When publishing e-books, the terms and conditions signed by authors can affect who can read their work, and when. This is because libraries can only purchase e-books licensed for Higher Education institutions, and these often come with restrictions.

What you can do

When negotiating your book contract, we recommend that you ask your publisher about their e-book policies. The sections below on Questions to ask publishers and Contract clauses will help you.

If you are not satisfied with their policies, or with the terms of the contract, you may wish to consider a different publisher. Alternatively, you could also publish your book under an open access model, allowing everyone immediate free access. The OA Books Toolkit is a great resource to help you with this.

E-book publishing