This fall, the Obermann Center continues its Editor-in-Residence program, which connects UI faculty and graduate students with accomplished editors from scholarly presses. The program supports scholars in fields where publishing a monograph is essential, while also highlighting the vital role of publishing professionals in academia.
Our Fall 2025 Editor-in-Residence, Sara Jo Cohen, is the Editorial Director at the University of Michigan Press, where she acquires titles in music, theater and performance studies, and dance. During her residency in early November, Cohen will work with faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, leading workshops on book proposals, offering individual consultations, and sharing her expertise on both traditional and digital publishing. (Learn more and register here!)
Ahead of her residency, we asked Cohen about what she hopes to accomplish during her time here, her advice on crafting strong proposals, the challenges and opportunities of open access publishing, and the exciting ways digital platforms are expanding scholarship. She also shared her own career journey from graduate study in English to university press publishing, reflected on the skills early-career scholars most need to cultivate today, and offered practical guidance for undergraduates seeking a foothold in the publishing world.
OCAS: What are you most looking forward to accomplishing during your time as the Obermann Center’s Fall 2025 Editor-in-Residence?
SJC: I’m looking forward to having a few days to really focus on helping scholars develop their work. As editorial director, I spend a lot of time in meetings and doing administrative work, and I rarely have even a couple of hours to focus on the part of my job that I love most—helping people conceive of, write, and revise their books. The opportunity to spend three days with my sleeves rolled up, workshopping proposals and discussing manuscripts, is a real gift, and I’m grateful to the Obermann Center for this opportunity.
OCAS: What makes a book proposal or project stand out to an acquisitions editor? Are there common mistakes you see in proposals?
SJC: I like to see a clear research question that can be answered in the course of a single book, and I like to see that each chapter builds on the previous one to clearly develop the book’s argument. I see so many book proposals that are more than one book smushed into one book proposal, or that are asking several research questions rather than one that’s rich enough to answer over the course of a book.
I also like to see book proposals that make it clear that the book is in conversation with other recent books that we’ve published at our press. Acquisitions editors pursue certain themes and questions with their acquisitions, and we’re always looking for books that explore those themes and questions. If you are able to find a couple of recent books published by your target press that your book is in dialogue with, then write about them in your proposal and how your book builds on them.
OCAS: What is the path that led you from studying English to becoming Editorial Director at University of Michigan Press? What motivates you in this role?
SJC: Common career advice for people applying to graduate school or for publishing jobs is never to say “I love books,” or “I love reading” in their application materials. But because this is an interview, I can tell you that I love books and I love reading. I also love learning, which is what led me to pursue a PhD in English. While I was studying, I quickly realized that the parts of graduate work that I liked most were the communal ones–seminars, writing groups, conversations over beer or coffee about movies and music. As I got deeper into writing my dissertation, I realized that the solitary life of the scholar, researching and writing books, wasn’t for me. I started thinking about ways that I could continue to participate in and support scholarship without having to generate scholarship myself. I was fortunate to have an advisor who was supportive of helping me explore other career avenues, and she helped me find some publishing adjacent work and eventually work in publishing.
OCAS: How can university presses balance the wider availability of open access with the financial challenges it creates?
SJC: I think the only way to have sustainable open access publishing is to share the financial burden. At UMP, our open access publishing program is supported by a combination of funding from the Provost’s office at U-M, by sales of the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection to libraries, by sales of our print books, and by subventions from authors who have access to them. That program is sustainable largely because of generous support from our university, but it’s also sustainable because it spreads the costs of open access publishing among different stakeholders. I realize this is a model that wouldn’t work for a smaller presses, but in that context, I still think that spreading the financial burden is the answer. Programs like Knowledge Unlatched, JSTOR’s Path to Open, and the now defunct TOME Initiative all offer[ed] creative models for spreading out the costs of OA publishing in a way that made it possible for publishers of different sizes to experiment with it.
OCAS: What excites you most about what digital platforms make possible for scholarship? How are digital tools changing the way scholarship is created and shared?
SJC: Our press director often says that in the twenty-first century, all scholars are digital scholars, conducting research and building archives using digital tools. Some of the most exciting uses of our digital publishing platform, Fulcrum, have exploded the idea of what is and counts as scholarship. We’ve published peer-reviewed podcast-style projects, peer-reviewed albums, and are currently working on a peer-reviewed video game. A digital publishing platform, supported by the brand and process of a university press, gives creative scholars an opportunity to publish their creative scholarship in a way that’s intelligible to tenure and promotion committees, and I love to read and support this kind of work.
OCAS: What skills or habits do you think are most important for early-career scholars to develop right now?
SJC: I don’t have a great or surprising answer to this question. As scholars’ teaching and service loads become heavier, I think time management and self-care are the two most important skills early-career scholars can develop. Times are rough for academia and are likely to get rougher quickly. I think that learning how to balance getting things done while also making time to rest and regroup will be crucial for folks coming up in the field now.
OCAS: For undergraduates interested in publishing, what experiences should they seek out now? What skills from your own studies have proven most valuable in your career as an editor?
SJC: One of the oddities of publishing is that applicants for entry level positions are already expected to have publishing experience. There are equity issues with this structure that publishers have been working to address over the years, but I think this weirdness continues to be a reality.
With that in mind, the best thing that undergraduates interested in publishing can do is to get a foot in the door. The skills I’ve found most useful, and that I look for in job candidates are attention to detail, project management, clear communication (written and verbal), experience working closely with faculty, and curiosity.
OCAS: Can you tell us about a current or upcoming project or goal that you’re especially excited about, and what makes it meaningful to you?
SJC: I’m so excited about Dan DiPiero’s new book Big Feelings: Queer and Feminist Indie Rock After Riot Grrl. Music has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, and getting to work on our music list is an absolute delight. When I was working with Dan on this book, he shared a long Spotify playlist that featured the artists he wrote about, and he introduced me to a lot of new music. Working on this book nourished the indie rock kid in me, sated my appetite for new music, and it’s just a great read, written with a lot of heart.