Association of American Publishers

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The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies.

Contents

Former U.S. congresswoman Patricia Schroeder served as the association's CEO from 1997 until 2009, taking over the role from Nicholas A. Veliotes. On May 1, 2009, former U.S. congressman Tom Allen took over as president and CEO. In January 2017, former U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante became President and CEO of the organization. [1]

Activities

AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software and electronic products and services.

The association's core programs deal with advocacy and supporting laws and regulations that “incentivize the publication of creative expression, professional content, and learning solutions,” according to the Chair at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Other current and previous focus are: intellectual property; new technology and digital issues of concern to publishers; the freedom to read, censorship and libel; the freedom to publish; funding for education and libraries; postal rates and regulations; tax and trade policy; and international copyright enforcement.

The association tracks publisher revenue on a monthly and annual basis with its StatShot Monthly and StatShot Annual programs. AAP also produces the comprehensive statistical surveys for the education sectors (prek-12 and higher education). [2]

AAP also honors the very best in professional and scholarly publishing with PROSE Awards, which draws attention to distinguished books, journals, and electronic content. The awards have been judged by peer publishers, librarians, and medical professionals since 1976. [3]

In late 2019, AAP sued Audible for their Captions feature, in which machine-generated text would be displayed alongside the audio narration. [4] [5] The lawsuit was settled in early 2020, with Audible agreeing not to implement the Captions feature without obtaining express permission. [6]

Controversy

AAP was criticized after it contracted Eric Dezenhall's crisis management firm to promote its position regarding the open access movement. [7] [8] Schroeder told The Washington Post “the association hired Dezenhall when members realized they needed help. ‘We thought we were angels for a long time and we didn't need PR firms.’” [9]

AAP has released press statements to support four of its members in the case of Hachette v. Internet Archive (IA). President Maria A. Pallante said of the case, "As the complaint outlines, by illegally copying and distributing online a stunning number of literary works each day, IA displays an abandon shared only by the world’s most egregious pirate sites." [10] This action has been opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, [11] Public Knowledge, [12] and the Association of Research Libraries. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open access</span> Research publications distributed freely online

Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. Under some models of open access publishing, barriers to copying or reuse are also reduced or removed by applying an open license for copyright.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley, is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in print and electronically, as well as online products and services, training materials, and educational materials for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audible (service)</span> Online audiobook and podcast service

Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content. This content can be purchased individually or under a subscription model where the user receives "credits" that can be redeemed for content monthly and receive access to a curated on-demand library of content. Audible is the United States' largest audiobook producer and retailer. The service is owned by Audible, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grolier</span> Publisher of educational and reference books

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-archiving</span> Authorial deposit of documents to provide open access

Self-archiving is the act of depositing a free copy of an electronic document online in order to provide open access to it. The term usually refers to the self-archiving of peer-reviewed research journal and conference articles, as well as theses and book chapters, deposited in the author's own institutional repository or open archive for the purpose of maximizing its accessibility, usage and citation impact. The term green open access has become common in recent years, distinguishing this approach from gold open access, where the journal itself makes the articles publicly available without charge to the reader.

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Group. HBG was formed when Hachette Livre purchased the Time Warner Book Group from Time Warner on March 31, 2006. Its headquarters are located at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hachette is considered one of the big-five publishing companies, along with Holtzbrinck/Macmillan, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. In one year, HBG publishes approximately 1400+ adult books, 300 books for young readers, and 450 audio book titles. In 2017, the company had 167 books on the New York Times bestseller list, 34 of which reached No. 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic Information for Libraries</span> Nonprofit organization founded in 1999

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Eric B. Dezenhall is an American crisis management consultant, author, and founder of Washington D.C.-based public relations firm Dezenhall Resources. His aggressive tactics on behalf of his clients have made him both a target of criticism and a quoted pundit on crisis communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James G. Neal</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Pallante</span> 12th United States Register of Copyrights and attorney

