Dear Guy, Roger, and others,
first, thank you very much, Roger and Guy, for your modifications of my calculation example. Guy's example is attached below since apparently it was not sent to Eduard and to Joe. Morevover it might be the "most correct" example for the moment being but even here there are some uncertainties due to "imperfect" Springer information (however, I'm very glad that we got (!) such an information; why did it need so much time??).
What we have to see from this small example is the following: (I'm very glad that my approach to make small example stimulated a lot of discussion and of insight. This shows that it is sometimes good to be pragmatic).
A. Figures for the three alternatives are largely depending on the choosen alternative, the number of printed copies, the bulk size, the estimation of books sold, the awfully high list prices,... Nevertheless, the price which has to to be paid by IFIP is not terribly different in the different cases (if we compare it for example with the registration fee of 600 EURO per person (!) for PWC'05 in Colmar).
B. The comparison between "IFIP-LNCS", "LNCS", and "standard IFIP" is largely of historical interest: "LNCS" should not be choosen for an IFIP event (and this can be avoided if the condition for "IFIP-LNCS" will be fair when compared to "LNCS"). "IFIP-LNCS" is discouraged from now on. It is only tolerated for conference series which have a long tradition with that publishing scheme (by the way: this scheme was somewhat illegal but here the same applies as with the "principaute of Monaco": its richness is due to piracy and to criminal acts in the middle age but now it has become perfectly legal by means of the purification effected by several centuries of history). IFIP and IFIP-TC6 should concentrate on "standard IFIP".
C. Even if we are not at all satisfied with the actual publication contract we have to accept the Roman principle "Pacta sunt servanda". This means that "standard IFIP" is the publisher to be choosen. A strong Digital Library will be unavoidable. This will be discussed by a working group together with IFIP executive Board on Decmber 9 in London in the GoodEnough club (isn't that a nice name for a meeting location ? ;-) )
Best regards Otto
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Guy Leduc's calcualtion:
Proceedings publication example (same as Otto's example):
Assumptions: 250 pages; 151 copies taken by the organiser; Estimated 400 copies produced in total (out of which are 50 complimentary copies if LNCS is used).
A1. Total cost for the organiser with "IFIP LNCS":
Organiser pays 101 copies, gets 50 for free. Total price: 101 x 42 x 0.6 = 2,545 EUROThis takes into account the 40% discount indicated in Amy Brais's email. However, this discount used to be higher. Here is the usual text from Springer (if it's still valid?):
"A standard number of 50 free copies of the book are given to the editor(s). Additional copies needed for distribution at the meeting or to contributing authors etc. can be bought at a discount of (at least) 45 % off the list price; this discount is increased to 47.5 % or 50 %, etc. if at least 100 copies or at least 200 copies, etc. are bought (respectively). For proceedings with more than some 750 pages, the aforementioned discounts can be (slightly) improved as well as the number of free copies."
Note also that the table from Amy Brais (from Springer) mixes list prices (for both LNCS) and bulk prices (for IFIP primary series), which is non sense. This is the reason why the primary LNCS series looked so cheap!
Moreover, I have used the same price for IFIP LNCS as standard LNCS. We have to verify with Springer that the bulk price for standard LNCS and IFIP LNCS are indeed equal (even though the list prices are not!), because there are no royalties to IFIP on bulk sales for IFIP LNCS.
For non bulk sales, standard LNCS will cost 42 EURO and IFIP LNCS 58 EURO (note the huge difference, which is much more than 10%, which are the royalties due to IFIP on estimated non bulk sales)
A2: Royalties to IFIP with "IFIP LNCS":
10 % of estimated 249 books: 0.10 x 249 x 58 = 1,444 EURO(Don't know how Springer will estimate the number of sales!)
A1 - A2 = 1,101 EURO
B1. Total cost for the organiser with "Standard LNCS":
Organiser pays 101 copies, gets 50 for free. Total price: 101 x 42 x 0.6 = 2,545 EURO(Again 40% discount, but it is likely to be higher)
B2: Royalties to IFIP with "Standard LNCS":
None.B1 - B2 = 2,545 EURO
C1. Total cost for the organiser with "Primary IFIP series":
Total price: 151 x 31.52 = 4,760 EUROC2: Royalties to IFIP with "Primary IFIP series":
12 % of actual 249 books (list price!): 0.12 x 249 x 100 EURO =2988 EURO Note: It is unlikely that Springer will sell 249 books at this price! This may mean that IFIP will get almost no royalties in fact!
C1 - C2 = 1,172 EURO
Anyway, solutions A and B are expected to be equivalent for the organiser and much better than solution C.
Solution A is better than solution B for IFIP, because IFIP gets royalties.
For solution C to be comparable to solutions A and B from the organiser's viewpoint, IFIP would have to pay part of the proceedings. IFIP could do it by redistributing all its royalties to the organiser. But even in this case, this would not suffice!