When we released our guide to Understanding Open Access this past fall, we published the guide as a digital file under a Creative Commons license with the goal of putting it in reach of anyone who might need it. You can find a free download of the guide on our website.

But digital can’t reach everyone and many of us find paper resources easier to read and navigate. For everyone with a preference for paper, and for those who want to support Authors Alliance’s continuing non-profit mission, Understanding Open Access is now available the old-fashioned way. After joining or donating, purchasing a guide from us is one of the best ways to stand behind our organization. Buy one today (below or in our store) and who knows, we might even throw in some stickers!

Understanding Rights Reversion, the first volume in our series of guidebooks, is still available via free digital download as well as in book format from our store.

We are happy to announce the release of our Guide to Understanding Open Access—the second in our series of educational handbooks for authors. Building on the success of our Guide to Understanding Rights Reversion, which landed in browsers and on bookshelves earlier this year, our new book provides the most up-to-date information about when, why, and how to make your work openly accessible. Our goal is to encourage our members to consider open access publishing by addressing common questions and concerns and by providing real-life strategies and tools that authors can use to work with publishers, institutions, and funders to make their works more widely accessible to all.

We currently have a free online version available for download, with professionally printed copies on the way for those who prefer a hard copy reference. We’re proud of this latest effort to provide timely, useful tools for authors, researchers, and anyone who wishes to share knowledge for the public good.

Authors Alliance is currently seeking to reach its year-end fundraising goal. If you find our continued support and resources useful, please consider making a donation to enable our ongoing work.

Authors Alliance is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization that depends on public support. Gifts are tax-deductible according to IRS regulations. Gifts in any amount are welcome. If you have any questions about making a gift, please contact us at info@authorsalliance.org.

In celebration of Open Access Week, we are offering sneak previews of our forthcoming guide, Understanding Open Access: When, Why, & How To Make Your Work Openly Accessible. This guide is the second volume in our series of educational handbooks, following on the success of Understanding Rights Reversion. Our goal is to encourage our members to consider open access publishing by addressing common questions and concerns and by providing real-life strategies and tools that authors can use to work with publishers, institutions, and funders to make their works more widely accessible to all. We will officially launch the guide on November 3 during our workshop on “Writing To Be Read” at the New York Public Library. In the meantime, here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 1 about monographs and open access.

Conventional publication and open access are not mutually exclusive. For example, many conventional publishers allow authors who publish with them to also upload the authors’ final versions of their works to open access repositories. In such cases, authors can benefit from the imprint of a well-established print publisher while still making their works openly accessible.

Many publishers are developing programs to make books openly accessible. For example, the University of California Press recently launched Luminos, an open access publishing program for monographs. Authors who publish with Luminos can make digital editions of their books openly accessible under the University of California Press imprint. Open Humanities Press has also launched an open access program for monographs, making the books it publishes in print available as full-text digital editions published under open licenses.

Book authors who are interested in open access may choose to negotiate with conventional publishers to publish their books in print but also retain the rights to make their books openly accessible. Authors who have already assigned their rights to conventional publishers may be able to exercise or negotiate for rights reversions that would allow them to make their books openly accessible. For more on this possibility, please see the Authors Alliance guide Understanding Rights Reversion: When, Why, and How to Regain Copyright and Make Your Book More Available.

We will post excerpts from Understanding Open Access throughout the week. If you have questions or comments, or wish to share your own experiences with open access publishing, get in touch and let us know!

In celebration of Open Access Week, we are offering sneak previews of our forthcoming guide, Understanding Open Access: When, Why, & How To Make Your Work Openly Accessible. This guide is the second volume in our series of educational handbooks, following on the success of Understanding Rights Reversion. Our goal is to encourage our members to consider open access publishing by addressing common questions and concerns and by providing real-life strategies and tools that authors can use to work with publishers, institutions, and funders to make their works more widely accessible to all. We will officially launch the guide on November 3 during our workshop on “Writing To Be Read” at the New York Public Library. In the meantime, here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 2 on the benefits of open access.

Open access removes price barriers and harnesses the power of the Internet to enable readers to find works more easily. For example, openly accessible works are often full-text indexed, helping potential readers easily locate a work using a search engine, and, importantly, access the work without being turned away by pay walls.

As a result of this increased discoverability and access, some authors find that open access increases their readership. The majority of studies find that open access leads to a greater number of citations. Regardless of whether their works are in fact cited more frequently, many authors find that open access increases their works’ visibility, helping it to reach readers and benefit the public.

Shawn Martin is a Scholarly Communication Librarian at the University of Pennsylvania and Authors Alliance member. Open access facilitated the translation and wide dissemination of Mr. Martin’s work. After he deposited an article about library publishing infrastructure in the University of Pennsylvania’s Scholarly Commons repository, a group of librarians found Mr. Martin’s article and, with his permission, translated it into Romanian. The work was subsequently translated into Russian and several other Eastern European languages. Because Mr. Martin’s article has been translated into so many languages, it is cited in proceedings and conferences around the world. According to Mr. Martin, “Opening up access can allow audiences you never intended to find value in your work, and in my view that’s a great thing.”

Some authors have even found that widespread dissemination of their openly accessible works stimulates demand for print copies of their works, contributing to royalties for these authors.

We will post excerpts from Understanding Open Access throughout the week. If you have questions or comments, or wish to share your own experiences with open access publishing, get in touch and let us know!