I’ve been thinking about blogging on the progress of this work (I think I need a new category for the translation of Eusebius ‘Quaestiones’, actually). But I don’t want to use real names for the people involved, so I will identify them
The Greek translation is well under way, and the first four questions ‘To Stephanus’ have been translated by a gentleman whom I will call Mr. A. He is currently doing a ‘question’ a week, but he tells me that he will need a sweep-up phase to look up a few specialist terms. He’s working from Zamagni’s Greek text which I printed and sent to him. I don’t think he’s had a lot of luck getting the PDF’s from the website. I’m sending him money by cheque, as each question is done, and getting a receipt for each and logging the payments so I can claim them back when sales commence.
Dr B., the reviewer of the Greek text, has received question 1 (from me) but hasn’t been able to even find the page on the website. I shall be sending him a print-off and a CD. One frustrating aspect has been that he only checks his email once or twice a week.
The Syriac translator, Mr C, has sent me the first fragment from Beyer. I’ve also specified a transcription of the Syriac, in case I want to print it, but this has not yet arrived. I’ve asked for a chunk a week. On the positive side he’s on Paypal!
I have not yet got a Syriac reviewer. However I have sent chunk 1 to someone I know, Dr. E, who will check it over this weekend.
I’ve experimented with uploading a volume in PDF form to lulu.com and ordered a printed copy; it will be interesting to see what comes back.
Mr A has published translations from the Greek before, so has put me in contact with a major academic publisher. The question, however, is whether I can publish through them and still make the money side work.
Just a word to the wise about publishers: make sure that if the publisher lets your book lapse into “out of print” or goes out of business that you will retain the rights allowing you to republish it elsewhere! Vast quantities of books have slipped into the unfortunate category of copyrights owned by publishers who have gone defunct or who have no intention of ever publishing the book again, so that the authors cannot even legally put their own books online or find other means to distribute them. This is especially likely with niche publications like the one your are working on here and with niche/academic publishers. It sounds like such a wonderful project – best wishes on all your hard work!
Thank you very much for this insightful comment!
Yes, I have no intention whatever of relinquishing the intellectual property. I’d rather lose all the money involved than do that: the whole point of the project is availability. Whether publishers are flexible enough to do a sensible deal I do not know. It may be salutary for them to deal with someone who cannot be browbeaten and cares nothing as to whether they publish it or not! At worst, it may make them deal better with subsequent potential clients.
As you say, the lifetime of these editions is so small, and the copyright term so huge, that effectively this merely makes a dog-in-the-manger the king of the internet.