Here are the relevant facts: 

  • Oxford University Press USA is a “crossover” publisher, which means that they’re an academic press but they publish many books meant to have some trade success also, e.g. showing up in the local Barnes & Noble. 
  • But OUP UK, with whom I am publishing this Sayers biography, is pretty much strictly academic in its orientation, which means that it charges high prices for books and expects to sell them largely to libraries. (I only signed with them because they promised to sell my book at a reasonable price: other books in the series are two or three times as expensive.) 
  • Most of the academics who publish with OUP UK are doing so for reasons of professional advancement and job security — tenure, promotion, moves to more prestigious institutions, etc. They don’t expect their books to be purchased by the general public, and even whether they get read (and reviewed) by peers is a secondary consideration. What matters is the new bullet point on the CV. 
  • I am not seeking professional advancement; and even when I write academic books, I write them to be read by actual human beings. 

Therefore, we are seeing a mismatch between my interests and those of my publisher. The book didn’t come out on its pub day, the Kindle edition is unreadable to some, I have no idea when people will actually be able to buy the book, I am very unhappy — and as far as I can tell nobody at OUP UK understands why I am bothered. I have the new bullet point on my CV, don’t I?