Do not reject any book because of the publisher. Here is how that safe and unsafe list of publishers got started. Bookshare has an agreement with the publishers that when they, the publisher, supplies a book to Bookshare that it be the only copy available on the site. That meant that a lot of books that had been previously scanned and added were being removed in favor of the publisher submitted book. A good many volunteers resented this practice thinking that they had put a lot of work into those books just to have them trashed. Finally Bookshare started supplying a list of publishers with which they had an agreement and listed those publishers as do not use. It was Jaimie from Michigan who started making a list on her own of publishers that had not signed an agreement. Those are the so-called safe publishers and if you come across any more it would be a good idea if you reported it here so that it can be added as another safe one. In point of fact, though, you can scan, submit and proofread any book no matter what the publisher might be. It is only well to keep in mind that if it is published by one of those publishers that are listed as do not use then it might at a later time be replaced by a publisher quality copy. And as a matter of fact, it is unlikely that a publisher will add their own copy of every single book they have ever published, especially if they are an old publisher. Some books have been out of print so long that they went out of print before publishers started keeping electronic files of all of their holdings. It is unlikely that they will ever provide those books. Additionally, there might be recently published books that will never be submitted by the publisher too. They get to decide which ones they provide and they can withhold any title for their own reasons and we may never find out what those reasons are. They can also withdraw them. There was some discussion on this list recently about how The Hobbit disappeared from the collection. For whatever reason the publisher asked that their copy that they had previously supplied be withdrawn. When that happened volunteer produced replacements were again eligible. Remember, do not use does not mean do not use. Do not use means use with caution because your work may be replaced. If that does not bother you then go ahead and submit or proofread any book you want even if it has been published by one of the so-called unsafe publishers.
On 4/23/2012 3:56 PM, Chanelle Allen wrote:
Dear Volunteer list,I found a book to proofread that is published by ibooks distributed by SIMON ft SCHUSTER, INC. Simon Schuster is listed as one of the "do not use" publishers. However, I did not see an imprint called ibooks. Pocket Books is also listed, which is a "do not use" imprint. Originally, I thought that this was an ebook until I looked up the ISBN and found that it corresponds with a paper back edition. The book is entitled The Crossing by Howard Fast. What is somewhat confusing is that a page in the front matter states that the book is an original publication of ibooks, inc. It is copyrighted by Howard Fast with the dates of 1971 and 1999. I am fairly certain that I should reject this book; however, I don't want someone's work to be easily set aside until I am sure.Chanelle
