As you might have heard, it’s been a little busy here in D.C. the last week or so. I caught some of the peripheral inaugural action–happy crowds, massive litter, bunting all over–in between writing two news stories, three blog items, and a feature for the Chronicle.
It turned out to be a big week not just for the country but for university presses. The Association of American University Presses released a sales survey that confirmed some of the gloomy anecdotes heard in publishing circles lately. Utah State University Press learned that it might get the axe because of cuts to the state budget. Layoffs hit Oxford University Press, the largest UP. (Cambridge UP also cut most of their U.K. printing operation.) And, in a feature I wrote for this week’s Chronicle, university-press directors and sales managers share some anecdotes about how they’re doing and what might lie ahead. (I heard the phrase “waiting for the other shoe to drop” over and over.)
Bottom line: Much of the news about presses was not good, but it could have been worse. The question now is how much worse it’s going to get.
