Harrington Park Press

History

For almost 20 years, Harrington Park Press (HPP) was the LGBT imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc. (now part of the Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group^[1]). During this period of time, HPP copublished hundreds of scholarly Haworth Press monographs and texts in paperback editions and distributed them to bookstores for the general public. The imprint boasted its own distribution network through five regional sales teams plus specialty distribution in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and elsewhere.

In addition to LGBT titles, the imprint also copublished professional books in health care and self-help.

As part of the mutually successful negotiated sale agreement between Haworth Press and the Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, it was agreed that the Harrington Park Press imprint and trademark would be retained by Bill Cohen (Founding Publisher of Haworth Press) for future business purposes.

The current effort aims to retain the heritage of Harrington Park Press. Although its focus will be on specialized academic and scholarly titles, its program will be, whenever possible, to provide simultaneous ebook coeditions to potentially broader readerships.

Harrington Park Press (HPP) aims to maximize dissemination of research and impact in the scholarly and practitioner community, while at the same time taking advantage of the global reach increasingly made possible through e-book co-publication.

Formats

Printed Books

The printed book remains the focal point of archival achievement. It must still be promoted and marketed through traditional but targeted direct mail, and where possible, through e-mail “blasts.” Attention will be paid to the different methods of distribution in North America as against other parts of the world still serviced by the conventional book trade (stock-holding specialized bookstores).

E-books

The digitized book, accessible both online and downloaded to e-readers such as Kindle and Nook, is still very much in flux. HPP is convinced, however, that it has become a permanent part of the publishing landscape. E-books are amenable to broader but targeted publicity efforts, and may simplify the dilemmas of content “chunking” (finding that a book is being distributed non-commercially in parts). HPP will aim to promote its electronic editions in the same manner as aggressively as its printed work. Its task will be to identify and ally with new sorts of book reviewers, bloggers, listserves, social media, and both frontier and emerging channels that are receptive to the focus, content, accessibility and subject being covered. The goal will be to help each author achieve and exceed their ambitions and aspirations for their work.

Officers

Owner/Publisher – Bill Cohen

Bill Cohen graduated from Columbia College (Class of ’71) with an undergraduate degree in psychology. He jumped directly into the publishing industry with Human Sciences Press, now part of Plenum Press, a division of Springer Science+Business Media. Starting as a clerk-typist, Bill became Director of Marketing within a year, and was in charge of all publicity and sales efforts for academic journal and book titles, managing a direct mail campaign reaching one million pieces a year. At the age of 26, Bill left Human Sciences Press, Inc. with its President, Patrick McLaughlin, to launch The Haworth Press, Inc. The name was taken from the township of Haworth in the United Kingdom, which was home to the famous literary Bronte Sisters Haworth Press began in Bill’s bedroom office. From 1975 to 2006, the firm grew from one peer-review academic journal to almost 200, and published almost 5,000 monographs and texts, based in a multi-building office system with almost 200 employees in Binghamton, New York and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Its imprint, Harrington Park Press, focused on “cross-over” titles of interest to both academics and the educated public, with a special strength in pioneer LGBT topics as well as in psychology and health care. In 1994, Bill bought out Patrick’s shares in the firm and moved it forward under single ownership. Patrick died several years later after a long illness. In early 2007, Bill divested the firm to the Taylor & Francis Group/Routledge, and joined with them in a consulting capacity for two years. He retained ownership and trademark rights to Harrington Park Press. The imprint continues with this effort.

Senior Editor – Dr. Richard Koffler

Dr. Koffler brings over 30 years of distinguished editorial/publishing experience to the Press, with a solid background in the social sciences and health care, amongst other disciplines. His academic career includes a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from New York University, and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University, followed by Fulbright and Old Dominion Fellowships. Subsequently he taught at MIT, and then served as Program Officer for Publications at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Koffler followed up his tenure as Vice President, Editorial for Associate Faculty Press/Kraus with a brief stint as Executive Editor for Rowman & Littlefield and a long and fruitful period as Executive Editor for Aldine de Gruyter, the American division of Walter de Gruyter of Berlin, Germany. Afterward he joined the relatively new firm at Questia Media of Houston, Texas, as Director, Publisher Relations. More recently, Dr. Koffler joined The Haworth Press, Inc., as Senior Book Editor. After the sale of Haworth to the Taylor & Francis Group/Routledge, Dr. Koffler has been teaching Humanities courses at Fairleigh Dickinson University in addition to his position as Senior Book Editor with Harrington Park Press. Some years back, Dr. Koffler also held the position of Executive Director for the Association of American University Presses, serving as chief executive and Board Member for that leading educational nonprofit organization.

Associate Editor – Dody Riggs

Dody Riggs was Production Manager of Harvard Education Press (HEP), the publishing arm of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, for nearly two decades, before retiring from the university in 2008. Her career began 38 years ago at Electronic Engineering Times, where she started out as a typesetter and rose quickly to become Associate Manager Editor. In the 1980s she was an Editorial Production Coordinator at Time magazine and Production Editor of Adweek, and then took a sabbatical to volunteer with various organizations overseas.. Dody is both an editorial work-flow manager and copy editor. She managed production of all Harvard Education Press products, including negotiating with vendors, overseeing designers and other freelancers, and working closely with authors to help them keep their projects moving forward. During her tenure at HEP she copy edited 70 issues of the esteemed Harvard Educational Review, more than 70 books, and countless issues of the award-winning Harvard Education Letter.

Production Coordinator – Ann Twombly

Ann Twombly (Twombly Books) coordinates all aspects of book production from receipt of the final, editorially approved manuscript to bound books. She has more than 40 years of experience in book production, including more than two decades at Northeastern University Press and freelance work for Harvard University Press, Commonwealth Editions, and University Press of Kentucky.

Distribution

Harrington Park Press is distributed by Columbia University Press to the institutional, academic, and retail markets in the United States and its possessions, and across the globe, including Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Columbia University Press was founded in 1893. With nearly 115 years of continuous publishing activities, it is the fourth-oldest university press in America.

Harrington Park Press will also promote its books directly to LGBTQ-specific audiences by means of targeted mail/email to academic faculty, practitioners and researchers; selective popular print and electronic media outlets, bloggers, and LGBTQ-friendly journalists; and social media.

References

External links

• Publisher's home page
• Publisher's Columbia University Press page