AMAZON
I don’t know where Pearson stands politically as an organization, but they are a valid textbook co. — much used by schools. I’d go for it since they want to use it. Doesn’t really matter why they want to publish it, does it? Just that they do and like you said, you can reach a lot of minds that way.
At the very least, I would want to know what other content is going into the book. At the very least you should be given a table of contents or an outline of the chapters with maybe some sample pages. Also find out of you retain the copyright to your work to publish elsewhere or if you are signing away rights for a specific time or forever.
They are the largest college textbook publisher. If there is money to be made, they will sniff it out.
I don’t know about their politics. There are more appropriate liberty leaning publishers I’m sure, but none of the magnitude of Pearson.
Pearson is a huge British education/publishing company.
I would ask what other kind of speeches are included in the book. Is it predominantly atheist/socialist or is it balanced?
Congratulations. I believe they publish the London Financial Times. They also handle a lot of the tests for professional licensing here in the States.
I used to work for them back in the 70s. They are an old an established education company with divisions that do testing (they invented the number 2 pencil test form), online courses, etc.
Very conservative.
It might be used as an example in a radical left loonies course package to pick apart the conservatives or the tea party.
I would want to see the whole enchilada before saying yes.
Have you looked into Steven Schwartz?
Any chance to share your views and reach a wider audience should be accepted.
They’re an academic publisher. They will demand you sign over the rights to your speech, and will then narrowly interpret fair use to demand royalties from anyone who quotes it. Academic publishers are the scum of the earth. If all enterprises functioned on the business model of academic publishers, Marx’s critique of capitalism would have been correct.
Read the copyright agreement they give you, and refuse to sign it unless you retain all rights to your speech and are only granting them permission to publish it, not exclusive rights to publish it or any other rights. If they really want it, they will back down and let you retain your rights.
I have worked with them with stock photography and have been pleased with the result. At one point the time limit on a photo rental expired and I was unaware of this. They contacted me directly, asked if they could cut me a check and that was the end of it. Payment made.
The people were always very professional and polite.
My advice is to judge the deal on its financial merits only.
I manage a college bookstore. Pearson is one of the biggest textbook publishers, and a reputable company. Looks to me like Steven Schwarze is a professor putting together a custom textbook on public speaking and wants to include your speech. You might contact him at U of Montana to find out his intentions.
http://www.cas.umt.edu/dcs/Faculty/schwarze/steves.htm
$60 for 480 pages? lmao. =.=
Or $60 for a speech?
Nonetheless, they are going to publish this and profit off it far more than your lowly $60. =.=
http://contests.about.com/od/conttestscams/qt/poetryscams.htm
From then on, you’ll be deluged with offers to spend money on the site. These include:
•An offer to purchase a book with your poem in it (which will cost you $60 - $75).
•The chance to have your poem framed or printed on a coffee mug (for sky-high costs).
•The opportunity to attend a seminar, and even to be a poetry “judge” for just the cost of registration (often $595 or more).
These offers will come with high praise of your writing talents and plenty of ego stroking to make you think that you truly have been chosen on the basis of your talents. However, everyone who enters receives the same offers. Entrants have reported being deluged by these phony offers for years.
*******************************
Please note that in your communication, it says Edition 1. THAT is a red flag. Be very wary and get all the info you can about this.
Also note the “proposed price”. Why would they be tellng YOU what the price is for the book?
What they should be telling you is the estimated value of YOUR work, how many copies they expect to sell, and whether or not hey are willing to PAY you for the exclusive rights to publish YOUR work.
Make sure you have and KEEP all original copies and notes or revisions just in case.
Further, if it is ALREADY out in the public forum, and it appears it is, you might actually have lost your rights anyway and they would know this...which means they COULD publish it as compendium gleaned from public sources and would NOT need your permission to republish it...just as I could publish it on a blog even if I don’t have your permission. WHERE did they get a copy of it in the first place if you did NOT submit it yourself?
Therefore, you could rightfully ccnclude that this is an attempt to MAKE money off of you. Like I said. They appeal to your vanity.
I suggest you read this. It does NOT sound at all like what was described to you in this communication.
The English language section of the Swiss-German Pearson site has more info on the book: http://www.pearson.ch/HigherEducation/AllynBacon/1449/9780205567089/Speaking-in-the-Public-Sphere.aspx