University Press of New England to Close

The University Press of New England’s Board of Governors has voted to close the press at the end of 2018. The Lebanon, N.H.-based press has 25 employees and distributes books for Dartmouth and Brandeis University. In a statement, Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon said, “The press has become unsustainable to operate with only two member-institutions.”

Founded in 1970 as the University Press of Northern New England, the consortium was originally led by longtime publisher and Dartmouth alum Victor Reynolds. Under Reynolds, it grew to include members from all six New England states and was renamed the University Press of New England (UPNE).

By the early aughts, the press counted consortium members from Northeastern University, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, and Tufts University among its ranks. The 2008 recession dealt a substantial financial blow to the institution but even as the number of members dwindled to two, the press appeared to rebound.

In 2012-2013, UPNE posted their highest earnings since 2006-2007. They continued to distribute nearly two dozen presses and added a trade imprint, ForeEdge Books. Among the books published or distributed by UPNE were works by Howard Frank Mosher, Chris Bohjalian, Heather McHugh, and Rae Armantrout.

The closure does not appear to spell the end for the Dartmouth or Brandeis presses. According to UPNE’s statement, Dartmouth is appointing a study group to explore next steps to continue the university’s list. Matthew Sheehy, who is university librarian at Brandeis told PW, “We have been talking to potential partners and are excited by the prospects of continuing to support the scholarship and perhaps even grow the program.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/76660-university-press-of-new-england-to-close.html

Related Posts

Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports October Sales Results

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $13.82 billion for the retail month of October, the four weeks ended November 1, 2020, an increase of 15.9 percent from $11.92 billion last year. For the nine weeks ended November 1, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $30.66 billion, an increase of 16.4 percent from $26.33 billion last year.

Immediate Call to Action Required: Help the ACMA Stop A Second 2021 Postal Rate Hike

Dear Industry Member: Here is immediate action you can take while ACMA works furiously to raise the resources to comprehensively attack the ridiculous new USPS rate authority that will double catalog mailers’ postal rates over the next decade. Please determine whether you (catalog merchant), your employees, suppliers or customers have constituent standing in any of the following locations where there are Members of Congress with direct connections to postal decision makers: West Virginia, Kentucky, northern Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, Kansas, Georgia, and Connecticut (click here for contact sheet). If you do, you have a unique ability to wield constituent pressure to cause elected officials to pressure the Postal Service Board of Governors to not institute a second unbudgeted rate hike, which could take place as soon as this summer. Click Read more below for important information.

2021 Was a Stellar Year for Publishing (publishersweekly.com)

As has been well documented, the pandemic had many unexpected consequences over the past few years, not the least of which was a boom in trade book sales in both 2020 and 2021. But while the trade segment fared well in 2020, the other major publishing segments did not, and total industry sales had only a 0.2% gain that year over 2019. In 2021, trade sales jumped again, but so did sales in the other segments, resulting in a 12.3% increase in total sales, to $29.33 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers’ final statistics for the year. The final figure marks a major improvement over numbers from the previous four years, when sales ranged between $25 billion and $26 billion. In 2021, sales in all segments except professional books topped their 2019 numbers, which have become a measuring stick many companies use given the volatility of the past two years.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search