Program Committee
Rob Dilworth, Duke University Press, Chair
Neil Blair Christensen, University of California Press
Brady Dyer, University of Texas Press
Amanda Lanne-Camilli, SUNY Press
Dariel Mayer, Vanderbilt University Press
Mary Rose Muccie, Temple University Press
Darrin Pratt, University Press of Colorado
Jill Rodgers, Journals, MIT Press
Program: “Energize & Innovate”
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Pre-Meeting Workshops and Special Group Meetings
Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers
Organizers: Tom Helleberg, Chief Financial Officer, University of Washington Press; Robbie Dircks, Associate Director and CFO, University of North Carolina Press
Speakers: Mike Bieker, Director, University of Arkansas Press; Dan Wackrow, CFO/COO, Harvard University Press
This three-hour program gives managers the tools to understand and evaluate press finances through three conventional financial statements: The Income Statement, the Balance Sheet, and the Title P & L.
Accessibility is Accessible
Organizers: AAUP Design & Production Committee (Chair: Nicole Hilton, XML Workflow Supervisor, P-Shift, University of Toronto Press)
Moderator: Bill Kasdorf, VP and Principal Consultant, Apex Content and Media Solutions
Speakers: Jamie Axelrod, Director of Disability Resources, Northern Arizona University and President-Elect of the Association on Higher Education and Disability; Sue-Ann Ma, DIAGRAM Center, Benetech; Jon McGlone, Front End Developer and UI Designer, Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan; Madeleine Rothberg, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
View slides >
It’s easier than ever now to make your books better for everybody by making them accessible.
Publicity Rules!
Organizers: AAUP Marketing Committee (Chair: Martyn Beeny, Marketing and Sales Manager, University of Nebraska Press)
AAUP Press Directors Networking Luncheon
Organizers: Jane Bunker, Director, Northwestern University Press; Lisa Bayer, Director, University of Georgia Press
AAUP Press Directors Meeting
“Flipping the Monograph: What are the Opportunities and Challenges for My Press?”
Organizers: Peter Berkery, Executive Director, AAUP; Patrick Alexander, Director, Penn State University Press; Greg Britton, Johns Hopkins University Press; Alison Mudditt, Director, University of California Press; Barbara Kline Pope, Executive Director, National Academies Press; Mark Saunders, Director, University of Virginia Press; Charles Watkinson, Director, University of Michigan Press
Journals Assembly
Organizers: AAUP Journals Committee (Chair: Michael Magoulias, Director, Journals Division, University of Chicago Press)
3:00–5:00 PM AAUP Business Meeting
5:00–6:00 PM Newcomers Reception
Sponsored by Books International
All newcomers are encouraged to attend.
6:30–8:00 PM Reception at the Barnes Foundation
Sponsored by The New York Review of Books
Transportation to the Barnes Foundation provided by the University of Pennsylvania Press
9:30–10:30 PM Late Night Snack/Dessert Reception
Join The Chronicle of Higher Education and AAUP for late evening reception at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.
Friday, June 17, 2016
7:00 AM 5K Run
Get your blood pumping with an early walk or run before a full day of sessions. Project MUSE will provide a limited number of t-shirts
7:30–8:45 AM Continental Breakfast.
7:30–8:45 AM Library Relations Breakfast
9:00–10:15 AM Plenary Session
Sponsored by Bert Davis Executive Search and Consulting Services
Speaker: Mickey McManus, MAYA Design
Moderator: Wendy Queen, Director, Project MUSE, Johns Hopkins University Press
What’s next for the world of publishing? Mickey McManus, Principal and Chairman of the board at MAYA Design—a design consultancy and innovation lab located in downtown Pittsburgh—has a thought. What will it be like to have our phones give us a tour of a museum based on the artifacts we pass? Or what if our coffeemakers automatically start to percolate as the pace of our reading slows after we pick up our favorite book? Often called the “Internet of Things,” pervasive computing is about connecting the things we interact with every day, and is a game-changer for industry as a new set of design and business paradigms emerge. In 2012, Mickey co-authored a book, Trillions: Thriving in the Emerging Information Ecology, which has been called a field guide to the era of pervasive computing. The way we design for things that begin to “wake up” is uncharted territory. If we don’t take into account our connected future and continue designing for disconnected things, we will design our way into irrelevance. The challenge publishers face is how to surf these trends, determine what to do about them, and identify how designing “things” will change. Please join Mickey, a pioneer in the field of collaborative innovation, pervasive computing, human-centered design and education, in a discussion about the ecological design and the nature of things.
