All ten of my books now are (or will be when published) open access | Martin Paul Eve | Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing

"Today marks a significant milestone for me. All ten of my academic monographs are now – or will be when published – openly accessible and free to download. The books that are not yet out have advance contracts that stipulate open access....

How did I do this?

It’s part a matter of luck and part a matter of choice.

There’s luck involved as I have been very fortunate with grant funding. Paper Thin, DH and Literary Studies, Warez, Reading Peer Review, Reassembling ScholComms, Close Reading with Computers, Password, and Pynchon and Philosophy were all made OA due to generous grants by philanthropic organisations. Literature Against Criticism and OA and the Humanities were made OA by the presses, although Birkbeck’s library also contributed to Lit Against Crit. It would be nice to say that it’s all pure skill and I am just brilliant etc. etc. But that’s not true. Getting grants is also a matter of placement and good luck and I want to acknowledge that.

But it was also a matter of choice. I elected to spend quite a portion of my Philip Leverhulme Prize re-issuing my research in openly accessible formats and spending the money in this way. This was a conscious decision and I made it at the expense of not spending the money on other elements (such as, for example, buying out more of my time for new research). The funding from this prize can be used in whatever way most advances my research and I feel that increasing its dissemination potential is a definite advance...."