How (Not) to Blow Up a Pipeline

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“What's in the pipeline?” This question can either energize or deflate an acquisitions editor, create anxiety or exuberance in other departments, and looking too far into the future can feel as risky as failing to have a close eye on the nearest season. Will we have enough books to make our budget? Do we have too many books given current staffing levels? Have we struck the right balance across all lists, disciplinarily and between series and nonseries titles? But the pipeline question is also an excellent opportunity to step back from day-to-day tasks to consider how to future-proof our presses, to create systems and support to nurture and track projects, and to ensure that everyone in the house is aware of where a list will be next season, next year, or even over the next several years. When and how to engage that question so as not to overwhelm other departments is as delicate as it is practical, too. In this session, acquisitions editors, editorial directors, marketing & sales managers, and production staff will host a wide-ranging discussion from multiple perspectives about how to envision, shape, project, prune, realize, and maintain healthy pipelines. Among the questions that will be asked – and definitively answered! – will be: What role should preliminary/advance contracts play in filling up the pipeline? Do series help or complicate pipeline management, and how can series editors be made productive partners in pipeline management? How can we anticipate and unclog bottlenecks in the pipeline? How do we reset after a seasonal glut or famine without creating the opposite problem later on? How early is too early to share future projects with the house, and who should be apprised of which specifics when? How can we manage author expectations in our “hurry up and wait” world? What can we do to realign the efforts of overproductive (or underproductive) acquisitions editors with house expectations? How can we future-proof pipeline backlogs or shortages when there's staff turnover? When is it time to take long-gestating projects out of the pipeline (i.e., canceling contracts)? What can we do if the pipeline unexpectedly runs dry in a forthcoming season? Participants and attendees alike will come away from this session with a greater understanding why knowing what's in the pipeline and communicating that strategically throughout the house is critical to a press's sustainability.