• About
  • Contact Us
  • History of UAP
  • Our Mission

The University of Alabama Press Blog

The University of Alabama Press Blog

Monthly Archives: November 2012

University Press Week-Blog Tour

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by UA Press in New Book Announcements

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

AAUP, University Press Week

Day 5-Friday

The University of North Carolina Press has UNC Press director John Sherer write about his recent transition from New York trade publishing back to his roots at UNC Press

Columbia University Press has two posts from two different perspectives on the importance of UPs. Sheldon Pollock, Arvind Raghunathan Professor of South Asian Studies at Columbia University and Jennifer Crewe, editorial director and associate director at Columbia University Press

Connie Rosenblum, editor of The New York Times City section, writes for NYU Press

Author Catherine Allgor writes for University of Virginia Press

Oregon State University Press author Richard Etulain blogs about his love affair with university presses

University Press Week-Blog Tour

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by UA Press in New Book Announcements

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AAUP, University Press Week

AAUP University Press Week blog tour comes to an end.  We’ve had fun reading all the other presses blog posts from various individuals on “Why University Presses Matter.”  Don’t forget to check out author Catherine Allgor’s post for University of Virginia Press

Lila Quintero Weaver, first time author tells us “Why University Presses Matter”

As the author of a memoir, I am grateful to The University of Alabama Press for opening its doors to non-academic writers.

My book, Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White, is an immigrant’s eyewitness account of 1960s racial upheaval in a small Alabama town. It is classified as a trade publication. The Press’s interest in my work is rooted in its long commitment to documenting the Civil Rights era through a multitude of voices.

Society needs the deeply personal voices of memoir, but these will often find a home in traditional publishing. The same cannot be said of scholarly writings. As long as university presses thrive, we can be assured that important, peer-reviewed scholarship will make its way into print and from there achieve longevity in the world’s libraries, classrooms and historical archives. University presses play an invaluable role in encouraging scholarship and disseminating knowledge. We cannot do without them.

–Lila Quintero Weaver

University Press Week-Blog Tour

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by UA Press in New Book Announcements

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

AAUP, University Press Week

Day 5-Friday

AAUP University Press Week blog tour comes to an end.  We’ve had fun reading all the other presses blog posts from various individuals on “Why University Presses Matter.”  Don’t forget to check out author Catherine Allgor’s post for University of Virginia Press

 

Jennifer Horne, editor of Circling Faith and All Out of Faith tells us “Why University Presses Matter”

University Presses: They Make Books Better

Why publish with a University Press?

Information cannot become knowledge until the vast amounts of data with which we are inundated every day are selected, analyzed, interpreted, and stored in that wonderful package we call a book. It takes a well-coordinated team to produce a book for the ages, something that won’t end up in the recycling bin at the end of its six-month shelf life.

As someone who has worked as an editor at a university press and who has also been on the other side of the desk as co-editor of two volumes published by that same press, I know that experience, quality, and continuity are the primary reasons for publishing with a UP. To begin the process, the acquisitions editors often have decades of experience among them, and the editorial team that handles the book is expert at bringing a manuscript from typed pages to thoroughly copy-edited, checked, illustrated, and proofread text. Working with the editing department is satisfying but not always fun—and that’s actually a good thing.  For the sake of the book, editors will ask you to get back in there and reframe or revise: to consider something you’d overlooked, or find the phrase that elevates a passage from adequate to eloquent.

Production managers keep a book on schedule and on budget. Designers, to paraphrase William Morris, know how to create an object that is both useful and beautiful. Finally, the marketing team at a university press knows their list and their book reps, is familiar with the specific conferences at which books should be available, and can actually be reached by phone or email, within a day. At the head of it all, press directors typically have a great deal of experience working with university presses; many have graduate degrees and are familiar with the academic world as well as the business sector. The publishing staff at a UP does not change with the seasons but provides a stable and cohesive environment for the creation of meaningful works.

At their best, university presses combine the sensibility and nimbleness of traditional small presses with the institutional resources of larger commercial publishers. These days, UPs must pay attention to the bottom line, but as non-profits they answer to deans or provosts, not shareholders. Asking whether a book will have a market is another way of saying “Is this book needed?” and university presses are uniquely situated, with the reading process of having manuscripts vetted by experts in the field, to answer that question from both a scholarly and a trade perspective.

Whatever form books take, from scroll to codex, Gutenberg to mass market paperback, e-book to some yet-to-be-developed nanotechnology that bypasses the eyes and goes straight to the cerebral cortex, the serious, sustained work of thought and writing needs an advocate, and university presses fulfill that role, splendidly. In short, university presses make books better.

Jennifer Horne is a former managing editor at the University of Alabama Press and the co-editor, with Wendy Reed, of Circling Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality (2012) and All Out of Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality (2006), both published by the University of Alabama Press.

 

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • TUSCALOOSA BICENTENNIAL COMMEMORATED WITH COMMUNITY BOOK EXPERIENCE
  • UAP author honored for lifetime achievement in military writing
  • An Excerpt from TRIUMPH OF THE DEAD by Kate Clarke Lemay
  • UAP ANNOUNCES ANNUAL BOOK SALE
  • An excerpt from THE STORY OF ALABAMA IN FOURTEEN FOODS by Emily Blejwas

Categories

  • Alabama
  • Art and Photography
  • Author interviews
  • Awards
  • Book Sale
  • Book Signing
  • Catalogs
  • Civil Rights
  • Discount Offer
  • Excerpt
  • Fiction Collective Two
  • Food
  • history
  • Interviews
  • Latin America Studies
  • Libraries
  • Literary Criticism
  • Military
  • New Book Announcements
  • News & Announcements
  • poetry
  • Questions and Answers
  • Sneak Previews
  • Special Events
  • Uncategorized
  • University Press Week
  • Vietnam
  • World War II

UnivofALPress

  • This is so great twitter.com/tashaaaaaaa/st… 1 day ago
  • Our Alabama Bicentennial sale is up on our website! Get 40% off titles in our AL200 catalogue when you use the disc… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
  • RT @mitpress: Right guys, time to confess – what’s the academic book which you have been meaning to read all year, but is still languishing… 1 week ago
  • RT @JewishVoice: thejewishvoice.com/2019/11/20/the… The First American Jewish Novel Discovered by Brandeis U Historian @UnivofALPress @AJArchives 2 weeks ago
  • We’re set up and ready for the Community Book Experience with Guy Hubbs and Don Noble #tuscaloosa200 #al200 https://t.co/WxFQc6gexs 2 weeks ago
Follow @UnivofALPress

Archives

  • November 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • November 2013
  • November 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Author Appearances

  • Author Appearances

UAP Links

  • Alabama Arts Council
  • Alabama Humanities Foundation
  • American Historical Association
  • Encyclopedia of Alabama
  • FC2

University Press Blogs

  • AAUP
  • Baylor University Press
  • Beacon Press
  • Cambridge University Press
  • Columbia University Press

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy