Adam Mehring, EDP Manager at the University of Wisconsin Press, reports on visiting the University of Minnesota Press

My primary objective for applying to the AUPresses Week in Residency Program was to learn how the Editorial, Design, and Production department operates at a slightly larger press.

I have worked at the University of Wisconsin Press for many years, primarily in the editorial department. However, when the Press’s long-time production manager, Terry Emmrich, announced he would be retiring in summer 2022, press director Dennis Lloyd saw this an opportunity to reimagine what had been two separate departments—editorial and production—into a combined EDP department with myself as its manager. As managing editor, I believed I already had a thorough understanding of how books get produced. I certainly knew how an unedited manuscript gets converted to page proofs, how proofs get reviewed and revised, and how long the various steps in the EDP process generally take. I knew the basics of typesetting and design, had a superficial understanding of the cover design process, and knew just enough about the printing process to have semi-informed conversations with colleagues and authors. Although much of my training took place prior to Terry’s retirement, there were plenty of things I’ve had to learn on the job. Fortunately, I also had the benefit of stepping into a number of good relationships with vendors—designers, typesetter, printers—who were very patient and helpful as I got my bearings over the first few months.

When I proposed this residency to Doug Armato and Susan Doerr, director and associate director at the University of Minnesota Press, I wrote, in part: “I am hoping a few days of talking shop with your EDP colleagues will answer some of my questions, give me some new ideas, and help me become a better EDP manager. I don’t know that there are any specific attributes that University of Minnesota’s production department has that bring me to you, but it’s also not a random selection. First of all, because we both have relationships with the Chicago Distribution Center, I’m hoping to get a better understanding of how I could/should be working with Bibliovault. Second, I would like to visit a press that’s a bit bigger—but not too much bigger—than UWP; my assumption is your relationships with typesetters and printers are not so different than ours, but I’m sure there are plenty of things I can learn from your staff.” Soon thereafter Susan replied that they would be happy to host me, and she put me in touch with production manager Daniel Ochsner.

On February 13, 2023, I drove up to Minneapolis and met for a couple of hours with Dan at their offices. We spent most of that meeting getting to know one another while talking mostly about big-picture topics. The next morning I met with Dan, assistant production and design manager Rachel Moeller, production editor Ana Bichanich, assistant managing editor Mike Stoffel, production assistant Eliza Edwards, and journals manager Anthony Silvestri. The seven of us had a general but very informative conversation and a memorable lunch at a restaurant near their offices. I spent the rest of that afternoon and most of the following day meeting with Ana, Rachel, and Dan. They were extremely gracious and helpful; they shared so much information that it was almost overwhelming at times. It was fascinating to hear how they do their jobs on a daily basis. Although I had a good understanding of how their work might get done, they provided very specific examples of how they do it. One of the first things I realized is that the workflow within their EDP department is set up slightly different than ours; however, I could tell how most of what they had to say could transfer to our press.

Some of the issues we discussed were very specific: What kind of paper do you use for this kind of book? Why do you decide on paperbacks versus printed case or jacketed cloth? What do you do in-house and what do you send to vendors? How do files for ebooks get created and who does what? That last question led to a much longer conversation that I was not anticipating. At the moment, Wisconsin sends our print-ready PDFs to Bibliovault and they create our web-ready PDFs and EPUB files. Ana and Rachel explained how Minnesota has prioritized creating many of their own ebooks, which allows them to improve accessibility and ensure high-quality files. It became clear that, to Minnesota, ebooks are not an afterthought or an add-on to the print edition. Rather, they have managed their workflows and developed their skills so they can create ebooks that are equal to, if not more important than, the physical books they produce.

One of the most significant takeaways from my time in Minneapolis was learning more about how they use Scribe’s Well-Formed Document Workflow throughout the EDP process. Although I had been aware of Scribe for many years, we at Wisconsin hadn’t incorporated it into our own workflow. Since returning to Madison and telling my colleagues about my conversations with Minnesota staff, we have moved into a research phase with the hope of establishing a more formal relationship with Scribe. Although this was on my to-do list when I became the EDP manager, my visit to Minnesota convinced me this is a step well worth taking, and I’ve made it a priority in the short term.

As with most of my previous experiences attending AUPresses conferences and webinars, my week-in-residence experience confirmed some things I already knew but also opened my eyes to things I hadn’t been focusing on—or hadn’t even thought about. The experience was informative and reassuring but also humbling and challenging. I still have plenty of work to do to become the EDP manager I would like to be, but my conversations with Minnesota’s EDP staff reminded me that there are many ways to get things done and it’s my job to evolve and learn how things could be done differently. Day by day, I continue to pick up tips and ideas—from coworkers, colleagues at other UPs, as well as vendors with whom I work—that challenge me to rethink just about everything I do. Fortunately, the academic publishing industry—and the university press community specifically—is remarkably supportive and collegial. To some extent, I need to get over the feeling I sometimes have that says, “Why ask this question, why would they give away that information, what’s in it for them to share?” So far, just about every time I’ve asked for something I have received far more than I could have expected.