Charles Backus of Texas A&M Press

For our publisher interview, Makenzie and I contacted Charles Backus from Texas A&M Press. The following are his responses.

1. What are the professional qualities needed for a publishing career?

• An inquisitive and ordered mind. A sound knowledge of language and broad familiarity with good literature. Organizations and time-management abilities. At least basic computer skills; ideally, familiarity with editorial, design, and production software. Particularly for scholarly publishing, some direct experience or involvement with the process of scholarly research, conventions, and writing.

2. What has been your favorite work that you were involved in publishing? Why?

• I can't really narrow it down to one but will mention three or four. If you asked me tomorrow or next week, the list might be rather different. A Continuing Education, the first book collection of familiar essays by Sam Pickering (a wonderful scholar, prolific writer, and humorist reputed to be the model for the Robin Williams character in the movie "Dead Poets' Society"). Published by University Press of New England in 1985, this was one of my first acquisitions a year or so after I began work there, and I have been privileged to maintain contact with Pickering ever since. 
• The 2000-Yard Stare: Tom Lea's World War II, compiled by Brendan Greeley, published by Texas A&M University Press in 2008.  This book is filled with extraordinary art and eyewitness writings by celebrated Texas artist Tom Lea from his WWII assignments for Life magazine, which took him first to the North Atlantic; then through England, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and India, to China and back; then to some of the greatest naval battles in the South Pacific; and finally to one of the fiercest of the Marine Corps' island invasions toward the end of the war.  
• Creating Picturesque America: Monument to the Natural and Cultural Landscape, by Sue Rainey, a compelling, illustrated study of how depictions of the American landscape in art and words became central to a renewed focus on the grandeur and riches of the American continent in the years following the Civil War.  The book was published, following numerous revisions, by Vanderbilt University Press in 1994, ten years after I first established a working editorial relationship with the author, who followed me from one press to another. (Note also my response to your question #7.)  It subsequently won the Charles C. Eldridge book prize in the field of American art from the Smithsonian, in 1997.
• A Writer's Reality, by 2010 Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, published in 1992 and based on his lectures at Syracuse University while I was director of its press.  I got to know and work with him then and was later able to arrange a campus visit and standing-room-only lecture by him at Vanderbilt when I was director of its press, where we also published two critical studies of his work as a novelist. 

3. What genres do you typically publish? Who is your main consumer market? 

• We publish both scholarly and general interest non-fiction, In both print and digital (ebook) formats.  We also distribute some fiction and poetry for client publishers in our distribution consortium.  We sell to all elements of the book trade, including chain stores, independent book stores, wholesalers, online and ebook vendors, libraries, institutions, book clubs (and other subsidiary rights), college course use, and individuals.

4. What has been the most valuable lesson you have learned in publishing?

• Without effective publication, the products of research, discovery, and creativity are impeded or lost altogether.  

5. How has your publishing been affected by the movement into a digitally focused society?

• Although our overall goals and mission as the principal publishing arm of a major research university remains basically unchanged, the technologies, processes, and formats through which we acquire, edit, design, manufacture, promote, advertise, sell, and distribute books have all evolved rapidly in the past decade, as have reader and market expectations. Like our peer university presses around the country, we have invested considerable amounts of prioritized effort, time, and money in keeping on the proactive side of these developments.

6. Where do you see publishing in the future because of this shift into a digital age?

• Obviously, publishing in digitized, electronic form is here to stay, for university presses and all other publishers, but that does not necessarily mean the end of print on paper.  For at least the next few or several years (perhaps decades?), readers will want both print and digital products, and publishers including university presses will be able to deliver both.  Print-on-demand will be an important part of that mix.  But so will increasingly sophisticated and useful enhancements of digital books (perhaps especially scholarly ones) that include greater and richer data, audio and visual representations, including both 3-D and 360º images, and who knows what else in the future. 

7. How many revisions does a work typically go through? How long does the process last?

• There is no one answer to this question.  It is very rare that a university press book is published exactly as first submitted by the author, with no more than minimal copy editing.  Most are revised and reorganized, often heavily, based not only on critiques from the press's acquisitions and manuscript editors but also from formal evaluations and content suggestions from peer reviewers. The evaluation process typically takes from three to six months to accomplish.  Once approved for publication, further revisions and editing usually requires at least two or three months but can take much longer. 

Thank you Charles Backus for the insight into the publishing business. I found it interesting that they publish ebooks as well as print books. Typically when I think of a press, I think of printed books, not electronic. That being said, I think this is a great way to stay current and offer options to reach a wider audience. Also, I loved hearing about his connection to Sam Pickering who inspired the Dead Poet's Society. This is one of my favorite movies. What an incredible experience so early in his career. Overall, this interview provided great information as to what skills and commitments are necessary for a career in publishing.