Print or electronic publishing?

There's been some discussion among the Ottawa Independent Writers (OIW) LinkedIn group lately about electronic publishing.  I had my two-cents'worth yesterday:

John Last • It's beyond dispute that e-publishing is surging in technical and professional domains. I've compiled and edited dictionaries of epidemiology and of public health, published by Oxford University Press.  The former has gone through 5 editions since 1983 with the 6th now in preparation; it's been translated into 15 languages. Both dictionaries are available in OUP's online collection, Oxford Reference Online (ORO) accessible at public and university libraries worldwide. My latest book went direct to ORO as well as appearing in print. Many, probably most, costly technical reference books published by mainstream publishers are now available online. So are almost all technical, professional and scholarly journals. I think (hope!) there will always be a good market for 'traditional' books on paper but e-publishing is solidly established and growing, and publishers who are unwilling to e-publish as well as 'traditionally' publish probably risk failure and extinction. I'm getting my memoirs of a long and interesting life licked into near-final shape and intend to self publish electronically, may or may not bother producing a paper version. It's the obvious route to go for writers like members of OIW.

I could have added that it costs a little to access the rich reference resources of ORO. I had a complimentary subscription for several years but it's run out now, so I get to ORO via the University of Ottawa subscription. Obviously it's easier to update and amend an electronic document than one that is printed and bound as a book.   I made some additions and amendments to the DoPH a year or so after it was published, and have a few more ready to send to the production editor.

The priority now, however, is to work on memoirs, get these into shape for e-publishing later this year. Readers of this blog know I've posted many excerpts (nearly all abridged and abbreviated) and I'll be trying out more in future posts.