Horns of a dilemma

My publisher wants some major editing before I advance my book to publication. The trouble is that I have a few too many long block quotes of copyright material. That throws off the ratio of original work to quoted work which should be about 75:25%.

When teaching a course, there is nothing wrong with quoting and citing sources. When reprinting or rebroadcasting there can be trouble.

I must decide whether to complete the recommended edits, pushing publication further into the future or stop the effort and just put information out there for free on the blog spot.

The quality of the original work is not the issue as much as it is how I have bracketed it with other material that demonstrates how I arrived at my content. I want that transparency.

I have other works in progress for which I will change my writing style and approach in managing reference material. Now, it is a matter of timely decisionmaking about the current initiative.

Alternatives:

1. Publish the work into an academic journal, reducing the volume of block quotes
2. Shrink the size of the work into a shorter book, emphasizing original work
3. Make the subject block quotes references with summaries
4. Publish the work, much as it is on the blog

I am contemplating actions.

 I would rather be painting.