Since then, I attempted that with Tolkien's _Old English Exodus_ but was rebuffed on the grounds that I was a "Tolkien Nut" and not an academic --- that text has since been reprinted by Harper Collins in a #2 box set, which I anxiously pre-ordered and waited for, only to find that from the Select Bibliography to then end of the re-set poem (22 pages) there were almost as many typos (20) on a quick first reading:
really wish all authors did as DEK and offered a bounty on typos... I could use a check for $51.20 even if it wouldn't fully offset the cost of the boxed set (though arguably, I should sell the other 4 books as dupes of texts I already own).
There wasn't much to it --- I contacted the Univ. of Missouri Press, they set a price in terms of initial fee and on-going royalty payments, I returned a signed copy of the contract and they sent a DVD w/ the files.
The only wrinkle was I failed to communicate clearly that I wanted to do a hardcover reprint and they assumed I was doing a softcover (apparently rights are different?) but they decided that the modest quantity I wanted (100) was okay for hardcover (within the variance of unprinted copies from first run?) and allowed it.
I contacted a (sort of) local printer with a digital press to send the files, proofed them, then once approved and printed, I drove in my truck and picked them up (should have parked closer, a couple of boxes took a tumble), stored them in my entry closet and sold them over the course of a couple of years, sending a statement and check each year until the last copy I was selling was sold and I closed the books.
The notable afterthought was that I should have bought used copies at the price that they were then set at by my re-issue and re-sold them after, but I couldn't bring myself to be quite that mercenary.
> So then I thought I would just photograph each page and have Claude OCR it. Tedious, but doable. Just to test it out, I went to the Claude web interface and asked it to do the first page. It refused, citing copyright law. Buddy, don’t you remember how you, yourself, were trained? Anyway, it suggested instead that I use a book-scanning service. Why are you giving me instructions about how to “infringe copyright” after refusing to do it yourself? (It didn’t believe me when I told it, honestly, that I had the rights).
not looking forward to the future where the things you can do on the computer are constrained by fear of breaking copyright in this way. The more AI reviewing stuff is put into processes we use the more annoying this will become. These AI labs are just really out there sucking up all our shared culture and then pulling up the ladder behind them.
Claude and GPT are absolutely horrible for doing any research which might remotely be considered on the edges of copyright infringement. You can't prove to the AI that the copyright wasn't renewed on this book, or that magazine, or that you actually hunted down the rights owner and bought the rights.
End up using Grok for most of these tasks as it is dialed back a bit in that regard.
Such a fun story included here. It'd be great if this was also in a native web-app ebook too (i know it's harder to charge $ effectively, but most people end up wanting the physical or epub (for their e-reader) anyway if they like it.
This hits close to home.
When Grayson's _Traditional Archery from Six Continents_ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1662236.Traditional_Arch... went out of print, I actually found it more palatable to buy the rights and re-print it.
Since then, I attempted that with Tolkien's _Old English Exodus_ but was rebuffed on the grounds that I was a "Tolkien Nut" and not an academic --- that text has since been reprinted by Harper Collins in a #2 box set, which I anxiously pre-ordered and waited for, only to find that from the Select Bibliography to then end of the re-set poem (22 pages) there were almost as many typos (20) on a quick first reading:
https://old.reddit.com/r/OldEnglish/comments/1vyly9o/could_s...
really wish all authors did as DEK and offered a bounty on typos... I could use a check for $51.20 even if it wouldn't fully offset the cost of the boxed set (though arguably, I should sell the other 4 books as dupes of texts I already own).
Wow! Good on you for finding the rights and republishing! I would love to read more about the process.
There wasn't much to it --- I contacted the Univ. of Missouri Press, they set a price in terms of initial fee and on-going royalty payments, I returned a signed copy of the contract and they sent a DVD w/ the files.
The only wrinkle was I failed to communicate clearly that I wanted to do a hardcover reprint and they assumed I was doing a softcover (apparently rights are different?) but they decided that the modest quantity I wanted (100) was okay for hardcover (within the variance of unprinted copies from first run?) and allowed it.
I contacted a (sort of) local printer with a digital press to send the files, proofed them, then once approved and printed, I drove in my truck and picked them up (should have parked closer, a couple of boxes took a tumble), stored them in my entry closet and sold them over the course of a couple of years, sending a statement and check each year until the last copy I was selling was sold and I closed the books.
The notable afterthought was that I should have bought used copies at the price that they were then set at by my re-issue and re-sold them after, but I couldn't bring myself to be quite that mercenary.
Not so fast...typos are now proof the content wasn't AI generated. AI doesn't make typographical mistakes except when languages are mixed.
Most of the typos were linguistic, a couple of German words in the bibliography, Old English in the poem.
I think that even for a shopping list from the hand of Tolkien they would give publishing rights only to big editors
That was not the impression I got from the Tolkien Estate and Oxford University Press when I asked.
> So then I thought I would just photograph each page and have Claude OCR it. Tedious, but doable. Just to test it out, I went to the Claude web interface and asked it to do the first page. It refused, citing copyright law. Buddy, don’t you remember how you, yourself, were trained? Anyway, it suggested instead that I use a book-scanning service. Why are you giving me instructions about how to “infringe copyright” after refusing to do it yourself? (It didn’t believe me when I told it, honestly, that I had the rights).
not looking forward to the future where the things you can do on the computer are constrained by fear of breaking copyright in this way. The more AI reviewing stuff is put into processes we use the more annoying this will become. These AI labs are just really out there sucking up all our shared culture and then pulling up the ladder behind them.
Claude and GPT are absolutely horrible for doing any research which might remotely be considered on the edges of copyright infringement. You can't prove to the AI that the copyright wasn't renewed on this book, or that magazine, or that you actually hunted down the rights owner and bought the rights.
End up using Grok for most of these tasks as it is dialed back a bit in that regard.
Such a fun story included here. It'd be great if this was also in a native web-app ebook too (i know it's harder to charge $ effectively, but most people end up wanting the physical or epub (for their e-reader) anyway if they like it.
That's a divide which I've been curious about for a while --- what texts are suited for an app/interactive version?
One which I usually bring up is:
https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.htm...
but contrast that with:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-elements-by-theodore-gray/...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579128149
Why I Like Reading About Bugs by Bertrand Russell
Can't buy one in the EU.