Here’s an inquiry for the blog’s knowledgeable readers.
Suppose one has a book-length project that one would like (a) to abridge for a law review submission come spring; and (b) later, perhaps in the summer, to submit to book publishers. Does posting the thing now to SSRN hurt one’s chances on either count? The reasons to post would be the usual ones to get feedback and mark off the territory, but these reasons would likely be overridden if posting would damage the chance of placement in a law review or book. My own sense is that posting is not likely to hurt one’s chances for (a), though I’d be curious about others’ experiences/practices. I truly have no idea about (b). Thoughts?
Posted by Marc DeGirolami on November 3, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Comments
I just asked Oxford about posting chapter drafts for an edited book I’m working on, and the quick reply was: “We have no objection- just be sure that they mention the book!”
Posted by: Mark D. White | Nov 4, 2009 9:50:47 AM
In other fields, where the social benefits of open access are more obvious (and there is greater entanglement with government and foundation funding), making journal articles available on the Web is mandatory — so publishers are becoming more accustomed to that environment. I can’t think of any examples outside of computing, however, where entire books are made available for free online. I don’t think there’s a legal equivalent of Tim O’Reilly just yet. In both of those cases, however, the text is not normally made available on line until it has been at least accepted for publication; most publishers are still loath to invest in a “manuscript” that has already seen broad circulation among the intended audience.
Posted by: Garrett Wollman | Nov 4, 2009 1:16:44 AM
some law review contracts have broad language prohibiting the author from publishing the article on his or her own in any electronic or print format. I’ve taken this to mean that I must remove my article from SSRN as soon as it is accepted for publication. I believe some broad provisions can be construed to mean that the author promises the article has never been published before in any electronic or print format, which means an article already posted on SSRN is arguably not supposed to be accepted for publication according to the contracts of some law reviews.
Posted by: anon | Nov 4, 2009 12:59:49 AM
I asked Cambridge about this a couple years ago, and they were fine with book chapter contributors posting chapters on SSRN, as long as it was a pre-production draft (that they themselves had not edited).
I would think they would be significantly more concerned with an entire book manuscript being available in one place. With an edited volume, even if all the contributors put their chapters up, collecting the entire book would involve significant work (though a few people would do it, no doubt).
Posted by: Mark D. White | Nov 3, 2009 4:43:17 PM
Both. I think if they are aware that a significant portion of a manuscript is already available on the web, they will be disinclined to publish it (likewise, if large portions of it have been published as journal articles, it raises a different but related question for them, and they expect that to be disclosed when they are considering a manuscript — the general rule of thumb for would-be authors is no more than 1-2 chapters should be previously published material). If they have already committed to publish it, they do not want you to give away the product for free. If they want to circulate portions of the book on the web, they prefer to control that aspect of marketing themselves (how much do we release on Google Books? how much on Amazon “look inside”? do we make part of the intro chapter available on our press’s website?).
Posted by: keith | Nov 3, 2009 3:51:36 PM
Thanks for both of your answers.
One follow up — Keith, in your experience, do publishers also dislike it when one puts up a draft and states that it will be published in XYZ volume, noting the press? Or do you mean that they dislike it when one uses a draft that is already up on SSRN as a book chapter? Or both?
I appreciate the advice, as my sense is that the norms of book/chapter publishing are largely alien to junior legal scholars, but book/chapter publishing is also becoming increasingly attractive and important for many of us.
Posted by: Marc DeGirolami | Nov 3, 2009 2:48:06 PM
I cannot imagine a prospective book publisher being happy with the idea of a book manuscript being freely available on the web via SSRN. As a volume editor, I’ve had publishers specifically instruct me to warn authors not to put book *chapter* drafts on SSRN. The thought has never occurred to me to put a book draft on SSRN. There’s a lot of nervousness now about publishers are turning away book manuscripts because they are based on dissertations which have long been archived by a national service, and those archives are now starting to show up in electronic databases that easily accessible to the relevant target audience for the academic book.
Posted by: keith | Nov 3, 2009 12:58:43 PM
I don’t think posting on ssrn hurts either of the future submissions. It can help your case — more people have read it; noticed it; you have been circulating your work etc. For a book proposal, it is useful to have published in the area so its good to have the submission in the spring.
Posted by: Orly Lobel | Nov 3, 2009 10:56:14 AM