NYU Press: Publishing, Selling Serious Books in New Ways.(New York University Press's approach to dealing with new costs)

SQUEEZED BY A DECLINING library market and fiscally prudent administrators, New York University Press, like many other academic publishers, is paying much closer attention to the bottom line and searching for ways to profitably publish serious books.

Niko Pfund, director of the NYU Press, told PW, "Library sales, our lifeblood, have contracted. At the same time, there's been a reduction in university funding," which now consists of in-kind services such as telephones or technical support. Even serious books, he said, are fetching higher advances--yet another financial hurdle. "We have tremendous pressure to bring in revenues," Pfund added. "UPs are publishing more …