Although the Smithsonian Institution Press came close to reaching break-even in the fiscal year ended September 30, the Smithsonian board is proceeding with a plan that will put the publication of SIP's scholarly books under the direction of undersecretary for science David Evans, while the trade titles will be published in cooperation with a publishing partner.
Don Fehr, who has been director of the press since August 2002, said the growing success of SIP's trade line was partially responsible for sparking the changes. According to Fehr, there was a "blurring of the distinction between the press's commercial and scholarly missions." Since SIP receives $1.5 million from the government to underwrite the publication of its academic titles, the press is not allowed make money, Fehr said. And although sales were up 30% in the last fiscal year and the loss was dramatically reduced, the future of SIP "was complicated by the funding structure," Fehr said. Under Fehr, SIP had been publishing more trade titles and fewer academic works.
To take advantage of the profit-making potential of SIP's trade titles, the trade line was moved to Smithsonian Business Ventures, which handles all for-profit projects for the Institution, including publishing Smithsonian magazine and overseeing publishing licensing deals such as one with DK.
Fehr said he is talking to a number of publishers about a variety of deals. Ideally, Fehr said, he'd like to strike an agreement whereby SIP becomes an imprint at another house, supplying the content while its partner handles all other functions. He acknowledged that talks to date have included "a number of configurations" about a possible partnership. He said the fate of SIP's backlist, including its academic titles, is tied to the outcome of negotiations. "We'd like to have an agreement where the backlist continues to be serviced," he said. SIP's titles are currently distributed by Norton, and SIP has had talks with Norton about a deal. SIP has released its fall titles, but its spring list has been suspended. Fehr said he'd like to reach an agreement by January. He conceded he was disappointed by the way things have turned out, but said he is "very optimistic about the potential of Smithsonian as a brand in the market."
The future for the science titles is a bit murky. Rather than creating a new editorial position, Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas said an office will likely be created that will allocate funds to various arms of the Institution to fund the publication of books and papers. The publications will then be given for free to libraries and other institutions.