Maria A. Pallante is the president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers, a publishing industry trade association. Pallante is an American attorney who previously served as the 12th United States Register of Copyrights. She was appointed Acting Register effective January 1, 2011, succeeding Marybeth Peters, who retired effective December 31, 2010. On June 1, 2011, she was appointed to the position which was intended to be permanent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Research Works Act</span>

The Research Works Act, 102 H.R. 3699, was a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives at the 112th United States Congress on December 16, 2011, by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) and co-sponsored by Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY). The bill contained provisions to prohibit open-access mandates for federally funded research and effectively revert the United States' National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy, which requires taxpayer-funded research to be freely accessible online. If enacted, it would have also severely restricted the sharing of scientific data. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Issa is the chair. Similar bills were introduced in 2008 and 2009 but have not been enacted since.

<i>Cambridge University Press v. Patton</i>

Cambridge University Press et al. v. Patton et al., 1:2008cv01425, was a case in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in which three publishers, Cambridge University Press, SAGE Publications, and Oxford University Press, initially filed suit in 2008 against Georgia State University for copyright infringement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Turner Sargent</span> American businessman

John Turner Sargent Jr. is an American book publisher; he was the CEO of Macmillan Publishers USA, and is the executive vice president of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, where he oversees the global trade operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia as well as Macmillan Learning, the company's US-based higher education business.

Academic journal publishing reform is the advocacy for changes in the way academic journals are created and distributed in the age of the Internet and the advent of electronic publishing. Since the rise of the Internet, people have organized campaigns to change the relationships among and between academic authors, their traditional distributors and their readership. Most of the discussion has centered on taking advantage of benefits offered by the Internet's capacity for widespread distribution of reading material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PROSE Awards</span> Professional and Scholarly Excellence awards

The PROSE Awards are presented by the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) Professional and Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division.

Library publishing, also known as campus-based publishing, is the practice of an academic library providing publishing services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open access in the Netherlands</span> Overview of the culture and regulation of open access in the Netherlands

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Oppenheim + Zebrak is a United States law firm specializing in copyright infringement and anti-piracy. The firm was founded in 2011 by Matt Oppenheim and Scott Zebrak and is based in Tenleytown, Washington, DC.

References

  1. "The Association of American Publishers (AAP) Names Maria A. Pallante as President and CEO". January 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  2. "Industry Statistics: Overview". Association of American Publishers. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  3. "Home - PROSE Awards". PROSE Awards. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  4. "American Publishers Sue To Stop 'Audible Captions'". Publishing Perspectives. August 24, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  5. Lee, Timothy B. (August 24, 2019). "Book publishers sue Audible to stop new speech-to-text feature". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  6. "Copyright: US Publishers Succeed in 'Audible Captions' Case". Publishing Perspectives. February 7, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  7. Giles, Jim (January 25, 2007). "PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access. Journal publishers lock horns with free-information movement". Nature. Nature Publishing Group. 445 (7126): 347. doi: 10.1038/445347a . PMID   17251943. Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  8. David Biello (January 26, 2007). "Open Access to Science Under Attack". Scientific American . Retrieved February 2, 2007.
  9. Rick Weiss, Publishing Group Hires 'Pit Bull of PR' , The Washington Post . January 25, 2007
  10. "Publishers File Suit Against Internet Archive for Systematic Mass Scanning and Distribution of Literary Works". Association of American Publishers. June 1, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  11. "Hachette v. Internet Archive". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  12. Stella, Shiva (June 1, 2020). "Public Knowledge Responds to Lawsuit Against Internet Archive: Policymakers, Publishers, and Libraries Should Make Print Books More Accessible During the Pandemic". Public Knowledge. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  13. @ARLnews (June 4, 2020). "ARL is disappointed, especially this week, at this time, to see "preeminent publishing houses" go after controlled digital lending (CDL) so broadly in their complaint against the @InternetArchive. bit.ly/302LIp4 1/3" (Tweet) via Twitter.