Better Stories, Better Sustainability: How Authentic Storytelling Can Lead University Presses into the Future

Abstract

The university press, responsible for credentialing and disseminating knowledge from the university out into the world, faces twenty-first-century challenges that build on the strains that began with the decline of the monograph. Encountering financial pressure, new competition, and the uncertainty of the multimodal digital space and era of fake news, university presses have been forced to take on projects outside their original mission to survive. But they can do better. Through careful examination of their strengths and values, which are often rooted in the Humanities, university presses can take back their stories and enter this difficult marketplace with confidence about who they are and what they hope to achieve. Authenticity and story ownership will allow presses to thrive in this complex, multi-stakeholder environment as they tread the balance between art and business. The strategies and themes explored herewith are applicable to any organization.