The Bookish Frog The Newsletter of Texas Christian University Press

VOLUME 9 / SPRING 2006

AAUP Evaluation \NEWS NOTES In late March, Seetha Srinivasan, director of the University Press of When Lionel Garcia’s archive was Mississippi, visited TCU Press under a program by which the on exhibit at Cushing Archival Association of American University Presses underwrites visits to Library at Texas A&M University, there was a display focusing on his smaller presses to evaluate their operation and make recommenda- TCU Press title, The Day They Took tions. Seetha’s were threefold: to increase sales, cut down on costs, My Uncle and Other Stories.The and enlarge the press’ list. She felt it is essential for the press to grow display traced the development of the book, from the first, pencil- and not remain at the level it has maintained for ten or fifteen years. written copy of one of the stories, Her report made several specific recommendations, including to the typed story, and the final product. It also included correspon- the hiring of new staff, outsourcing copyediting, and strengthening dence between Lionel and Judy the editorial program. She also recommended that more time be Alter, who edited the collection. spent on marketing and that production should be handled exclu- J’Nell Pate’s America’s Historic sively by one person. Further, while recognizing the importance of Stockyards: Livestock Hotels was our affiliation with the consortium headquartered at Texas A&M chosen for the Natural Agricultural University Press, she suggested that TCU Press needs to establish its Library collection. own separate identity. Acquisitions editor Jim Lee gave the In meetings with press staff, Seetha also suggested reorganiz- keynote address, "Reading Will Ruin You," at The State of Publishing: A ing the structure of our Editorial Advisory Board, in effect creating a Small Press Conference and Book faculty-based editorial board and a lay-based board that would be Fair in November on the campus of made up of community advocates and would become the foundation Montgomery College in Conroe, Texas. of a Friends organization. Her plans set wheels rolling at the press. We have already Director Judy Alter has two new titles in print: Sue Ellen Learns implemented a few small changes—Melinda Esco is handling all pro- to Dance and Other Stories,from duction, and Susan Petty has taken on marketing, with the under- Panther Creek Press, and Miriam standing that some of her editorial duties will be outsourced. We have "Ma" Ferguson: First Woman Governor of Texas,from State House. re-examined our pricing structure and our print runs now and hold The latter is in the Stars of Texas weekly staff meetings, instead of only occasional ones. Launch meet- Series of biographies of Texans for ings will be held for each new title acquired. fourth-graders. One of Judy’s earlier titles in the series, Henrietta King: Such sweeping changes as suggested by the overall review, Rancher and Philanthropist, is a finalist cannot be made quickly, and the staff plans a retreat with June for the Juvenile Nonfiction Spur Award from Western Writers of Koelker, dean of the libraries, in July at which time we hope to work America, Inc. out a thoughtful proposal on the press’ future, which will then be pre- Y sented to TCU Provost Nowell Donovan. Meantime, Robbie Dircks, CFO and associate director of the University of North Carolina Press, will evaluate the financial set-up

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of the press, working with Controller Cheryl Wilson and A&M Sales Manager Sharon Mills by phone and email. We expect his report by early July. Things are on the move at TCU Press—we’ve increased our list, and we feel a strong future ahead. ■ Jim Lee to Retire

James Ward Lee, who has served TCU Press as acquisitions editor for seven years, has announced that he will retire at the end of the summer. Jim’s letter of appointment, dated 1999, names him "visiting editor without compensation," a title he has proudly repeated many times over the years. Jim came to the press after retiring as chair of the English department at the University of North Texas, where he had taught for forty-two years. At UNT he founded both the Center for Texas Studies and the UNT Press. One of the best known authorities on Texas literature and a widely acclaimed public speaker, Jim has been invaluable to TCU Press as acquisitions editor. He knows everyone who has anything to do with books, from Texarkana to El Paso, and he has a sure eye for what will work as a book and what won’t. As he wrote rejection letter after rejection letter, he would mumble, "Well, I’m breaking hearts again." But his letters were so kind and gracious that he often got into extended correspondence with would-be authors. An author himself, Jim co-edited Literary Fort Worth and wrote Adventures with a Texas Humanist during his years at TCU, along with doing the foundation work for a forth- coming volume, Literary West Texas. Whenever anyone called the press wanting an author to speak, we sent Jim, who invariably charmed audiences, especially the women. And with good humor and gra- ciousness he represented the press at the annual meetings of the Texas State Historical Association, the Texas Book Festival, and others. We will miss him but look forward to frequent visits. ■ Melinda Esco Joins Staff