Watch this session
10:45 AM–12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Apples and Oranges: Financial Arrangements between Presses and Their Parent Institutions
Leaders: Mike Bieker, Director, University of Arkansas Press; Steve Cohn, Director, Duke University Press; Alison Mudditt, Director, University of California Press; Charles Watkinson, Director, University of Michigan Press
In many cases our presses do not pay for all the cost lines that would be part of the expenses of a freestanding publishing business. We get support, in an amazing variety of ways, from our parent institutions; and sometimes we make payments for parent-institution services and overheads. At a time when the costs of publishing a book are much in discussion, thanks to the recent Ithaka S&R report, it seems useful for us to become aware of the differences in what gets counted into those costs.
What gets paid for by your press’s parent institution, what does your press pay for on its own, and what does your press pay its parent institution to provide? How do these vary across presses and institutions, and what impact does size and reporting line have? When we talk about levels of parent-institution support, are we all talking about (i.e., adding and subtracting) the same things? And what implications does all of this have for the way we manage our presses and make decisions?
Effective Digital Advertising, Part 2
Chair: Brady Dyer, Marketing and Communications Manager, University of Texas Press
Panelists: Sara Johnson, Marketing Associate, NYU Press; Tim Johnson, Associate Publisher, The Nation; Greg Monaco, Monaco Lange Agency; Jill Rodgers, Subscription and Institutional Marketing Manager, MIT Press
Advertise, Engage, Innovate. Repeat. Building on last year’s session on effective digital advertising, this panel will share new research about engaging readers with AAUP titles. Participants will show how core advertising principles and strategies work at a creative agency, media owner, and at AAUP presses. We’ll further explore defining a book or journal’s value before advertising it and also the value of your press itself. Tangible results from email opens to ad clicks and above all, book and journal buying, will feature in supporting case studies.
Metrics and the Terminology of Editing
Chair: Mark Fretz, Director of Editorial Services, Scribe Inc.
Panelists: John Ferguson, Journals Production Manager, University of Wisconsin Press; Juliana McCarthy, Managing Editor, Book Division, Johns Hopkins University Press; Anita Samen, Managing Editor, Book Division, University of Chicago Press
When we determine that a manuscript requires a light, medium, or heavy copyedit, what exactly do we mean? This session examines the correlation between our hunches about and the metrics of manuscript editing, and the accuracy of the terminology and measurability or the corresponding work copyeditors do. The target outcomes of the panel include building a consensus on terminology and what we collectively mean by that terminology, as well as identifying the most promising metrics to associate with copyeditor performance.
Staff Training and Development During Times of Change
Facilitator: Robyn L. Miller, SPHR, Director of Administration, Duke University Press
As academic publishers, we compete every day for resources to bring exceptional works to the forefront of academic thought and to our world. With well-trained feet that curve expertly around the braided tightrope of scholarly publishing, we walk with impeccable focus and balance to keep our mission front and center and ever-moving forward.
For some of us, this challenge is captivating. We are energized by the unrelenting need for focus and balance; we see change as the foundation of our existence. For others, the experience is demotivating and exhausting; it wears away at our confidence and resilience, and we disengage from our work.
In this facilitated and interactive discussion, we will explore the role that organizational leadership plays in steering staff toward engagement through training and development, particularly during times of change. We’ll take a look at where some thought leaders—such as Adam Bryant, William Bridges, Rodd Wagner, and James K. Harter—have taken this conversation. We will also explore what participants and their organizations have learned in this regard. At the end of the workshop you can expect to be well-prepared to build the business case for prioritizing training and development in your organization within a budget that is practical.
Trends in the Academy
Chair: Beth Bouloukos, Senior Acquisitions Editor, State University of New York Press
Panelists: Courtney Berger, Senior Editor and Editorial Department Manager, Duke University Press; Scott Jashick, Editor, Inside Higher Ed; Laura W. Perna, University of Pennsylvania; Dean J. Smith, Director, Cornell University Press
Panelists from a diverse mix of perspectives will discuss the developments in higher education that impact publishing and scholarly communication more generally. How do the changing economics of higher education affect all parts of the scholarly publishing enterprise, including subventions for presses, budgets for libraries, and the pool of tenured and tenure-track professors from which to draw potential authors? Does all of this result in the marginalization of the humanities? Does the printed monograph still matter? Is the demand for alternative teaching materials (digital content packages of book chapters and journal articles) changing what university presses produce and how scholarly communication functions? Will new methods of evaluation for professors lead to a disinvestment in presses? We will connect some of these megatrends to how we select, create, and sell content.
The Top Five Factors That Ensure Successful Journal Content (#4 Will Really Shock You)
Chair: Liz Brown, Manager of Publisher Relations, Project MUSE, Johns Hopkins University Press
Panelists: Gordon Rudy, Journals Publisher, University of Chicago Press; Chris Wozniak, Electronic Publishing Analyst, American Association for Cancer Research; Brian Shea, Publicity and Advertising Coordinator, Johns Hopkins University Press
Everyone is looking for usage and “impact.” Authors, librarians, university administrators, and publishers want to align themselves with research that is making a difference. The concept of Impact Factor has been a proxy for quality, but has only focused at the level of the journal. Recently, various measures have been developed to try to get at a quality measurement that works at the article level. How should university presses be thinking about these measurements and how should they be communicating them to their journal publishing partners? This session will provide hands-on advice about social media, altmetrics, H-Index, and Scimago rankings.
