We were very happy to return to the AUP after a long absence!
The AUP hosted its annual conference in beautiful downtown Montreal on June 11-13. Given the two-year gap since the last in-person conference, there was a palpable sense of camaraderie among the attendees who were eager to learn from other leaders in publishing. While the conference presenters covered a wide range of topics, there was a heavy emphasis on AI, including integrating it into your processes, avoiding its pitfalls, the potential quality control and legal risks, and resources for learning more.
It was great to hear AUP presenters address AI. At Nord Compo’s main office in France, we have embarked on a significant AI initiative and hired an AI expert to guide us in integrating AI into our prepress, digital, and editorial processes. We have seen that these efforts will allow us to reduce costs while improving QC. We see AI as a tool that, for us, is possibly a great solution to publishing challenges. Nord Compo is integrating AI into the processes in a support role so that rather than replacing the human component, it’s making our team more efficient and productive.
Attending AUP’s Annual conference also highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on University Press Publishing continues to be felt. So, it was not surprising that the sessions included a lot of advice and information on how to be more profitable by cutting costs, increasing unit sales per title, and by employing more efficient distribution and printing strategies. Brian O’Leary, CEO of the Book Industry Study Group, led one of the most well-attended sessions. He talked about how sustainability is good for planet Earth and publishers’ bottom lines, reducing page counts, printing and shipping costs through composition with sustainable typeface options and, of course, using printers that use FSC-certified paper.
