Case studies

• Language Science Press undertook a direct outreach campaign, as a way of generating support for the press. As Nordoff describes: “[o]ne of the current press directors (Stefan Müller) started emailing over 100 prominent linguists and asked them for their practical and moral support. Supporters could sign a public webpage. They could also pledge to publish books or found a series” (Jisc Interviews, Nordhoff).  

• Open Humanities Press combined an appeal to the quality of their texts, inserting themselves into a relevant community, and using established scholars as markers of prestige: “Our strategy for building brand awareness is to publish outstanding humanities scholarship, to actively foster and link scholarly communities, and to empower scholars to achieve their intellectual vision. Authors seem to be attracted to OHP firstly because of the calibre of the people involved, and only secondarily because we publish [Open Access]” (Jisc Interviews, Open Humanities Press).

• A number of presses have built their brand around producing unique content and/or content that mainstream publishers reject as too unconventional. Examples include punctum books or Counter press. This can also extend to employing avant-garde or experimental approaches to publishing, for example, Hyperrhiz Electric, MediaCommons Press, meson press, Goldsmiths Press.