Working Effectively with Consultants
Chair: Ann Snoeyenbos, Manager, International Sales, Project MUSE
Panelists: Linda D. Cameron, Director, University of Alberta Press; Raym Crow, Managing Partner, Chain Bridge Group; Pam Harley, Senior Consultant, Clarke & Company; Darrin Pratt, Director, University Press of Colorado
Consultants offer more than just an extra pair of hands for a project—they can help you form a strategy or select a new business technology, provide insight and assistance with applying for a grant, insert perspective and objectivity into a sticky situation, and offer extra resources to think deep thoughts and crunch big numbers to help inform a decision, among many other things. Given the myriad (and unpredictable) issues universities and their presses are asked to address, the support of an “arm’s length” consultant can bring a fresh perspective, necessary expertise, and nonpartisan authority to a project, whatever it may be.
In panel format, this session will present practical insights into selecting and working with consultants, with real-world perspectives offered by both publishers and consultants. Attendees will learn how to determine whether you need a consultant, including the right and wrong reasons to hire a consultant; how to select the right consultant for your project; tactics for managing the cost of a consultant; tips for getting the most from working with a consultant; and advice on what to do when the relationship gets off track.
12:00–1:30 PM Lunch
Speaker: Chris Jackson, Vice President, Publisher, and Editor in Chief of the One World imprint of Random House
Chris Jackson is Publisher and Editor in Chief of One World, a newly revitalized imprint of Random House that will launch its first list of books in the Fall of 2017. Before that he was an Executive Editor at Spiegel & Grau, another Random House imprint, where he’s published award-winning and bestselling books by writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Matt Taibbi, Jill Leovy, Eddie Huang, Bryan Stevenson, and Victor LaValle. His own writing has appeared in Callaloo, The Atlantic.com, and the Paris Review.
Read an essay adapted from this talk at Lit Hub
1:45–3:00 PM Collaboration Lab
Advocacy
Facilitators: Margy Avery, Executive Editor, Amherst College Press; Jill Rodgers, Subscription and Institutional Marketing Manager, MIT Press
New university presses are springing up across the globe with “untraditional” publishing models. The unique missions of these presses made self-advocacy an easy project to tackle and opened doors to fruitful collaborations with external partners. Learn how these presses (largely Open Access) launched themselves, and gather with colleagues to brainstorm how your home press can interpret the approaches for your existing business. Advocate for your U.P. by taking the offensive: highlighting your strength, agility, and ability to serve the scholarly community.
1:45–3:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Building a New List
Chair: Al Bertrand, Associate Publishing Director, Princeton University Press
Panelists: Dana Dreibelbis, Principal, Stony Point Consulting; Kristen Elias Rowley, Editor in Chief, Ohio State University Press; Robert Tempio, Executive Editor, Princeton University Press
This panel will look at the challenges and opportunities in building a new list. Three experienced editors from a variety of disciplines will bring their expertise to this discussion. We will look at questions such as: What are the key ingredients in successfully starting a list? How do you build an author base and community associated with your list and press? What are some of the difficulties faced in building a new list? This panel will provide you with the tools and ideas for beginning a new list or for revitalizing an existing publishing program.
Diversity in Publishing: Transforming Our Profession and Practices
Chair: Larin McLaughlin, Editor in Chief, University of Washington Press
Panelists: Jennifer Baker, Social Media Manager, We Need Diverse Books, and Production Editor, Teachers College Press; Courtney Berger, Senior Editor and Editorial Department Manager, Duke University Press; Heath Fogg Davis, Associate Professor of Political Science, Temple University; Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director, MIT Press
With recent surveys such as the 2015 Publishers Weekly Salary Survey and the Diversity Baseline Survey demonstrating the continued homogeneity of the publishing industry, the need for diversity in publishing continues to be a pressing concern for our profession and the publishing industry more generally. This panel will feature activists for diversity in publishing and higher education who will share their experiences with advocating for increased diversity in the context of publishing and institutional change. In addition, four university presses recently partnered to develop the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship Program; panelists will include those who are now working to implement the program.
Managing Your Day and Time
Chair: Donna Shear, Director, University of Nebraska Press
Panelists: Jennifer Crewe, Associate Provost and Director, Columbia University Press; Alisa Plant, Editor in Chief, University of Nebraska Press; Marthe Walters, Assistant Managing Editor, University Press of Florida
Effective time management is not about a “to do” list or eliminating meetings. The truth is, we all have very little discretionary time so we need to use it effectively. This session, using actual time tracked by our participants, will show you a proven way to manage your time so that you achieve what is vital and important to your individual and press-wide goals.
