The Influence of Open Access on Monograph Sales : The experience at Amsterdam University Press

Abstract: : The hybrid model of Amsterdam University Press (AUP) combines monograph sales with Open Access publishing. This paper investigates the effects of Open Access publishing on the sales of monographs, taking into account the influence of: commercial potential; frontlist and backlist; and language. The data set contains sales figures of 513 books, spread over 36 months: 2010 to 2012. Over 70 per cent of those books are published on Open Access and are distributed through the OAPEN Library. Each influence is relevant, which makes it harder to single out the effects of Open Access. The large difference between frontlist sales figures and those of the backlist leads to a separate analysis. The frontlist sales are affected by a combination of commercial potential and language; Open Access publishing has no effect in this situation. For the backlist, Open Access publishing is a significant influence on sales only in the subset of books whose print run is between one and 2000. No significant effect on books with a print run of zero, or on books with a print run between 2001 and 3000, could be measured. The hybrid model does not lead to more sales of monographs available on Open Access, and the loss of sales is negligible. The data suggest that a hybrid model is not an option to improve the sustainability of monograph publishing.