“The Importance of Regional Publishing”

November 10-16 marks University Press Week 2013! All week long, presses around the Web will be hosting special posts as part of a UP Week Blog Tour. The Digital Digest will be following the tour with a daily round up.

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

Fordham University Press: “University Press Week: The Importance of Regional Publishing”
Director Frederic Nachbauer sold books for FUP before he ran it, experience which showed him the strength of the press’s regional New York lists and relationships with local museums and libraries. Thus began Empire State Editions, established in 2010, which has built on those foundations through, for example, co-publication and promotion.

Louisiana State University Press: “How do you get to a dance hall in Eunice?”
LSUP’s mission to “make sure every book finds a home,” to build on a collection of great local books that value the complexity that accompanies authenticity, often as varied and eclectic as the unique Louisiana treasures that make up their lists’ subject matter.

Oregon State University Press: “Defining the Pacific Northwest: Publishing at OSU Press”
OSUP editor Mary Elizabeth Braun discusses how regional publishing can mean many things, from what exactly your region is—there are many ways of outlining the Pacific Northwest—to defining local literature and welcoming a variety of citizens, from Native American and Indigenous peoples through generations of immigrants.

Syracuse University Press: “The Importance of Regional Publishing”
Syracuse author Chuck D’Imperio explains how every Great American Novel is rooted in regional stories, which can be the simplest and most lasting chronicling of personal and local history.

University of Alabama Press: “The Importance of Regional Publishing”
UAP explains why smaller can be better: university presses can take risks in an age when commercial giants are wary to “bet the farm” on anything but proven mass success: “In the hands of a mainstream publisher, Meet Me in St. Louis would’ve been Meet Me in the USA or maybe Canada.”

University of Nebraska Press: “UP Week: Publishing and Place”
Editor-in-Chief Derek Krissoff explains how regional publishing is about more than recognizing communities that might otherwise go uncelebrated. At Nebraska, for instance, the developing History of the American West series works to remind us that the idea of place is never static, and a critical part of knowing a place is understanding how it came to be.

University of North Carolina Press: “Mark Simpson-Vos: Remembering Region”
In the age of globalization when publishing interests are ever-expanding, the UNCP Editorial Director reflects on the role of Southern university presses originally founded for publishing great university scholarship that the North wouldn’t notice.

University Press of Kentucky: “The Importance of Regional Publishing: Because Nobody Understands Kentucky Like We Do”
Kentucky embraces new forms of digital content by explaining their key role in the Kentucky community via a few words from their regional book editor … and animated GIFs.

University Press of Mississippi: “Your No One Is My Everyone”
UPM Marketing Director Steve Yates describes the day he was converted to the mission of university press publishing, and why he’s now a champion for the significance of scale in deciding when a book is notable and when it’s not.