Happy Open Access Week!
In this special edition of our monthly newsletter, you'll find a new blog post from our senior editor Lucy, more exciting news about audiobooks, and a stellar OA week events programme. Read on for updates, news, publication announcements, and more. |
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Our reflections on ‘community over commercialisation’
We
have written about this year’s Open Access Week theme of ‘Community
over commercialisation’ and how our focus on community, rather than
profit, has benefited our press—together with some reflections on the
potential for community-driven open access to grow over the next few
years: https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/our-reflections-on-community-over-commercialisation
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Open Access Books Network: resources for authors
The Open Access Books Network (OABN) has put together a list of resources for authors
on open access (OA) book publishing. Some have been created by us and
others by different organisations, but they all help to advise authors
on various aspects of publishing an open access book. For OA Week, we’d
be delighted if you would share this list to authors in your networks!
You can also share this infographic about the collection if you wish.
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From Permission to Publication: Managing Third-Party Materials in Open Access BooksThe
Open Access Books Network (OABN) and University of London Press are
co-hosting this practical, solutions-focused webinar, featuring a panel
of speakers including an author, a publisher, a copyright expert and a
representative from the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and
museums) sector sharing their experiences of the inclusion of
third-party materials in open access books: the possibilities, pitfalls,
strategies and solutions. The date will be confirmed soon -- keep an
eye on the OABN newsletter for the latest announcements!
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Upcoming EventsCopim Open Access Week Events (and posts)
It's
OA Week! And you can find Team Copim members at a number of free online
events, talking about all things community-led open access books and
infrastructure:
➡️ TUESDAY 13.00-14.30 BST: Dr. Judith Fathallah
speaks at the Coventry Open Press Conversations series: 'Everything you
ever wanted to know about OA publishing, but were afraid to ask (in 90
minutes)': Sign up here.
➡️ THURSDAY 11.00-12.00 BST: Tom Grady and Elaine Sykes lead a UKSG webinar, 'Getting out from the back of the sofa: Or, how can we achieve sustainable funding for Open Access books?': Sign up here.
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THURSDAY 14.00-15.30 BST: Several members of our team will discuss the
Open Book Collective, Opening the Future, and Thoth at 'Delivering Open
Access for Books by Default: The role of community-led funding models
and infrastructures': Sign up here.
We'll also be putting out posts and interviews on our PubPub (https://copim.pubpub.org/) and our socials (Bluesky, Mastodon, X) with our thoughts on this year's theme of 'Community over commercialisation' -- so look out for those!
Book Launches and Author Engagements
October 27: Meta-Xeankis Double Bill: Concert and Book Launch at the Opéra de Rouen. Grab tickets here.
October 31: Meta-Xeankis Double Bill: Concert and Book Launch (night 2) at the Reid Concert Hall in Edinburgh. Grab tickets here.
November 13: Professor Henrike Lähnemann will discuss The Life of Nuns: Love, Politics, and Religion in Medieval German Convents as a part of the Oxford Book at Lunchtime series. Grab tickets here.
Can't attend? Listen to a podcast with Lähnemann here.
November 29: Evanghelia Stead
will be presenting on Grotesque and Performance in the Art of Aubrey Beardsley over coffee at Oxford's Weston Library. Find more information here.
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Experimenting with Audio
We
are excited to announce the release of our first open access
audiobooks! At OBP, we are always looking for ways to meet readers where
they are. We are aware of an increased demand for audio formats in
recent years, whether that be for accessibility reasons or simply
because some readers enjoy listening over reading! We have thus decided
to release a small sample of audio titles to gauge reader reception and
listen to feedback.
Three
out of the four titles in this initial collection were created with the
help of AI technology, the use of which presents a number of ethical
questions. We are monitoring and reflecting on the energy demands of AI
in our effort to be as sustainable as possible in our publishing
practice. We hope that in creating these audiobooks, we will save
readers the effort (and energy) of using AI audio software themselves.
We
also wish to address the potential displacement of human voice actors
and other creative professionals involved in audio production. As a
small, non-profit press, producing audiobooks read by professional voice
actors is unfortunately beyond our means. Though we are thrilled that
some of our authors have chosen to record their own books, we
acknowledge that this is a time-consuming process which might not be
possible or attractive to every writer. AI has enabled us to meet the
demand for audio formats within these constraints.
Our
decision to experiment with audiobook creation is rooted in our
dedication to providing accessible, enjoyable formats for all readers.
We would love to hear your feedback on these first titles as we evaluate
the potential role of AI in our production process, so feel free to
send your thoughts to raegan@openbookpublishers after you’ve had a
listen. We hope you enjoy the books and look forward to hearing your
feedback!
The following titles are now available as audiobooks:
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In other news...
We published eight excellent new books this month!
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That's all for this month! See you in November! | | |