commissioning editing 101

Today’s session with Toby Mason from Manchester University Press was a really eye-opening insight into the logistics and everyday workings of both an academic publisher and Tony’s role as a commissioning editor. I feel like a sapling at this point, drinking in all of the information. 

Selfie

Academic Publishing

The fact that MUP has traded for 101 years was a really fascinating starting fact, and although I hadn’t specifically thought about a career in academic publishing on application to this course, the longevity of presses like Manchester, Edinburgh and Oxford is an attractive feat.

The types of books published by an academic press like Manchester (monographs, textbooks) are exclusively non-fiction and often very specialist. It was comforting to learn that an inside knowledge of every piece of published material wasn’t necessary in the editing or commissioning process. This is because peer-reviewers, experts in the respective field, will read, fact check and critique the book from an expert’s standpoint, for a small fee and also a bit of kudos. This works as a back-and-forth between academics.

We were also informed that monographs in hardback are only usually printed in around 200 copies in order to appeal to journals, libraries and specialist buyers, but currently nearly always slowly transition into paperback in order to sell more widely and sell to bookshops. 

Commissioning

Tony Mason then told us about the structure of the commissioning process. Some of the tasks involved in this role are as follows:

• Signing books and authors, deciding what titles to pursue, and convincing colleagues to that end
• Working to a target of around fifty books per year (for an academic publisher like MUP)
• Making sure the title picked up is sellable, marketable and profitable
• Working closely with the author, voicing their concerns and questions to the team and acting accordingly to maintain a solid relationship
• Extensively and effectively networking with authors, reviewers, press and the consumer
• Working with all of the departments to ensure a well-rounded, consumer product. 

Tony then spoke about different approaches to the role, which break down into three main categories, named Proactive, Reactive and Collaborative:

• Proactive commissioning is defined by a commissioner who uses forward-thinking techniques like extensive market research and approaching authors pre-emptively in order to secure a title before another company. This style is quite labour-intensive.
• Reactive commissioning is a more passive approach than the role described above, and would refer to a commissioner who waited for a proposal to be readily packaged and dropped on their desk by an author before acting on behalf of the market.
• Collaborative commissioning is a mixture of the above two styles, and is generally referred to as the ‘sweet spot’ to prevent editorial burn-out, and to maintain a healthy relationship in which the authors and the publishers give an appropriate amount of effort. This commissioning style also involves a good amount of networking, to allow author-editor relations to flow, and good recommendations and reputations to flourish.

With regard to networking, Tony Mason also detailed a number of important external and internal contacts that a commissioning editor must maintain in order to do their job effectively, here are just a few of the examples:

• External: The Author, Literary Agents, Series Editors, Peer-reviewers, The Press, Other Publishing Companies.
• Internal: Marketing, Sales, Rights, Editorial, Finance, Production.

While there was a lot to take in during the first session, I felt pretty enlightened and more prepared for a career in publishing when I walked out of the room. Commissioning books would be an interesting role and it is something I would consider as a career path – especially if I were to learn more about commissioning fiction - but at the moment my interests lie in production, and possibly also in sales and marketing (but we’ll have to see). 

look at me flourish