How Authors Benefit

For the overwhelming majority of students, college textbooks continue to play an essential role in their learning and academic success. And yet, due to company acquisitions and mergers over the years, the number of college publishers has fallen dramatically. Although these fewer and larger publishers continue to enhance, innovate and expand their offerings, this industry consolidation has had a significant effect on publishers, authors and customers.                           

Over the years, college publishers have increasingly been forced to prioritize their organizational structure, investment decisions and sales strategies around large introductory-level courses. In doing so, they are using the comparative advantages large publishers enjoy in those courses. They are pursuing the largest possible revenue opportunities to fund the large organization and infrastructure needed to compete successfully in those large, complex markets.

To do this, however, they have had to divert editorial and sales resources (i.e., people, dollars and time) away from the mid- and upper-level undergraduate courses, even when the authors and books that serve those markets are successful and profitable.  Given this resource shift, large publishers no longer have the same comparative advantage in the smaller markets that they enjoy in the introductory ones. At the same time, authors for those smaller markets are faced with decreasing levels of support and editorial resources.

Our Editorial Benefits for Authors 
Authors of upper-tier textbooks are not receiving the attention and support they need and deserve. Additionally, the sheer size of large, diversified publishers is a disadvantage in making stronger and more successful books for that market. The reason is that successful books are developed by small groups of talented individuals on a project-by-project basis. Results depend on their ability to understand a market’s customers and needs, and to use that knowledge to work with authors to craft text, visuals and ancillaries in a competitively superior way. We offer that dedicated editorial support to each author with whom we work. 

For all formats (electronic and print) success in the development of any one product is determined not by the size of a company, but by the skills, time and resources invested in that specific textbook. By specializing in the publication of authors and books outside of the introductory courses, we have the ability to focus more resources in developing each product, give greater attention to each author, and thus create a superior text. 

By focusing on publishing textbooks for the mid- and upper-level course markets, therefore, we can enhance the author experience and increase the quality and marketability of such texts. Every author is at the center of the process rather than being a secondary or tertiary priority having to compete for resources and attention with products for the larger introductory markets. Authors benefit from a creative and highly collaborative environment that involves them in all the key publishing decisions, from content (text and art) to the manuscript review process to the marketing and sales strategy.

Our Marketing & Sales Benefits for Authors 
Next to consider is our comparative advantage in marketing and selling to faculty teaching non-introductory courses. For introductory courses the textbook selection process is complex and adoptions may be shared among different faculty members. In addition, the decision makers frequently change from year to year, and publishers must spend a great deal of time demonstrating and supporting large and complex ancillary packages. For these reasons, the huge size of their marketing and sales organizations gives a comparative advantage to diversified publishers selling introductory textbooks.  

Because of their prioritization around the biggest introductory courses, however, these marketing and sales teams have limited time to learn about their other titles or to talk with faculty about adopting them. In addition to significant time constraints, they also have important financial constraints. Field-based sales organizations, so critical to selling in introductory markets, are costly. High cost makes it essential that they focus on courses with the largest revenue opportunities. In the end their apparent sales and marketing advantage benefits only introductory markets and turns out to be a disadvantage in others. 

In contrast, our sales organization is focused on textbooks for mid- and upper-level courses, giving us an advantage in that part of the market. For us, the highest priority is given to learning in depth about every mid- and upper-level text we publish and talking frequently with the faculty that teach those courses. With a phone and internet-based sales team, our cost structure is aligned with our targeted market and sales strategy. Our sales representatives invest their time with the instructors who teach the upper-level courses, enabling them to interact with many more of these textbook decision makers and in more depth.  

Our specialized sales organization is also able to provide greater support to instructors and students using our products. In this way we can better understand their teaching challenges and the learning needs of the students. Stronger relationships with faculty members, combined with deeper understanding of their concerns and goals, as well as our products, contributes to greater sales. In addition, these relationships contribute to the gathering of market intelligence and the flow of feedback information to authors about their textbooks from their users.

Learn More about Author Benefits at Wohl Publishing
By specializing in mid- and upper-level courses, Wohl Publishing provides authors and customers tremendous benefits through the comparative advantages that such specialization brings. For customers, products and content are more closely aligned with their teaching and learning needs and they receive superior publisher care. For authors, the authoring experience is more rewarding and offers greater publisher support. For authors of successful textbooks, the publishing experience will be more lucrative, reflecting the valuable role they play in their text’s success.

If these differences are important and appealing to you, we welcome talking with you in more detail about your interest and plans for writing new mid- and upper-level college textbooks and/or for revising previously published ones for which you have rights for doing so.

Contact us at authors@wohlpublishing.co