Abstract

In this paper the authors analyze the decision-making process at university presses for determining suggested retail prices of books and evaluate the effects of pricing strategies on the financial vitality of the presses. The goal was to test empirically for answers to the following questions: (1) Were university press prices eroded by changes in the economy? (2) Did commercial scholarly presses charge more than university presses for comparable titles? (3) How often did university presses increase backlist prices? (4) Did the emergence of sophisticated online retailing sites create a dynamic sales environment for university press books? Answering these questions required a multifaceted research approach. The authors interviewed university press personnel, collected statistical data on twenty-six distinct book subcategories from university and commercial scholarly presses, and reviewed government data on changes in the economy.

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