Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Awards Grants to Twenty-Nine Publishers

A total of $855,250 in grants was awarded to the literary publishing field, bringing the total amount that the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program has regranted since 1991 to $3.3 million.

Over the past few years, CLMPages has devoted much space to covering the activities of the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program, but there is no greater news than announcing new grant recipients. This fall, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund awarded 8 nonprofit literary magazines and presses planning grants in the final phase of the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program, administered through a grant to CLMP. After successfully completing the planning phase, these presses and magazines will have the chance to apply for implementation grants and join the ranks of the 28 grantees who have participated in the program since it began in 1991.

The Fund also awarded 21 of the original 28 grantees implementation grants (averaging $40,000 each) to build on their previous marketing activities. A total of $855,250 in grants was awarded to the literary publishing field, bringing the total amount that the program has regranted since 1991 to $3.3 million. This final phase of funding in the Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program supports targeted marketing efforts and continues the program's aim to strengthen the ability of literary magazines and presses to develop larger and more varied audiences through creative and ambitious marketing initiatives.

The 8 presses and magazines entering the planning phase have received $3,500 grants designated for technical assistance, consulting and the development of targeted marketing plans. Planning grant recipients will work with consultants to conceive and develop marketing plans targeted to reach a specific market segment such as individuals, bookstores or libraries. In January 1996, these 8 publishers will have the opportunity to apply for grants averaging $27,500 each to implement the plans they develop.

The grantees entering the planning phase range from a literary press that has been publishing since 1968 to a literary magazine which is only two years old. The magazines selected for planning grants are: Creative Nonfiction, Pittsburgh, PA; The Gettysburg Review, Gettysburg, PA; The Women's Review of Books, Wellesley, MA. The presses selected are: Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, CA; Mercury House, San Francisco, CA; New Rivers Press, Minneapolis, MN; Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL; Story Line Press, Brownsville, OR.

The 21 magazines and presses that received $40,000 implementation grants all successfully planned and implemented comprehensive marketing plans as part of the original Literary Publishers Marketing Development Program. The new grants will support the implementation of targeted marketing plans and will fund a range of activities aimed at developing the audience for contemporary literature, including direct mail, a reading series in non-traditional venues, cooperative promotions with independent bookstores and developing sales to the academic and library markets.

The magazines selected are: African American Review, Terre Haute, IN; The American Poetry Review, Philadelphia, PA; Calyx, Corvallis, OR; The Georgia Review, Athens, GA; Manoa, Honolulu, HI; The Missouri Review, Columbia, MO; Ploughshares, Boston, MA; Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, New York, NY; The Threepenny Review, Berkeley, CA; ZYZZYVA, San Francisco, CA.

The presses selected are: Arte Publico Press, Houston, TX; Bilingual Press, Tempe, AZ; Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, MN; Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA; Curbstone Press, Willimantic, CT; Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, IL; The Feminist Press, New York, NY; Graywolf Press, St. Paul, MN; Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, MN; Theatre Communications Group, New York, NY; White Pine Press, Fredonia, NY.

The marketing activities that these 21 publishers will undertake with grant funds build directly on activities implemented during their previous participation in the program—the results of which have been well-documented and reported on in CLMPages. As a group, the magazines have seen subscriptions increase 44 percent from 36,647 in 1992 to 52,888 in 1994 and single copy sales increase 23 percent from 16,297 in 1992 to 20,032 in 1994.

The presses have had sales revenue increase a remarkable 65 percent from $3,152,000 in 1992 to $5,190,000 in 1994 while unit sales increased 56 percent from 454,494 in 1992 to 707,883 in 1994. Through the implementation of targeted marketing plans, the grantees will continue to build relationships with bookstores, expand the audience for literary books and magazines, and reach a wider geographic and demographic range of individual readers.

Both groups of grant recipients were selected by panels comprised of publishing, marketing and nonprofit professionals. Grant decisions were based on the organizations' institutional stability, marketing capacity, and editorial and production quality. Panelists for the planning grants were: Teresa Bonner, Marketing and Development Manager, Hennepin County Library, MN; Dawn Davis, Editor, The New Press, NY; Tony Grooms, writer, CA; Laurie MacDougall, nonprofit management consultant, CA; Shannon Ravenel Purves, Editorial Director, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, NC; Ira Silverberg, Editorial and Publishing Director, Serpent's Tail U.S., NY; Rebecca Sterner, magazine publishing consultant, MN.

Panelists for the implementation grants were: Anna Bullard, Marketing Director, University of California Press, CA; Juan Carrillo, Chief of Grant Programs, California State Arts Council, CA; Mitchell Kaplan, founder and owner of Books & Books, FL; Anne Kinard, Publisher, Lingua Franca, NY; Michael Warr, Executive Director, Guild Complex, IL; Jay Woodruff, Managing Editor, DoubleTake Magazine, NC.

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