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Maximize Your International Sales
Chair: Jessica Lawrence-Hurt, International and Institutional Sales and Marketing Manager, MIT Press
Presenters: Mary Beth Jarrad, Sales and Marketing Director, NYU Press; Stephen Lustig, Business Development Director, Eurospan Group; Brian MacDonald, Sales and Marketing Manager, University of Toronto Press
Are you being tasked with bringing your press’s books to a global audience? Don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re already seeing some sales internationally and would like to know how to increase them? This panel hopes to help you do just that. Come for a spirited conversation on these and other issues:
- Maximizing the international sales potential for your books—consider format, content, packaging, and more.
- What’s best for you? Doing it all yourself, or contracting out one or all of marketing, sales, and distribution services.
- What will the sales rep or marketing agent need from me?
- What can I expect the first year?
- Is there value in attending international book fairs?
- Prices: what will international markets pay for my books?
- Pros and cons of selling foreign language rights, as complement to selling English-language books.
- Ebooks and Print on Demand in international markets.
- And, if time, an overview of key markets.
View session slides
Things That Keep You Up at Night—Distribution Heartburn
Chair: Michael Magoulias, Director, Journals Division, University of Chicago Press
Panelists: Patrick Alexander, Director, Penn State University Press; Toni Gunnison, Journals Manager, University of Wisconsin Press; Michael Magoulias, Director Journals, University of Chicago Press
It’s 3 o’clock in the morning and you’re wondering what happens if . . . ? Join experienced panelists for an unplugged session on the hot-button topics of journal publishing, with a special focus on “distribution” in the widest sense of the term: sales, hosting platforms, sharing networks, and pirates in the former USSR.
3:30–4:45 PM Collaboration Lab
Design Jam: Brainstorm Innovative Ideas by Focusing on the User
Facilitator: Alex Humphreys, Director, JSTOR Labs
JSTOR Labs, which partners with publishers, libraries, and labs to build innovative tools for research and teaching (http://labs.jstor.org), uses “design jams” to come up with its creative products, designs, and tools. A design jam (also called a design studio) is a structured brainstorming technique that focuses on the user, resulting in dozens and even hundreds of new ideas in just a couple of hours. In this Collaboration Lab, we will learn how to design jam by conducting one. Come prepared to participate, to draw, to share your ideas, and to have fun.
3:30–4:45 PM Concurrent Sessions
2016 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show
Chair: Pamela Schnitter, Senior Book Designer, Princeton University Press
Panelists: Daphne Geismar, freelance designer, teaches at University of Connecticut; Kimberly Glyder, principal, Kimberly Glyder Design, Philadelphia area; Benjamin Shaykin, Providence-based designer and educator; Henk van Assen, founding principal of HvAD, New York City, lecturer at Parsons School of Design
A panel of notable designers and educators honors the best in design and production from the 2016 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show and discusses the current state of the scholarly book.
Data, Data Everywhere
Chair: Michael Magoulias, Director, Journals, University of Chicago Press
Panelists: Sonia Barbosa, Manager of Data Curation, IQSS Dataverse Network, Harvard University; Jan Leighley, Professor, Department of Government, American University; Meredith Morovati, Executive Director, Dryad; Wiley Editorial Development representative
Data can be rigorous, big, and open, but it’s always important. The question is: What are the best ways for academic journal publishers to handle it at a time when it’s become expected for journal articles to make their underlying data sets “available” to readers. Experts from Dryad, Dataverse, and STM publishing will give attendees all the background needed to steer these newly charted waters.
Giving New Life to Old Books: The NEH/Mellon Humanities Open Book Program
Chair: Dean J. Smith, Director, Cornell University Press
Panelists: Brett Bobley, Director, Office of Digital Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities; Jane Bunker, Director, Northwestern University Press; Emily Nowak, Marketing Manager, Wayne State University Press; Laurie N. Taylor, Digital Scholarship Librarian, University of Florida; Donald J. Waters, Senior Program Officer, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Steven C. Wheatley, Vice President, American Council of Learned Societies
Over the past decade, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities have made key grants to explore the challenges and opportunities of an evolving scholarly publishing ecosystem. A new joint grant program, Humanities Open Book, offers funding to unlock the contents of previously published, out-of-print humanities books by digitizing and disseminating them to a wide public audience. In 2015, the NEH and Mellon awarded approximately $775,000 to open up more than 500 titles to the public for free, forever. The session will include a lightning round featuring the program’s inaugural grantees as well as a roundtable discussion on best practices for such issues as rights clearance and marketing digital content.
