, those that don't
have full university or corporate sponsorship, require some level
of sacrifice from the people that run them.  I very appreciate the
work that these people do to give these books to the world, and I hope
that you aren't burning yourselves out doing it.  I also hope that those
who read and enjoy these books can help keep these books going and
staying on-line.  

So, what are ways that we can make this happen?  What do folks
running these projects need most, what have you tried doing to
sustain your operations, and what's worked and what hasn't?  On
the other side of things, how would readers like to be able to help
out with these projects, and what could be done to make it easier to
offer and use this help?

Thanks,

  John Mark Ockerbloom