From the Editorial Director: University Presses Face the Future

Meredith Babb

Director, University Press of Florida

I think we need to get back to the idea that we are full-service publishers, with the emphasis on "full." Think about other ways of getting revenue for your press. For instance, we have created a publications division. We serve 11 universities; we're a system-wide press. We've let … those universities know we can edit or print or do whatever they need. We've started marketing ourselves as a packager to the other universities. We've created a whole new line of revenue off of this service part. We looked at our skill set and said "who needs this and how can we monetize it?"

Jim McCoy

Director, University of Iowa Press

The old days of figuring something out and setting it and forgetting it are over. You need to constantly reevaluate workflow, how you're working with vendors, whom you want to work with, your editorial program, your marketing program, production and editing workflows. … It's not just a matter of: "Oh, we added this other layer on top of the print and now we can all bear down." We have to constantly be looking for new and bigger ways to make that digital layer more efficient.

Peter Dougherty

Director, Princeton University Press

[W]e as publishers must remain acutely mindful of the enduring importance of content. The digital transition will be evolving for years to come… [b]ut we need to constantly remind ourselves that our publishing is only as good as the content we bring to these new and emerging markets. There are exciting intellectual developments reflected in our authors' scholarship, and we need to focus our efforts diligently on working with our authors to develop new books, series, journals, and other kinds of publications that will appeal to readers around the world and for years to come.