Help! My Budget’s Been Slashed! Creative Marketing with Limited Funds
Chair: Laura Sell, Publicity and Advertising Manager, Duke University Press
Panelists: Martyn Beeny, Marketing Manager, University of Nebraska Press; Alix Gerz, Free Library of Philadelphia; Amy Harris, Director of Marketing and Sales, University Press of Kentucky
Imagine your director announces you have to cut your marketing budget in half. Sound impossible? It’s happened many times before. On this interactive panel, we’ll explore some case studies and scenarios that will help focus your marketing efforts with limited funds. We’ll explore community partnerships, freemiums and giveaways, advertising, exhibits, and publicity. Come prepared to share your own experiences and to ask questions.
This Acquisitions Life
Chair: Suzanne E. Guiod, Editor in Chief, Syracuse University Press
Panelists: Sian Hunter, Senior Acquisitions Editor, University Press of Florida; Matthew McAdam, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Johns Hopkins University Press; Larin McLaughlin, Editor in Chief, University of Washington Press; Fredric W. Nachbaur, Director, Fordham University Press
This panel takes its inspiration from the syndicated radio program This American Life, in which each episode is devoted to a theme, and to stories based on that theme. Today’s theme is acquisitions editorial work, and the working life of an acquisitions editor. Close interaction with authors—whether tested or first-timers—can be variously rewarding, perplexing, funny, frustrating, stimulating, and surprising. Join us to hear stories from four seasoned acquisitions editors who have ushered projects and authors through the sometimes thorny path to publication, and lived to tell about it. Panelists will discuss methods and maneuvers honed through trial and error that they’ve found most (or least) useful in perfecting the delicate art of acquisitions and the careful craft of author management.
View video shown during the session.
5:00–6:30 PM Solutions Showcase
Sponsored by Ingram
The 2016 Solutions Showcase will offer attendees the chance to learn about innovative new services from our publishing service providers. The 2016 theme is “Let’s Make A Deal.” Come ready to stand out in the crowd to be chosen to compete for the prizes, enjoy refreshments, and see what’s behind the curtain!
Saturday, June 18, 2016
7:30–8:45 AM Continental Breakfast
7:30–8:45 AM Small Press Breakfast
9:00–10:15 AM Collaboration Labs
Reimagining the University Press from Scratch, Part 2: Mastermind Workshop on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) in the University Press Industry
Facilitator: John J. McAdam, Small Business Development Center Instructor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
The publishing industry—including the university press sector—is going through critical changes today. In this two-part workshop, author and Wharton SBDC Instructor John McAdam will facilitate a mastermind discussion of these challenges and the current environment with the end-goal of creating a business plan for your press as if you were hanging your shingle today. In this part of the workshop, McAdam and attendees will explore together the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) in university press publishing, particularly as other publishing startups are entering this space. What would happen if you were a new publisher about to enter the university publishing industry? What would you offer your customers to compete successfully? Part 1 (pre-meeting webinar) is not required to attend this workshop.
Design and Production Roundtable
Facilitators: Nicole Hilton, XML Workflow Supervisor, University of Toronto Press; Janet Rossi, Production Manager, MIT Press
The goal of this Collaboration Lab is to produce preliminary outlines for several well-defined sessions and workshop proposals for the 2017 AAUP conference. The outlines will be submitted to the conference’s program committee before it meets in fall 2016. In the Lab, we will also consider ideas for future webinars and other related meetings and workshops, such as bringing back the AAUP Design and Production Managers’ meetings. Topics to be considered may include approaches to digitizing backlists (scanning, OCR, ebook creation). Strategies for determining design and production focused sessions may include combing AAUP-PM listservs for relevant topics and determining those areas that are in need of more formal discussion.
9:00–10:15 AM Concurrent Sessions
The Charlotte Initiative on eBook Principles: Making eBooks Work for Libraries and Publishers
Chair: October Ivins, Ivins eContent Solutions
Panelists: Theresa Liedtka, Dean UTC Library, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga; Elizabeth Siler, Collection Development Librarian, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Respondents: Steve Cohn, Director, Duke University Press; John McLeod, Director of the Office of Scholarly Publishing Services, University of North Carolina Press
Join us for a mid-project update about this Mellon-funded exploration seeking common ground between publishers and librarians about eBook concerns. Libraries want unlimited simultaneous use and to provide course use and instructional materials. What business models can accommodate that need? What licensing terms are feasible to provide perpetual access and archival rights without DRM? How does ILL fit into the picture? Members of the working group representing the course use and licensing principles research teams will make brief presentations and invite you to participate in what is sure to be a lively discussion. To learn more now, visit our website at http://guides.library.uncc.edu/charlotteinitiative.
View session slides
Digital Design and Branding for Electronic-Only Journals
Chair: Michael Magoulias, Director, Journals, University of Chicago Press
Panelists: Michael Boudreau, Electronic Publishing Technology Manager, University of Chicago Press; Joshua Pyle, Vice President, Technology and Innovation, Atypon; Cassini Nazir, Clinical Assistant Professor, Arts and Technology, University of Texas at Dallas
With the digital versions of journals becoming increasingly the versions of records, and some titles abandoning print altogether, how have the functions of design and branding changed in a paperless environment? Representatives from university presses and leading service providers will discuss specific examples and lessons learned in the course of developing new workflows, new platforms, and new digital products.
