Annual Report2013-2014

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letter from the DirectorDear TCU family,

TCU Press has had a productive, award-winning year, and I am especially grateful for all of the wonderful help from my colleagues. Melinda, Kathy, and Rebecca are not only highly talented and dedicated people, but they are also great to work with. The quality of TCU Press books is directly related to the quality of its great staff.

From June 2013 to May 2014, TCU Press published eleven books and reprinted five others. While competing against larger presses and commercial publishers, several of its books won prestigious awards. After averaging three or four queries and proposals a month, TCU Press extended contracts for nine new projects. After nearly eighteen months of negotiations, TCU Press also signed a new contract with Texas A&M University Press, which oversees the Texas Book Consortium.

TCU Press staff covered a lot of miles this year. In addition to numerous book launches and signings, the staff represented TCU Press at the Texas General Land Office’s Save Texas History! Symposium, the Texas Book Festival, the Texas Philosophical Society’s Annual Meeting, the inaugural Fort Worth Wildcatter Exchange, the Texas State Historical Association’s Annual Conference, the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference, the San Antonio Book Festival, and the Association of American University Presses’ Annual Meeting. The Press also met with countless TCU faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni at the TCU New Faculty Orientation, TCU Orientation Essentials Fair, the TCU Merchants Fair, Frog Alley during football season, Fridays at the Press sales, the TCU Holiday Gift Market, and Bookish Frogs events.

The staff has worked hard to increase the overall awareness of the Press and its mission around the TCU community, as well as the community at large. Expanding its digital presence and engagement has been a key focus of this objective. In addition to continuing to develop its website, the Press has expanded its social media presence via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and Tumblr. These accounts, in various stages of development, help TCU Press reach a wider audience while increasing its searchability online.

TCU Press has many notable strengths, including a great staff; loyal friends and supporters among the faculty, staff, and community; and an established niche in Texana and Southwestern literature, history, and culture. Yet its greatest strength is that the TCU Press imprint is well regarded and recognized among publishers, authors, and readers alike. Although a small press with only one full-time staff member, TCU Press has substantial impact as a highly respected academic publisher.

I am grateful for the good work of my colleagues, and I am proud to be a part of TCU Press.

Happy reading,

Dan WilliamsDirector, TCU Press

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Publications

Fall 2013 » The Harness Maker’s Dream by Nick Kotz » Many Rivers to Cross, a novel by Thomas Zigal » Riff, Ram, Bah, Zoo! Football Comes to TCU by Ezra Hood » Tails on the Hill: Stories about a Family and Its Dogs by Carol Thornton, illustrated by Vicky Williams Harrison » Texas Chili? Oh My! by Patricia Vermillion, illustrated by Kuleigh Smith » Wars within War: Mexican Guerrillas, Domestic Elites, and the United States of America, 1846-1848 by Irving W. Levinson

(Revised eBook edition)

Spring 2014 » The Brothers Hogan: A Fort Worth History by Jacqueline Hogan Towery, Robert Towery, & Peter Barbour » Nothing to Lose, a novel by Jim Sanderson » History of Texas Christian University by Colby D. Hall » Texas People, Texas Places: More Musings of the Rambling Boy by Lonn Taylor » ¿Chili Texano? ¡Ay Dios! by Patricia Vermillion, illustrated by Kuleigh Smith and translated by Jezabel Guadalupe

Coming in Fall 2014! » Deep in the Art of Texas: A Century of Paintings and Drawings edited by Michael W. Duty » On Becoming an Architect, a memoir by Frank D. Welch » El Paso 120 by Mark A. Paulda » Women of Thunder, a novel by Jerry Craven » Restaurantes, rumba y más: A Gringo’s Guide to Latino Fort Worth by Peter Szok » If in Later Years, poems by Ronald E. Moore » The Life of Coach Chuck Curtis: From the Spread Formation to Spreading the Word, as told to Brian Honea » The Big Drift, a novel by Patrick Dearen

“Every once in a while there comes along a magnificent work of history and storytelling that demands unbridled praise. The Harness Maker’s Dream is such a book . . . a marvelous history lesson told with the lilt of a novel. It does not get any better than that.“

–Jim Lehrer

“[The Brothers Hogan is] a must read for anyone interested in my idol Ben Hogan, his brother Royal, the entire Hogan family, and good old Fort Worth, Texas, a city that’s never turned loose of my heart.”

