'Extraordinary' year for Yale University Press London

Yale University Press London had "an extraordinary year" in the 12 months ending 30th June 2017, with net sales growth of 30%, according to its annual report, newly filed at Companies House.

Top line book and e-book sales passed £8m for the first time, reaching £8.7m (against £7m in the previous fiscal year) in part due to the weakness of the pound, but also due to increased museum co-publication on art books, the quality of the list and the impact of new marketing teams following 2016’s restructure, the report stated.

Total income for YUPL, including its subsidiary Yale Representation Limited, was put at £9.2m, up 24% from £7.4m in 2016. The report said the improved results followed YUPL's "major restructure in order to modernise and position itself for growth", undertaken in 2016. Costs from the restructure incurred during the year were £46,649, down from £465,536 the previous fiscal year. Overall in the year to end June 2017 the group generated a consolidated surplus before restructuring costs of £865,329, up from £71,364 the previous year.

YUPL m.d. Heather McCallum told The Bookseller: "Yale University Press London enjoyed an exceptionally strong FY 2016-2017.  Press and distribution sales were helped to record highs by favourable currency movements and by the generally upbeat trading conditions in our markets.  At the same time we had a very strong list across the board lead by The Maisky Diaries, The Long Long Life of Trees, two new Little Histories and Clive James’ Play All.  We published a number of major exhibition catalogues and important art monographs with our numerous partners and will continue to do so.  We are excited that operational and strategic changes have enabled us to deliver our prestigious books to our customers with greater impact.  The YUPL team is continuing to shape new lists and develop further publishing initiatives which will take us forward over the next year."

The report elaborated on how the restructure had affected its publishing. List plans had been developed in Art and Scholarly publishing "which assessed the broader artistic, cultural and political landscapes for our books, the audience and market for our publishing, and the strengths, weaknesses and potential gaps in our current lists", while editorial directors and aquisitions editors had continued to commission books "broadly and energetically, as well as actively seeking out new relationships and partnerships."

Meanwhile, processes changed. "Over the course of the year the method of production of the books, in particular the Art books, changed dramatically bringing many benefits in timing and further enhancing the world class quality of the books.” A revised critical path governing the process and scheduling of new titles “resulted in cleaner, clearer data, and efficient and effective communication throughout the entire publishing process. All of this has enabled books to arrive with a much greater impact as evidenced in media attention, reviews and sales terms, thereby serving readers and customers.”

Yale also saw its books nominated for 10 major awards, while there were more author appearances at major festivals including Oxford, Hay, Edinburgh and Cheltenham, the report noted.