Represent! Evaluating the Relationships Between University Presses and Independent Sales Reps in 2016
Chair: Erin Rolfs, Marketing Manager, Louisiana State University Press
Panelists: Eileen Parsons, Weems; Rosemary Vestal, Publicity Manager, University Nebraska Press; J.D. Wilson, Director of Marketing and Publicity, Northwestern University Press
While Amazon acquires more and more market share and our traditional source of sales—from chains, independents, and libraries—become a smaller part of our revenue, how have the scope and expectations of independent sales reps changed? Conversely, how has this shift impacted how independent sales representatives view their client presses? These reciprocal questions will be addressed in an open discussion that will ask attendees to respond to questions about current practices and challenges so that the entire room is contributing to the session. Further discussion will cover the new interplay between publicists and sales reps, the value of Edelweiss, aligning early metadata delivery to key accounts with sales calls, and ways publishers can better leverage their reps in an ever shifting landscape.
Update on UPScope Planning Grant
Chair: Peter Berkery, Executive Director, AAUP
Panelists: Susan Doerr, Operations Manager, University of Minnesota Press; Ellen Faran, Project Manager; Brenna McLaughlin, Director of Marketing and Communications, AAUP
This session will provide an update on AAUP’s planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a direct to consumer web-based platform for the discovery of the high quality, peer-reviewed books published by the member presses of AAUP.
View session slides
10:45 AM–12:00 PM Collaboration Labs
Reimagining the University Press from Scratch, Part 3: A One-Hour Business Plan Workshop
Facilitator: John McAdam, Small Business Development Center Instructor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
In the final part of this workshop, attendees will follow up on the SWOT analysis and write their One-Hour Business Plan foundation through an intensive workshop. Author and Wharton SBDC Instructor John McAdam will introduce attendees to the concepts from his book, The One-Hour Business Plan (Wiley), and guide them through the initial steps of the process. Come prepared to do some writing; then the rest of your business plan will evolve more naturally and a business plan for the current environment will no longer be missing! Part 1 (pre-meeting webinar) is not required to attend this workshop. Part 2 is highly recommended.
Strategizing Non-Traditional Social Media
Facilitator: Bailey Morrison, Web and Digital Media Coordinator, University of Texas Press
Twitter and Facebook are key to a modern marketing campaign, but other platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Vine keep growing in popularity. Launching and maintaining an account on these platforms can be time-consuming and feel like whispering into the void. Perhaps collaborating on a campaign with other presses can help us leverage the reach of these platforms.
10:45 AM–12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Digital Monograph P&L Builder
Speakers: Nancy Maron, President, BlueSky to BluePrint; Kim Schmelzinger, Independent Consultant
As new models to support scholarly monograph publishing emerge, it is increasingly important to be able to identify the costs that underlie this work. In 2016, Maron and Schmelzinger authored a study that examined the costs of publishing monographs, employing a method that incorporated several innovative means to establish a common understanding of these costs. As part of a Mellon-funded grant to AAUP, they are now adapting that methodology so that any press could develop estimates for themselves. This session will share results from the study, and will offer a walk-through of the tool, the Dashboard it offers publishers, and the Cost Statement presses might find useful in seeking publishing subsidies.
Foreign Exchanges: Where to Buy and Sell Subsidiary Rights, 2017-2020
Chair: Michael Duckworth
Panelists: Alejandro Fernández Diego, Executive Director, UNE (University Presses of Spain)/Espacio UNE/Librería del BOE; Tarek El-Elaimy, Marketing Manager (North America), American University in Cairo Press; Peter Froehlich, Director, Purdue University Press; Peter Schoppert, Director, NUS Press, Singapore
Four industry leaders from Europe, Northeast and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North America will share their 10-minute answers to the following questions: What are their favorite international rights fairs and why? What have been their primary objectives and successes, as well as their main obstacles or continuing challenges from 2010 to 2016? Which genres/disciplines and which languages or translation avenues and mechanisms have been most successful? Which fairs or language areas are you spotlighting for growth from 2017 to 2020?
Watch this session
A Fresh Look at Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
Chair: Ellen Foos, Senior Production Editor, Princeton University Press
Panelists: Lyndsey Claro, Editorial Administrator, Princeton University Press; Jennifer Blanc-Tal, Production Coordinator, Rutgers University Press; Karen Copp, Design and Production Manager, University of Iowa Press
Find out what needs to be weeded out of or added into your author guidelines and in-house checklists to bring them up-to-date and make them most effective. We’ll hear from panelists with recent experience in revising their Press guidelines or who are eager to do so. Streamlining the steps for both text and art submission will help authors focus on what they can do to keep their manuscripts moving more smoothly through copyediting and production. We’ll talk about the resources available on press websites for authors. We’ll identify who functions as gatekeepers and how much can be expected from acquisitions. Plenty of time will be allowed to ask questions and share tips.