–Dan Jenkins

“Thomas Zigal is the real deal in every sense – a real storyteller who writes with enormous craft and boundless compassion. Many Rivers to Cross, about the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, is suspenseful and deeply compelling–Zigal at his best, which is very, very good indeed.”

–Scott Turow

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20142013Award Winners

Many Rivers to Cross, a novel by Thomas Zigal and The Harness Maker’s Dream by Nick Kotz were featured at the Texas Book Festival in Austin in October.

Jan Seale: New and Selected Poems, the latest addition to the Texas Poets Laureate Series, was named a poetry finalist for the Writers League of Texas Book Award.

Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos: 1535-1900, by Patrick Dearen, received the West Texas Historical Association’s Rupert Richardson Award for Best Book on West Texas History.

Log Cabin Kitty, by Donna Rubin, illustrated by Susan Halbower, received the Texas Institute of Letters H-E-B Award for Best Children’s Book.

Fair Park Deco: Art and Architecture of the Texas Centennial Exposition, by Jim Parsons and David Bush, was a finalist for the 2012 Book of the Year Award in Architecture.

To Hell or the Pecos, a novel by Patrick Dearen, was a finalist for the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction.

The Texas Legation Papers, 1836-1845, by TCU Professor of History Kenneth Stevens, won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Nonfiction.

Grace and Gumption: The Women of El Paso, edited by Marcia Daudistel, and Patrick Dearen’s Devils River were both recognized by the San Antonio Conservation Society’s Publication Awards.

Many Rivers to Cross by Thomas Zigal and The Harness Maker’s Dream by Nick Kotz were featured at the San Antonio Book Festival in April.

Fair Park Deco received the Texas State Historical Association’s Ron Tyler Award for Best Illustrated Book on Texas History and Culture.

Fair Park Deco also received Preservation Dallas’s Spirit of Preservation Award.

To Hell or the Pecos received the West Texas Historical Association’s inaugural Elmer Kelton Award.

The Philosophical Society of TexasThe Chicken Hanger, a novel by Ben Rehder, received the Award of Merit for Fiction. A Texas Jubilee: Thirteen Stories from the Lone Star State by James Ward Lee was an honorable mention.

Fair Park Deco was an honorable mention for the Award of Merit for Nonfiction.

Texas Institute of LettersMany Rivers to Cross received the coveted Jesse Jones Award for Fiction.

The Harness Maker’s Dream by Nick Kotz was a finalist for the Carr P. Collins Award for Best Work of Nonfiction.

Texas Chili? Oh My! was a finalist for the H-E-B/Jean Flynn Children’s Book Award.

Hometown, Texas: Young Poets and Artists Celebrate Their Roots by Karla K. Morton was a finalist for the Fred Whitehead Award for Design.

“[Many Rivers to Cross] explores the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina’s breach of the levees and the lethal flood of New Orleans. With a keen ear for the language of its victims . . . this brave novel captures the brutality but also the heroics and redemption of people flung into that heart of darkness. By a strong vote the judges felt the Jesse Jones Award for best of fiction of 2013 must go to Tom Zigal’s Many Rivers to Cross, published by TCU Press.

–Judges’ remarks for presentation of Jesse Jones Award

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eBook initiativeTCU Press has continued its progress on its eBook initiative, producing five new digital titles to accompany print releases. eBook conversion is now built into the Press’s production workflow. The Press’s most popular eBooks for the 2013-2014 year were novels: The Chicken Hanger by Ben Rehder, Baja Oklahoma by Dan Jenkins, and A Texas Jubilee by James Ward Lee.

Learning laboratoryTCU Press has committed itself to serving as a learning laboratory for TCU students. Interns at the Press come from diverse backgrounds and fields. They are vital to the Press’s success, and the Press provides them with valuable opportunities to develop knowledge and skills outside of the classroom, in addition to building their portfolios. In Fall of 2013, the Press had five interns, and in the Spring of 2014 the Press had seven interns, three of whom returned from the Fall semester. The Press hopes to continue to recruit interns from varying fields of study, including business, strategic communication, and graphic design.

“I’ve loved my experience as an intern at the Press over the past year! I’ve gained a greater appreciation of the ins and outs of publishing from editors who are passionate about what they do and eager to share their knowledge. From formatting descant to reading page proofs . . . I’ve learned so many skills that will help with my future endeavors.”

