Funding models for open access articles and journals have been evolving for at least two decades, but substantial open access book publishing has come into the fore in the past five years or so. Scholarly books have different audiences, uses, production and distribution workflows, costs and markets than journals. In “The MIT Press Open Monograph Model: Direct to Open” Raym Crow breaks down the elements of financially viable scholarly book publishing; considers the knowns, unknowns, risks and opportunities of open access book publishing; examines MIT Press’ book market; and describes the characteristics of what has become the MIT Press Direct to Open (D2O) model. The study provides general analysis and a case study useful for libraries that constitute 85% of MIT Press’ sales and other scholarly publishers. Crow takes on the “free-rider” problem of open access, public good publishing and how the MIT D2O model is designed to incentivize libraries to participate. Academic libraries are contending with shrinking acquisitions budgets, with allocations for books getting squeezed by the increasing costs of journals, streaming media and ebooks. Scholarly book publishers need new means of funding their operations. The two partners have shared interests in costs (administrative, editorial and production), comparative value and public good principles. This report lays out factors both parties must weigh and offers D2O as a potential solution to the ongoing need for stable, non-profit, open book publishing.