Sharing Infrastructure: How Open Source Tools and Platforms Can Transform Us
Chair: Neil Blair Christensen, Director, Digital Business Development, University of California Press
Panelists: Martin Paul Eve, Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, Univerity of London; Kristen Ratan, Co-founder, Collaborative Knowledge Foundation; Alec Smecher, Technical Architect, Public Knowledge Project; Erich Van Rijn, Director of Publishing Operations, University of California Press
Most industries have used technology to evolve their sectors with profound leaps forward, while the academic publishing industry is still trying to figure out basic digital workflows. Many of us have been frustrated when a new idea is blocked because legacy, proprietary systems were too difficult, slow, or expensive to change. This session will explore ways that scholarly publishing can break down unnecessary silos and create shared layers of open source platform components that can be flexibly combined to create new platforms and solutions.
In recent years there has been a shift towards open source across technology-driven industries, with competitors sharing common infrastructure that doesn’t confer a direct competitive advantage, and focusing their resources on a layer of innovation on top. The publishing industry can learn from this model and use the reduced costs to increase innovation and expand services. There is also an emerging trend towards decoupled architecture with a modular rather than monolithic approach to software, workflow, and product development. In combination, these approaches enable flexible and adaptable platform solutions that offer faster and lower cost publishing with more resources left over for experimentation with new products and services.
Value of Acquisitions
Chair: Derek Krissoff, Director, West Virginia University Press
Panelists: Mary Elizabeth Braun, Acquisitions Editor, Oregon State University Press; Peter Dougherty, Director, Princeton University Press; Brian Halley, Senior Editor, University of Massachusetts Press; Danielle M. Kasprzak, Humanities Editor, University of Minnesota Press
This roundtable will address the value and meaning of acquisitions work in a changing publishing landscape, a topic that takes on additional urgency as university presses enter new partnerships and reporting arrangements where there may be less existing knowledge of acquiring editors’ contributions. Panelists will address changing attitudes toward gatekeeping and peer review; the role of acquiring editors in born-digital projects; opportunities for professional development and changes to the university press leadership pipeline; and the financial contribution of acquisitions work. Throughout, they will be attentive to how we balance openness to innovation in acquisitions work against the need for traditional list building.
12:00–1:00 PM Lunch
1:00–1:45 PM University Press Week Meet-and-Greet
Drop by the Networking Lounge after lunch on Saturday to meet members of theUniversity Press Week Task Force, learn about plans for UP Week 2016, and share ideas. Materials to share with your colleagues back home will be available, as well as a sign-up sheet for member press liaisons.
1:45–3:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Books and Journals Together at Last
Chair: Katie Luu, Journals Marketing Specialist, MIT Press
Panelists: Steve Cohn, Director, Duke University Press; Katie Luu, Journals Marketing Specialist, MIT Press; Emily Nowak, Marketing and Sales Manager, Wayne State University Press
How can university presses promote collaborative marketing between their books and journals divisions? What marketing opportunities exist when we work together toward creative solutions? This panel will dig into the challenges and rewards that come from bridging the books/journals gap. Hear from your colleagues at Duke, Wayne State, and MIT who have recently completed cross-divisional projects as they discuss the why, how, and lessons learned and the possibilities that exist from here.
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Moving on Up (and Around): Professional Development on the UP Circuit
Chair: Mark Simpson-Vos, Editorial Director, University of North Carolina Press
Panelists: Sara Cohen, Acquisitions Editor, Temple University Press; Colleen Lanick, Publicity Manager, MIT Press; Sylvia Mendoza, Design and Production Manager, University of Virginia Press
A university press career is a proverbial thousand-mile journey traveled in single steps, and the path can be filled with surprising turns. Where to go for a map? This roundtable session, especially geared toward those early in their careers, features publishing professionals from a range of backgrounds and experience levels, ready to share their insights about possibilities and pitfalls you might expect to encounter along the way. How to balance laser-focus on your current responsibilities with an eye toward opportunities for advancement? How to stay nimble in a rapidly changing industry? How to assess if it’s time to go? How to build a meaningful network that supports your professional development? Expect a Q&A format and plenty of opportunity for audience participation.
