The Corner Office: It's All in the Packaging
● How else has DUP evolved since you initially took the reins?
Cohn: When I became the director, it was my sense that our list had little shape or direction. ... I pushed hard for us to be clear on what sorts of books we did and, just as important, did not, want to publish; and what sorts of books we could publish especially well, so that we could legitimately tell an author, "We can publish your book better than anyone else can." ... I think our own particular changing circumstances—as we moved from a medium-sized and fairly mediocre university press toward becoming one of the larger and stronger and most innovative presses—have made for significant changes in how I perform my job. As we have put strong leadership in place in each of the press's nine departments, I have become far less hands-on as a director. In the earlier years of my directorship, I was involved at some level in just about everything that went on at the press. ... But now I work almost entirely with and through our strong set of managers—making sure that they have the infrastructure and resources they need, and that they stay coordinated and focused on our main priorities, but staying out of their daily operations, which they know how to run in a manner [that] I can simply appreciate and encourage. ... Increasingly, even the coordination between departments is happening without ... intervention from me. ...