Rowman & Littlefield Providing Publishing Services to Four University Presses

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has established a department to provide publishing services to four U.S. university presses: University of Delaware Press, Bucknell University Press, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, and Lehigh University Press. R&L will provide sales and marketing, order fulfillment, and royalty and credit, and collections services; and the UPs will continue to maintain their own publishing staff on their respective campuses. All new books published by the university press division will be issued simultaneously in print and e-book editions.

The presses will continue to maintain editorial control, oversee the vetting process for manuscripts submitted for publication, and choose manuscripts for release under their respective imprints. Once a decision to publish has been made, R&L will assume responsibility for the publication process, including copyediting, typesetting and design, printing, sales, marketing, and order fulfillment. R&L will also be responsible for paying author royalties and author advances when appropriate.

Previously, these four presses collaborated in a similar way with Associated University Presses (AUP) of Cranbury, New Jersey. The director of AUP, Julien Yoseloff, announced his retirement in February.

Starting in September, R&L will publish all new books from the four university presses with the following new ISBN pre-fixes: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: 978-1-61130; Lehigh University Press: 978-1-61146; Bucknell University Press: 978-1-61148; University of Delaware Press: 978-1-61149. R&L will also distribute a large number of backlist titles, although some other books will continue to be sold by AUP.

Jed Lyons, president and CEO of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, said, the new university press arrangement is modeled after R&L’s publishing relationship with the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. “It removes the financial burden of publishing new books, yet gives the university presses the editorial autonomy they have always counted on,” he said.