Comments on: A mitzvah: pass it on!

By: Kathie

Kathie — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:50:46 +0000

I had a colleague tell me at a conference once that his students had liked my book, and particularly appreciated the way I used an unexpected chronology. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to at first, as the book is chronological – but later realized that I didn’t break the chapters at such obvious points as the year of independence for the country I was writing about. It was great to hear that people appreciated that aspect of my book, which for some reason I hadn’t realized was so notable.

By: Feminist Avatar

Feminist Avatar — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:41:10 +0000

I tell academics that I meet at conferences when I’ve found their books useful/important/mind-blowing/inspiring. I’ve been doing this for a while now for the reasons you mention – we work in an area where the nature of the game is to constantly critique each other’s work (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing), so we rarely say ‘good job’ to each other and we should. People should know that their work makes a difference.

By: John S.

John S. — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:32:29 +0000

Indyanna: my press tried something somewhat–but not entirely–similar. They moved many of their publications to the expanded Project Muse, which now includes articles as well as books. They asked me to authorize electronic publication of my book with the provision that I would get royalties on all individual electronic copies of my book sold electronically–but no cut of any proceeds if my book were sold as part of a larger package to libraries through Muse. Since most people would probably read my book electronically through Muse, it would effectively cut out any royalties there.

Moreover, I am surprised to read that they sent you this…considering that your book has been for sale for a little while as an ebook. (I can tell you where I found it for sell–it’s a major retailer–if you email me privately.) You might want to have a chat with someone at your press.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:21 +0000

John S.: thanks very much–echoing Shaz, it makes my day/week/month/summer at least to hear that, in this particular forum not least and especially from you. As to royalties, they’ve been decidedly minimal but holding steady for a few years, so it must be getting a little use. But I recently got a letter from the publisher asking me to sign an irrevocable waiver on *any* royalties for an electronic edition, citing the various “risks” (great word for JPMorgan-Chase week) involved, and saying it would never see the light of electrons without this waiver. It set forth various arguments about why the waiver would make sense, but none that could quite penetrate my old paradigm skull. I assume an e-dition would kill off even the paperback. Should I reply offering to waive royalties until initial e-costs are recovered, and then back to share alike?

By: Notorious Ph.D.

Notorious Ph.D. — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:48:28 +0000

H’ann, when I wrote that, I was thinking of my graduate colloquium, which I’ve structured as a sort of historiographic “grand tour,” meaning that very few of the books are recent. And in my undergraduate classes, I rarely assign monographs.

I did, however, tell Judith Bennett how much my students liked her book. And I, personally, have chased down an author at a conference like a groupie, just to tell him that his book had completely transformed how I was thinking about my own monograph. It was completely admirable how he managed to keep the fear out of his eyes.

By: Janice

Janice — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:28:55 +0000

I’ve used email and Twitter to let other historians know that I’m using their books in my fall seminar. The books so excited me that I wanted to let them know and one’s responded, which is cool. I’ll make a note to do a follow-up after the students have used the books (which I know they’ll enjoy and learn a great deal from).

By: John S.

John S. — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:41:41 +0000

I hope this doesn’t represent the short way out, but does it count if I thank two regular commentators of this blog for the books they wrote that taught well in my classes? I used Indyanna’s most recent monograph for one of my upper division lecture courses recently–you’re welcome for the royalties, btw!–and it taught very well. It was a kind of detailed social history that not as many authors do anymore, and the students loved it. So, thank you!

And Susan: I used your most recent monograph in a graduate course I taught last spring. The students there were more critical–as grad students are wont to be–but found a great deal to chew on. In the end—again, after the requisite time trying to tear the book apart–the grad students pronounced it one of their favorite books of the term. Some of that may have been stemmed from length; at 320 pages it came in at less than half the length of D.A. Brading’s 780 page _First America_, which they also read. But they mostly praised the clear prose and the sharp argument.

So public congratulations to you both!

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:47:00 +0000

A few years ago, I was teaching our undergraduate historiography class, and I used a very recent article – so new that I received the journal while I was working on the syllabus. After the students had written papers about the way the argument was built, we had a phone conversation with the author. Simpler than a visit, but the students really liked it, and I think my colleague did too. It would have been even better if we could have skyped, but she didn’t have a webcam.

By: Perpetua

Perpetua — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:02:02 +0000

This is a wonderful idea, H’ann. Being academic can be so demoralizing for many of us – low pay, long hours, crappy job market, constant stream of rejections – it’s important to reach out to each other, especially to younger scholars. I was just reading an article by a recent PhD that I really liked, and thought, I should email hir to say how much I liked this article.

By: J. Otto Pohl

J. Otto Pohl — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:51:48 +0000

Whether it is conscious or not I am pretty sure that my very low rate e-mail response is due to an elitist dismissal of myself and my institution as unimportant. Honestly, how many of you would answer an unsolicited e-mail from a person with an obviously obruni name at an African university who was not a specialist on Africa, but rather did Soviet history? I am guessing none.