—Ashley Rea

“I am studying English with the hope of becoming an editor for young adult fiction. I have worked at the Press for two semesters, and I feel ready to join the publishing world. My time at the Press has improved my editing skills and given me insight into other aspects of the job, including fact checking and manuscript review.”

—Cameron Noyce

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Events & ActivitiesOur authors spoke at festivals, signings, and conferences around the state and country this past year.

This past winter, TCU Press opened its doors to the TCU and Fort Worth communities in a series of Fridays at the Press sales events, which drew considerable sales and visitors. These events directly

contributed to TCU Press’s goals of increasing both local awareness and sales.

In an effort to grow awareness of TCU Press, particularly on the TCU campus, TCU Press exhibited at many events on campus, including the Essentials Fair, Merchants Fair, TCU Football Tailgate, and the Holiday Gift Market.

TCU Press attended the 2013 Texas Book Festival in Austin,

with two featured authors and an additional seven authors

appearing in the Consortium tent. The Press was also at

the 2014 San Antonio Book Festival, where two TCU Press

authors were again featured.

TCU Press also exhibited at the inaugural Wildcatter Exchange. Seven TCU Press authors spoke in various sessions throughout the two-day event, and the Press is now thrilled to have a position on the festival’s advisory committee.

This Spring, the Press exhibited at both the Texas State

Historical Association’s annual meeting and the

Texas Library Association’s conference.

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Digital PresenceThe primary goal of growing TCU Press’s digital presence is to increase brand awareness, not just of specific titles, but of the Press as a whole. Growth over the last few months has been strong and steady. TCU Press has continued to maintain and increase its digital presence via its website, as well as through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. In addition to utilizing these social media platforms to disseminate news, the Press has used its various profiles to share content and engage in discussion on a variety of topics.

Email Marketing

A key goal for this past year was the growth of TCU Press’s email marketing activity. In addition to gaining direct access to the TCU faculty/staff email list, the Press’s own email subscriber list has grown substantially by capturing consumers’ contact information at time of purchase, during raffles at exhibits, and through NoiseTrade promotions online.

NoiseTrade is an online platform that allows authors and publishers to build their email lists by giving away eBooks and audiobooks in exchange for email addresses. The Press has utilized NoiseTrade to collect email addresses for readers interested in particular authors who have current and forthcoming releases from TCU Press.

in memoriamPaul Boller

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Goals for the future » Grow and adapt to changing publishing market

• Collaborate with administrators and key stakeholders to develop a strategic plan for securing the Press’s future• Increase the marketing coordinator’s position from 80% to full time

» Increase brand awareness in TCU and Fort Worth communities• Increase followers and engagement on social media platforms• Develop more efficient, effective website with ecommerce capacity• Collaborate with TCU students, faculty, and staff on new projects

» Increase revenue• Increase sales• Lower production costs

TCU Press is small, even among other university presses, and it operates in an unstable industry in the midst of significant transition. Yet despite its small size and many challenges, TCU Press successfully competes with both larger university presses and commercial publishing houses. In the Texas Institute of Letters’ annual book awards, TCU Press had more titles chosen as finalists than any other university press. Thomas Zigal’s Many Rivers to Cross, the winner of the Jesse Jones Award for Fiction, was recognized above Philipp Meyer’s The Son, a product of Ecco Press (an imprint of HarperCollins), and Rick Bass’s All the Land to Hold Us, a product of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. With such success and distinction, TCU Press brings invaluable prestige and visibility to the university, helping to extend TCU’s reach and recognition.

On campus, TCU Press has made considerable strides toward increasing its engagement with the university community. Rather than operate as a satellite program on the fringes of campus, the Press seeks to demonstrate its essential contributions to the university’s core mission – not only as a facilitator for the dissemination of knowledge, but also as a dynamic learning laboratory for faculty and students alike.

To continue to flourish and pursue its mission, TCU Press must develop and maintain the capacity to function efficiently, and this requires growth and transition. Currently, TCU Press is a four-person operation with only one full-time staff member. With heavy workloads, the current staff can only react to the demands and exigencies of current deadlines. To become more proactive and strategic, and to make the necessary adjustments in response to the vast changes taking place in publishing, TCU Press must increase its size as well as its efficiency. In order to offset the expected decline in brick-and-mortar sales, TCU Press needs to develop better online marketing strategies, and this in turn requires that it develop a more efficient website with ecommerce capacity and increase its marketing position from part-time to full-time. In order to handle the demands of handling both print and digital publishing schedules, the Press should also add an associate editor and an administrative assistant.