Jennifer Howard at the Chronicle for Higher Education interviewed university presses large and small, including Princeton University Press, to probe what these uncertain financial times mean for our unique publishing programs. Surprisingly, it’s not all doom and gloom–though she reports that sales are down an average of 10% for the period between July and December 2008, she notes that some presses actually saw increased sales while others are making strategic changes to their business practices. And perhaps even more promising, Howard notes that none of the presses she spoke to mentioned trimming the number of books they are publishing.

But, in spite of this scattered good news, the future is still uncertain. As Howard writes, “For publishers, as for much of the world, the scariest thing about the downturn may be how hard it is to get a handle on.”

She goes on to quote Princeton University Press’s director Peter Dougherty: “The general feeling of uncertainty, I think, is as troublesome as anything. In a normal year, you can make some predictions with some confidence based on how things have gone. This year it’s a very, very difficult game to play.”