- The Columbia Anthology of British Poetry
- The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy
- Floods of Fortune: Ecology and Economy Along the Amazon
- Romantic Passion: A Universal Experience
- From Peep Show to Palace: The Birth of American Film
- Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture
- Invented Moralities: Sexual Values in an Age of Uncertainty
- Journeys in Microspace: Images from a Scanning Electron Microscope
Columbia is one of the oldest and largest university presses in the United States. Founded in 1893, it today maintains a backlist of more than three thousand titles.
Johns Hopkins University is the oldest American university press, dating from 1878. It, too, conducts an active publishing program with about 160 new titles a year. It has a staff of thirty-five, including a half-dozen who work in acquisitions. One recent Johns Hopkins release, The Thirty-six Hour Day, a book about Alzheimer's Disease, sold 250,00 copies in hardcover and the same number in paperback.
There are approximately 120 university presses in the United States. They publish about eight thousand titles a year and account for about $325 million in publishers' net book sales, less than 2 percent of all books.
Typically, the production of university presses is directed toward the publication of scholarly works of nonfiction. Although there is some favorable consideration given to a university's own faculty, most presses maintain high standards of objectivity in their selection process.
Many books emanating from university presses are geared to academics in specific disciplines at other universities; however, there are some titles with appeal to students and the general public, and occasionally even fiction appears on their lists.
Because print quantities of these books are small, the advances received by their authors are small as well. Of course, in the "publish or perish" atmosphere of academia, authors do not write these books for financial considerations.
For the most part, university presses are not-for-profit organizations, and don't publish to make money. Their principal customers are scholars and libraries, with college bookstores absorbing some of their sales. However, in recent years, university presses have pursued the trade market through sales in general bookstores. Since maintaining a sales force is quite costly, university presses often join consortia that sell to the trade on behalf of a number of presses.
The Association of American University Presses
The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) is a one- hundred-member organization founded in 1937. Its membership embraces small university presses that produce only a handful of titles, as well as those publishing hundreds each year. AAUP's activities cover copyright, education and training, marketing, and library relations.
There are subcommittees of AAUP dealing with such subjects as bias-free language, government and foundation relations, and equal opportunity.
Career Tip
While you're still in college or graduate school, try for an internship at your college's press, even if the job is unpaid. You'll gain valuable experience that will certainly help when you look for a job after graduation.
Submitting Manuscripts to University Presses
AAUP's directory has a valuable section on how to submit manuscripts to university presses. Here are some highlights:
- Research the best university press for your book.
- Take advantage of presses' past experience in certain subjects.
- Read university presses' advertisements in journals in your field.
- Call the appropriate acquisition editor for an appointment.
- Prepare a manuscript prospectus based on standards established by university presses and the AAUP. See its annual directory for these guidelines.
