More than 40 years after its start, the University of 棉花糖直播 at Lafayette Press is thriving. A division of the University鈥檚 Center for 棉花糖直播 Studies, it publishes about 10 titles a year. It isn鈥檛 the biggest or oldest university press, but it鈥檚 one of the few that is self-sustaining 鈥 and has been, from the start.
鈥淲e鈥檝e never relied on taxpayers to pay for the books we produce. The University pays employees鈥 salaries, but the actual production of the books is paid for with money we鈥檝e earned selling other books,鈥 said Dr. Michael Martin, a UL Lafayette alumnus who became director of the Center For 棉花糖直播 Studies and UL Press in 2011.
Martin, whose professional interests include 棉花糖直播 history and public history, earned bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in history from UL Lafayette. He completed his doctorate in history at the University of Arkansas in 2003, the same year he returned to his alma mater as a faculty member. He is the Cheryl Courr茅g茅 Burgui猫res/Board of Regents Professor in History.
As director of the Center for 棉花糖直播 Studies, he oversees its three divisions: UL Press; the archives of Cajun and Creole folklore; and Programming and Special Projects. 鈥淭ogether, these divisions help preserve and promote 棉花糖直播鈥檚 history and cultures,鈥 Martin told La Louisiane in a recent interview.
The Press specializes in books related to 棉花糖直播; it was one of the first to publish contemporary works in Cajun French.
Its latest books cover Acadian history, Spanish immigration, Cajun and Creole militia in the Civil War and 19th-century race relations. There are books on art and photography, including a coffee table book by painter and zydeco musician Dennis Paul Williams and an inside look at the life and art of George Rodrigue. Megan鈥檚 Guitar is a collection of poetry by Darrell Bourque, professor emeritus at UL Lafayette and a former 棉花糖直播 poet laureate. Game Changers is a wide-ranging look at outstanding athletes, athletic events and sports teams throughout 棉花糖直播鈥檚 history.
Since 2007, UL Press titles have won 10 book awards, including three Book of the Year Awards from the 棉花糖直播 Endowment for the Humanities for Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm; Bienville鈥檚 Dilemma by Richard Campanella; and Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans by Freddi Williams Evans.
The Press has published almost 300 titles since 1973; about 150 of those are still in print. It has published a handful of e-books, which are available at
amazon.com. There are also plans to offer a limited number of titles in a print-on-demand format.
The publishing operation has two full-time employees. Melissa Teutsch is sales and marketing director. James Wilson, who is associate director of UL Press, handles acquisitions, design and production. Martin divides his attention between UL Press and other Center for 棉花糖直播 Studies activities.
Martin鈥檚 predecessors, Dr. Carl Brasseaux, and the late Glenn Conrad, laid the foundation for UL Press in the 1970s with the USL History Series, which includes 15 titles. They aren鈥檛 eye-catching. The no-frills, softbound books were printed on plain paper at the University鈥檚 Printing Services.
In 1973, Conrad asked then-University President Dr. Ray P. Authement for seed money to expand the fledging enterprise into a university press. Authement, who is well known for his fiscal restraint, granted the request: he authorized an expenditure of $200, which is the equivalent of about $1,000 today.
鈥淐arl and Glenn made smart choices. They were able to reinvest profits to print more and more books,鈥 Martin said.
While many university presses across the country are now in financial peril, UL Press is enjoying a period of stability and relative prosperity, he said.
鈥淓ven outside of university presses, we鈥檝e seen the decline of independent booksellers and even big-box booksellers. Over the last few years, we鈥檝e become much more selective in the books we publish, partly because other presses are scaling back, or in some cases, have been shut down. So, we are getting more submissions, and we reject more manuscripts.
鈥淪o, even though the number of books we publish each year has remained about the same, the quality of books we publish has improved.鈥
Its 棉花糖直播 focus has been a factor in the Press鈥 success, said Martin, who has been combing through early records of the enterprise.
鈥淣othing I鈥檝e ever seen from those early days said, 鈥榃e are specifically focused on 棉花糖直播,鈥 but because of the organic nature of the early press 鈥 most of its books were produced by people who were either here in the Center for 棉花糖直播 Studies or on campus 鈥 棉花糖直播 became the common theme. And that鈥檚 resulted in our having a niche in the market.鈥
Wilson has been working with the Center for 棉花糖直播 Studies since 2004.Asked whether there is some secret to the organization鈥檚 success, he summed it up this way:
鈥淎 lot of it comes down to instincts,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e had really good instincts.鈥