Melinda Esco joined the TCU Press staff in December as Publishing Services Specialist. As such, she handles production, including working with designers and printers, archiving digital files, working with online repositories and vendors, and keeping our website up to date. Both Judy Alter and Susan Petty are absolutely delighted to have Melinda take over these responsibilities. Melinda brings a strong publishing background to the press. She holds a BA degree in com- munication/journalism from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has owned a typesetting/ publication design business and worked at Harcourt College Publishers in Fort Worth as a produc- tion manager and, later, database administrator in the intellectual property resources department. ■ 2 SOME FACTS ABOUT NOAH’S RIDE TCU PRESS

Year established: 1966 Books in print: 255 Several years ago, the late Jerry Flemmons began Books published annually: 12-15 talking to several writers about a collaborative Distribution: TCU Press novel—wherein each author contributes a differ- belongs to a publishing consortium ent chapter. At meetings in the TCU Press headquartered at Texas A&M offices, we talked about Frank James, Jesse’s University Press. brother who sold menswear in Dallas. In spite Staff: Judy Alter, director of enthusiasm, it was one of those projects James Ward Lee, acquisitions editor that just never came together. Susan Petty, editor Last fall, with the pushing of Jeff Melinda Esco, Publishing Services Specialist Guinn, it came together. With the board’s blessing, we enlisted authors for a collabora- The TCU Press is an affiliate member tive novel set in Texas (well, sort of), a first we believed. of the Association of American Jeff suggested a plot involving an escaped slave who becomes a University Presses. buffalo soldier with the 10th Cavalry out of San Angelo. As seemed fitting Questions: Call us at 817-257-7822; to us, Texas novelist, TCU Press author, and San Angelo resident Elmer write to Box 298300, Fort Worth, Texas 76129; or Kelton was asked to write the first chapter of the novel. e-mail, [email protected]. At first the title was Escape to Concho. Then we settled on Noah’s Ride. Check our Web page: And then we were all off on a wild ride. As each chapter came in, Judy held http://www.prs.tcu.edu/prs/ her breath to see what direction the plot had taken, and then she edited to Toll-free orders: 1-800-826-8911 bring some sort of consistency to the plot. At first, it looked as if Noah was miles and years from San Angelo and becoming a buffalo soldier. The designer, Hal Normand, kept asking if he was really going to make it. Hal thought the uniforms would be great on the cover. But all we could do was shrug our shoulders and encourage authors to hurry. So Hal came up with a striking non-specific design. New format for the "Bookish Frog" At this writing, an author is working on Chapter 12, and we are bit- Everything else is going electronic, so ing our nails over deadlines. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has reserved Bass why not the "Bookish Frog"? Several Hall and scheduled an evening with all the authors onstage for October 25. years ago, in an economy move, we ■ cut back from two issues a year to So we have to have books! We’ll do it, but it’s a bit nerve-wracking. one. Now we’ve decided we could do two issues if we published electronically.The savings in printing and mailing costs will be terrific.We’ll send out postcards to remind you to Our New Neighbors look for the newest issue at http://www.prs.tcu.edu/newsletter.html. The press is getting new neighbors—lots of them. TCU has redecorated and We’d love to hear how you like the electronic format. Email us at refurbished the rest of our building and is moving a significant number of [email protected]. people from Advancement to join us. We welcome the newcomers to what had previously been a sparsely populated building. It will be nice to have company, and maybe we won’t have to lock our doors all the time! ■

3 MAX LALE 1916 – 2006

Max Lale, journalist, historian, historiographer, and longtime member of the TCU Press Editorial Advisory Board, died April 22 at his home in Fort Worth. We at TCU Press valued Max’s careful and considered advice at board meetings. He was wise, thoughtful, occasionally wry, and often impatient with folly. He kept us tied to our mission, and we will miss him. A veteran of World War II, he proudly recalled and wrote about his campaigns in Europe. After the war, Max went into journalism and spent most of his professional career in Marshall, Texas, where he was recognized as the city’s Citizen of Distinction in 1982 and served as president of the Jaycees and Red Cross blood drive chair. In 1982, the city of Marshall held "Max Lale Day" in recognition of his many civic contributions. Max was known for his active participation in historical societies. He was a past president of the East Texas Historical Association and the Texas State Historical Association. He was a frequent contributor to the journals of those organization and the author of several books on local history. Texas history will miss his presence, and TCU Press will miss his voice. ■

Santa Visits TCU Press

Santa came to the TCU Press Autograph Extravaganza and brought Mrs. Claus with him. Highlighted author for the event was Jeff Guinn, whose books, The Autobiography of Santa Claus and How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, have become national bestsellers. For the program, Jeff interviewed Mr.and Mrs. Claus about their lives at the North Pole and Santa’s annual Christmas Eve journey. Some ten authors in attendance wore elf caps (okay, a couple declined).

Mary Ruth Jones with author/elf Jon McConal.

TCU Press director Judy Alter with Jeff and Mr. and Mrs. Claus.