UC Press sales are down for first time

By Leo Wallach
Daily Bruin Contributor

The University of California Press has suffered a decline in
sales for the first time in its 108-year history.

The drop in revenue ““ which Press officials would not
specify ““ in the last fiscal year jeopardizes publication of
numerous scholarly works that are funded by sales of the
press’ less academic and more widely-read books.

The Press’ financial troubles come on the heels of its
most profitable year ever. In the 1999-2000 fiscal year, book sales
reached $17.2 million, according to an article titled “UC
Press Twice Honored,” which ran in Publisher’s Weekly
last March.

Some say the drop in revenue for the UC Press is grim news for
readers of its academic publications, as such works would likely go
unprinted if forced to rely on for-profit publishers.

“That’s one of the classic roles of the UC Press
““ to put out books that might not otherwise sell,” said
state librarian of California Kevin Starr.

The Press was originally founded in 1893 to publish the works of
UC professors. Today, about one-third of Press books are written by
the university’s faculty. The non-profit organization,
located in Berkeley with an editorial office near UCLA, publishes
several hundred books and 33 journals each year.

“Certainly it’s among the top three to four English
presses in the world,” Starr said. “It reflects the
mind of California.”

Last year, retailers like Borders, Barnes & Noble and
Amazon.com could carry university press books even if they were not
best sellers.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the large
retailers trimmed down in 2000, leaving less warehouse space for UC
Press books. Many books were sent back to the Press, which must
bear the losses on any unsold books, a standard practice in the
book retail industry.

The drop-off caused many university presses, including the UC
Press, to come up short on sales projections, which were based on
the high revenues of recent years, according to The Chronicle of
Higher Education.

“Just name a press and chances are you’ll name one
that is having a bad year,” Willis G. Reiger, director of the
University of Illinois Press and president of the Association of
American University Presses, said to The Chronicle of Higher
Education in an article which ran July 12.

Declining textbook revenues also contributed to the poor
financial year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Used textbooks are more readily available than ever, especially
over the Internet. As a result of increased sales on used
textbooks, fewer newly printed books are being purchased, according
to UC Press reports.

The Press recently made about 1,500 previously printed books
available in electronic forms and is considering producing original
electronic books. Already, every UC Press journal is available
online. According to Lynne Withey, assistant director of the UC
Press, digital publications provide new opportunities but
aren’t a solution to the press’ financial problems.

The Press, which received an award in January from the state
assembly for publishing books that contribute to California
culture, was also presented a California Book Award in San
Francisco on Tuesday, July 31.

Withey said the recent loss of sales is “definitely a
threat to publishing scholarly works.” She said that
university presses over the last 20 years have received less
funding from their universities and have been forced to publish
more commercial works to stay alive. For example, the University of
North Carolina published a popular cookbook to bring in
revenue.

The state librarian views this as an alarming trend.

“It’s part of a general dumbing down of American
culture,” Starr said. “We should really go up in
arms.”