Successful University Press Fundraising Four Ways
Chair: Nicole Mitchell, Director, University of Washington Press
Panelists: Lisa Bayer, Director, University of Georgia Press; Joanna Marsland, Director of Development, University of North Carolina Press; Alison Mudditt, Director, University of California Press; Leandra Nessel, Development Officer for the University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia Press, and Georgia Review
Successful fundraising programs at university presses can take many forms and, depending on parent-institution policies, can be structured and managed independently, collaboratively, or more fully integrated within an existing university advancement program or campaign. Three press directors and two directors of development will describe the pros and cons of working within these various structures, from reporting directly to a university foundation (501c3), to collaborating with a development team within a library, to being part of an overall development initiative led by the provost’s office. This panel should be of interest to members interested in starting a fundraising program, as well as those already engaged in development but who are looking for new approaches and ideas.
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Getting Beyond the Library Market: Indies, Adoptions, Analytics
Chair: Martyn Beeny, Marketing Manager, University of Nebraska Press
Panelists: David K. Brown, Sale Representative, University Marketing Group; Mary Alice Elcock, Vice President, Content, BitLit; William Rand, Assistant Professor & Director, Center for Complexity in Business at the University of Maryland
We market and sell our books to an established and accepted group of buyers, but are we missing out? What other audiences are there? How far away from our traditional markets should we stray? Three innovative and experienced book-industry players will contemplate these questions and much more in a roundtable setting. They will open the envelope and then promptly tear it apart, seeking to broaden our viewpoints outside of the university press world and into new arenas in which we might sell our books.
OA Digital with Paid Print: How’s That Working For You?
Chair: Amy Brand, Director, MIT Press
Panelists: John Donatich, Director, Yale University Press; Mary Francis, Editorial Director, University of Michigan Press; Barbara Kline Pope, Executive Director for Communications at the National Academies Press
This panel will cover publishers’ experiences with simultaneous digital Open Access and paid print books. Are those still working financially? Do we still get the sales boost that OA digital gave us several years back? Are more and more authors requesting this model? Do publishers ask for subvention? Lower royalty? And many other questions besides.
Walking through the Minefield of Intellectual Property in the 21st Century: How Presses Manage Open Access, Fair Use, and Rights/Contracts Issues while Reviving the Backlist
Chair: Peter Froehlich, Director, Purdue University Press
Panelists: Shaquona Crews, Director of Contracts, Princeton University Press; Peter Bolles Hirtle, fellow, Berkman Center, Harvard University; Linda Steinman, attorney, Davis Wright and counsel to AAUP
How do we manage and keep up with the changing boundaries of intellectual property, particularly as publishers of scholarly work come under increased pressure? There is recent pressure from funding agencies and universities to make UP work freely available, the boundaries of fair use and educational use continue to be uncertain, and the rights within which we must work to digitize our content are unclear. This roundtable covers challenges with which every press director and intellectual property rights manager must contend. Some guiding questions: What are the limits on free “educational use” of material? How do we advise authors about the parameters of “fair use,” especially in light of the recent 2nd Circuit decision? What are the different kinds of Creative Commons licenses that authors might want us to employ and how do we respond to them? How do we manage the rights to images and text in older titles that we want to revive or at least make available electronically? How are these rights managed in enhanced electronic publications, such as those proposed by the Manifold project, among others? What happens when rights grants expire for electronic books?
You Want It When? Scheduling Challenges in Navigating EDP Seasonal Logjams
Chair: Dariel Mayer, Design and Production Manager, Vanderbilt University Press
Panelists: Rob Ehle, Art Director, Stanford University Press; Nicole Hilton, XML Workflow Supervisor, University of Toronto Press; Neil Litt, Assistant Director and Director of Editing, Design, and Production, Princeton University Press
Facing potential bottlenecks several times a year is familiar terrain for EDP departments at presses of all sizes. The impact of a disproportionate number of books entering our departments at one time, generally close to season closing deadlines, begins by overloading design resources to get covers done in time for the catalog. This backlog has a natural tendency to create other bottlenecks down the line.
Solutions and resources for balancing workflow vary considerably depending on department size and press finances. In all cases, collaboration with our colleagues upstream and downstream is key and can be tricky.
Panelists will talk about what they have tried and how well different methods have worked: from basic spreadsheet scheduling and reporting, to Post-it note madness, to implementing enterprise-level solutions. Suggestions will be made for keeping EDP’s bookends (acquisitions and marketing) involved in plans for improved workflow management. Expect tears, laughter, and possibly some evangelizing.
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3:30–4:45 PM Closing Plenary
Peer Review – Past, Present, & Future
Moderator: Peter Berkery, Executive Director, AAUP
Panelists: Aileen Fyfe, University of St. Andrews; Brian Halley, Senior Editor, University of Massachusetts Press; John Inglis, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories Press
Peer review is the hallmark of university press publishing; indeed, AAUP has spent the past two years developing Best Practices for Peer Review precisely because of its centrality to our mission. But do you know peer review as well as you think you do? In this informative and provocative closing session, a diverse panel of scholars and publishers will present a range of perspectives on peer review—how it’s done, why it’s done, where it’s headed. Prepare to have your pre-conceived notions challenged!
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