The University of New Mexico Press has announced a two-part reorganization plan. Part one results in downsizing the Press’s editorial and marketing staffs by three people by the end of April. Part two calls for soliciting proposals to outsource the Press’s order fulfillment operations, including warehousing, shipping, receiving, customer service, invoicing, returns processing and accounts receivables.
The outsourcing initiative could affect nine full and part time university employees and three student employees. No time line for completing the second part of the plan has been established and no decision to outsource has been made.
According to Press Director Luther Wilson, the decision to reorganize was a difficult one to make but is the result of forces in the marketplace that have affected both university presses and commercial publishers alike. “Over the past year and a half, the Press has experienced a significant reduction in sales income. With no direct subsidy from the university or state, the Press must cover its operating expenses through sales and occasional outside funding for new books but, in the current recession, that’s not happening.”
According to Wilson in the last 18 months, “The Press has pruned its non salary operating expenses to the point where there is little or no place left to realize savings without impacting our ability to acquire, publish and market quality books. The ultimate goal of the reorganization and outsourcing is to preserve the fundamental mission of the Press, which is to publish works of scholarly, intellectual or creative merit, often for a small audience of specialists.”
Because of staff reductions in editorial and marketing, the Press plans to cut the number of new titles it publishes from more than 80 a year to about 60, which is more in line with today’s economy. Wilson stated that every effort will be made to absorb displaced employees into other university job openings.
Outsourcing the Press’s order fulfillment functions is being looked at because it allows costs to fluctuate with sales. If sales go up, costs go up but if sales go down like in the current economy costs also go down. The purpose of soliciting proposals is to determine if outsourcing is more cost effective than the Press’s current in house operations.
Outsourcing order fulfillment is becoming more and more common among university presses with approximately 60 presses or about half of the members of The Association of American University Presses already having taken this step. There are a number of providers of order fulfillment services today including the Chicago Distribution Center, an entity under the University of Chicago Press and Hopkins Fulfillment Services, an arm of the Johns Hopkins University Press.
A number of university presses have also partnered to form regional consortia to provide order fulfillment services. These providers charge a percentage of sales for their services and, because of their size, generally have more clout in the marketplace than individual presses. Outsourcing also takes advantage of economies of scale and investment in new technologies.
In addition to its own books, the Press also provides order fulfillment services for approximately 30 client publishers, including the Museum of New Mexico Press, the New Mexico Magazine, West End Press, La Alameda Press, Fresco Fine Art Publications and Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.
Client publishers are an important source of income for the Press and that will be taken into account when evaluating the pros and cons of outsourcing. According to Wilson, if the decision is made to outsource the Press’s order fulfillment functions, the Press will work with client publishers to find the best business solution for both the Press and the client for these services.
The University of New Mexico Press was established in 1929 and, with more than 80 new titles a year and 900 titles in print, is the largest book publisher in the State of New Mexico. The Press currently has 30 full and part time employees and employs another 10 students and graduate interns.