ParticipantsFred Appel, senior editor, Princeton University PressJennifer Banks, editor, Yale University PressTheo Calderara, editor, Oxford University PressAmy Caldwell, executive editor, Beacon PressDavid Dobson, editorial director, Westminster John Knox PressJennifer Hammer, editor, NYU PressJenna Johnson, senior editor, Houghton Mifflin HarcourtJim Kinney, associate publisher, editorial director, Baker Academic and Brazos PressWendy Lochner, senior executive editor, Columbia University PressJon Pott, vice president and editor-in-chief, EerdmansMichael West, editor-in-chief, Fortress Press

PW: What do you think are the greatest challenges right now for academic authors who are trying to get published?

Banks, Yale: I believe that authors and publishers interested in serious nonfiction are facing the same challenges: shrinking library markets, fewer book review opportunities in the mainstream media, electronic books, the closing of independent bookstores across the country and competition from other media.

Johnson, HMH: Academics are facing the same challenges as before when looking to break into trade publication, only more so. Platforms and credentials are now also about audience reach and visibility, even for academics. They need to be savvy authors and self-promoters even as they are maintaining their academic reputations.

Pott, Eerdmans: So far as scholarship is concerned, the challenge confronting academic authors is that publishers are probably needing to set the bar for excellence and relevance higher than in the recent past, which, in my view is not an altogether bad thing. The economy may be pushing us to do what we ought to be doing anyway. There will still be room for the brilliant or truly useful monograph, but perhaps less room for the merely good and the less pertinent one—subject, of course, to the ever-fallible judgment of the publisher! And whatever the impact on the monograph, I would say that the impact on the academic collection—especially the conference collection—will be even greater.

Kinney, Baker Academic/Brazos: The economic downturn has made us more cautious, applying greater scrutiny to every proposal we see. And since we're seeing more proposals than ever before, we're rejecting projects at our highest rate ever.

Hammer, NYU: It's not only the economy that has caused some presses out there to cut back on their publishing programs. It's also that prospective authors often don't think about their work from a publishing perspective—what is the “so what”? How can you frame your findings or ideas to be as useful as possible? You need to ensure that you have an appealing topic that offers insights to the field and there is a broad enough readership to make it viable. Your audience can't be just six fellow specialists and your mother.

Dobson, WJK: I was speaking with an author—a professor at a theological school—just last week about this. She said the dean and president recently spoke to faculty about just this thing: about how they understand that it is getting harder for academics to get published, and they'll have to think about making adjustments to the criteria for tenure and advancement. Maybe electronic publishing will become more acceptable on a CV. Or maybe new short-run academic presses will emerge. Or maybe the number of books needed for advancement will be reduced.

PW: At your company, have you had to trim your list, downsize author advances or royalties or otherwise cut your publishing program?

Kinney, Baker Academic/Brazos: Our response to the economic downturn focused primarily on cost-cutting measures, most of which were internal: salary cuts, hiring freeze, no 401(k) match, reduced use of freelancers, restructuring of departments, etc. Our cost-cutting moves enabled us to avoid layoffs. We consider that to be a significant achievement.

Calderara, Oxford: We haven't cut back our publishing program at all. In fact, our religion publishing has experienced steady growth, and we have more resources than ever invested in the list. Cutting back would be shortsighted. If you slow down your acquisitions in lean times, you won't be prepared to take advantage when things improve.

Caldwell, Beacon: We've generally been very cautious about advances in recent years, so we haven't had to cut those. We are more frequently offering to publish with net rather than list royalties.

Appel, Princeton: Although Princeton University Press isn't immune from the economic downturn, morale is pretty high here all around and our publishing programs are humming, so I don't have a “woe is me” tale to tell you. No layoffs or draconian cuts are happening here. I suspect that the diversity of our publishing program—we have deep lists in the natural sciences, natural history, mathematics and economics— helps us a great deal and makes us less vulnerable than scholarly presses that rely mostly on humanities publishing.

Dobson, WJK: Over the last two years, we had increased our publishing output to about 90 new books each year. This year we decided to return to our previous output of about 70 new books per year beginning in 2010. We continue to acquire good books, but will do so at a slower and more selective pace for the foreseeable future.

PW: How are younger scholars different in their interests and research? What are they working on that's new or unusual?

Calderara, Oxford: Younger scholars have grown up in an entirely different religious world than their predecessors. The only world they've ever known is one in which religion is a matter of critical public debate. Some of the biggest stories of the past 30 years—ascendant evangelicalism and political Islam, for example—are religious stories. But crucially, they are not only religious stories—they affect everyone. Having come of age in such an era is bound to have an effect on how you study religion and how you engage with the world outside scholarship.

West, Fortress: Younger scholars seem to pose new questions to old topics or to take the telling slice of a tradition or write in a less formal genre, rather than push some grand overarching theory.

Banks, Yale: Many younger scholars in religion seem particularly interested in interdisciplinary dialogue.

Johnson, HMH: I have seen a lot of performance studies infusing young religious scholarship and a definite cross-pollination from studying or being more aware of various religious traditions. New media is also having a clear effect on methods of research as well as the subjects themselves—there's a lot of new insight into practice that might come out of this.

Kinney, Baker Academic/Brazos: Some younger scholars seem more integrative in their approach and more willing to explore topics outside of their primary area of focus. This may relate to having been trained during an information explosion.

Lochner, Columbia: Some young scholars are willing to investigate new forms of writing and looking at scholarship, combining field or text work with personal stories of their own and others. But I fear that many young scholars remain timid in terms of their writing and their topics—they are not always given good advice by their mentors, and they are afraid that taking bold steps will hurt their tenure chances.

PW: What do you see as some future “hot topics” in religion scholarship?

Lochner, Columbia: I think animal studies already is and will become more important in the next decade. Science, ecology and food studies are also popular now, and especially in the case of the latter relatively underpublished. All of these are good examples of areas with potentially larger audiences outside religion.

Dobson, WJK: Topics that plug into the changing demographics of religion in the U.S. will be hot. For example, how will the growing number of immigrants from Latin America change the face of Catholicism in America? So will topics that examine the ethical implications of genetic, robotic, information and nano technology. Health care and the environment will continue to be popular.

Hammer, NYU: Works relating to environmental studies, Catholic studies and works on the diversity of Islam within the U.S., such as our just published Shi'ism in America by Liyakat Nathani Takim.

Caldwell, Beacon: Religion and science shows a lot of promise; there's simply so much interesting scientific work being done that cries out to be integrated with humanistic disciplines.

West, Fortress: Reappropriating religious traditions in light of postcolonial perspectives, [paying] attention to practices and addressing the public relevance of guild-derived insights into religion remain strong.

Calderara, Oxford: I'm encouraged by the increasing focus on lived religion and culture. In a similar vein, I think we'll start to see more in-depth investigation of spirituality—what people actually mean when they say they are spiritual. And we've had a lot of recent success with books on Mormonism.

Pott, Eerdmans: Interest in biblical theology remains strong—also interest in patristics and the early church. One is also noticing these days growing interest in the continuities, rather than the breaks, between the Reformation and the pre-Reformation. Books on worship remain a strong part of our program. I think that we will see more books on aging and dying—and on the allocation of medical and economic resources at all stages of life, including at the very beginning in neonatal care. Disability continues to grow as an area of interest.