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NDSU Press and the Use of AI

from NDSU Press Publisher, Suzzanne Kelley

NDSU Press “shall not upload the Work or any of Author’s personal information to consumer-facing AI systems for purposes such as generating summaries, assessments, or marketing copy.” And, NDSU Press “agrees that it will not use AI to edit a manuscript, other than for the use of basic spelling and grammar-checking applications. Further, NDSU Press warrants that any textual or art changes it proposes will not have been created by AI.”

Such matters of ethics have been in flux in the publishing world, and we appreciate the forthrightness of the above statements delivered today from an informational group we keep up with called Publishers Lunch. The text comes from “Today’s Meal,” which shares recommendations from the Authors Guild in regard to manuscripts and AI tools.

 

The concern as expressed in Today’s Meal follows reports that professionals are “uploading manuscripts and authors’ personal information into consumer-facing AI systems for uses such as generating summaries, assessments, and marketing copy.” The ethical practice of refraining from use of such systems avoids the potential of having original content used by AI companies for training and/or contributing to AI-generated content.

In addition to practices in acquisition and marketing, we are working on a similar ethics statement to use in our contracts to ensure that authors are likewise contributing only original content. In consultation with our copyrights attorney, we find that at present such a statement seems to be a moving target, hard to set in a fixed format just yet. So, for now, we stick to our present contract terms, which state in brief: “Author will be the sole author of the Work [and] the Work is original with Author.”

Follow this link If you’d like to subscribe to Publishers Lunch (it’s free!).

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“the best thing I’ve done here!”

from NDSU Press Publisher, Suzzanne Kelley

Lexie Karst, who has earned her Certificate in Publishing while working with NDSU Press, pronounced her experience here as project manager as “the best thing I’ve done here!” Well, she’s accomplished a lot here at NDSU in her studies as a Music major with a minor in Creative Writing, so we’re glad her publishing experience is right up there at the top!

In addition to many other tasks, Lexie served as project manager for Aurora, poetry by Thom Tammaro, which we released on April 1. She was tasked with copyediting; developing marketing, publicity, & distribution plans; producing metadata and a creative brief for the designer; and liaising with her author. Pictured here is Lexie opening the first box of Aurora from the printer . . . you can see she truly is excited about having shepherded the manuscript through all the production stages, and now she’s seeing the final product for the first time.

Firsts. When someone is learning the history, business and practice of small press and university press publishing, there are a lot of “firsts.” The “firsts” of our enterprise include responsibility. Lexie took to heart the seriousness of checking for edits and industry standards throughout the whole process. And now she reaps the reward of her labor. We’re going to miss having her steady hand and cheerful outlook around here.

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In Memory of Adrienne Stepanek

from NDSU Press Publisher Suzzanne Kelley

Sadly, we report the recent passing of one of our authors, Adrienne Stepanek. I met Adrienne a few years ago in the cafe section of Books on Broadway in Williston, North Dakota. While sipping some of Chuck’s splendid coffee, we talked about a book project she was working on with her co-author, Doreen Chaky. We–including a book team consisting of Certificate in Publishing graduates Taylor Blumer, Mike Huynh, and Connor McCormick–published their manuscript in 2024. Grounded in research–one of Adrienne’s special skills–Lynched: Mob Murders on the Northern Great Plains, 1882-1931 went on to win:

  • Bronze, Independent Publishers Awards in the category of Nonfiction Regional, Plains
  • First Place, Independent Press Awards, in the category of Western History
  • First Place, Independent Press Awards, in the category of History, United States

Co-authors Doreen Chaky (at left) and Adrienne Stepanek visit with Suzzanne Kelley, editor in chief, at Books on Broadway, Williston, ND.

It was our pleasure to work with this dynamic team, and we mourn the loss of Adrienne’s continued contributions to history and her good nature.

Those wishing to make a donation in her honor are asked to consider the Williston Community Library or a charity of your choice.

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New Author Signing!

Please join us in welcoming Thom Tammaro to our author lineup! The NDSU Press is proud to be publishing his poetry collection, Aurora, in 2026.

Thom has produced a variety of work, from authoring poetry collections including Italian Days & Hours and Holding on for Dear Life, to co-editing anthologies such as Invisible World: Fifty Tiny Poems of Walt Whitman (with Sheila Coghill) and To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (with Joyce Sutphen and Connie Wanek). He has also co-edited several poetry collections inspired by the work of creatives such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Bob Dylan.

Thom’s extensive body of work has won a variety of awards, including Minnesota Book Awards, the Midwest Booksellers’s Honor Award for Poetry, and a WILLA Award for Poetry from the Women Writing the West Association. His work has also been featured in publications including American Poetry Review, Chicago Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

In addition to his career as author and editor, Thom served as an English professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead for thirty-four years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2017. During his time there, he co-founded and directed the MFA in Creative Writing program.

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Publishing Students to Print 10th Annual Chapbook on Antique Printing Presses

from NDSU Press Publisher Suzzanne Kelley

Students in the Introduction to Publishing class at NDSU Press will be printing the cover of the tenth annual poetry chapbook for NDSU Press on an antique printing press at Bonanzaville, Sat., Sept. 27.

The class will be hand-feeding the covers into a Chandler & Price press from 1897 in The Hunter Times building in Bonanzaville’s pioneer village. The students will work in shifts from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Fall 2025 Intro to Publishing Students: (at front, left to right) Grace, Maddie, Hannah, Mason, Maverick; (standing, left to right) Morgan, Eliza, Maggie, Tara, Alison, Aidan, Dr. Kelley, Ingrid.

 

Past publishing students at The Hunter Times: (left to right) Abbie, Breanna, Jamie, and Anish.

The students will travel to Braddock, ND, to print the inside pages of the chapbook on antique presses at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum the weekend of Oct. 10-12.

This year’s winners of Poetry of the Plains and Prairies (POPP) Award are co-authors Josh Gaines, Portland, OR, and Ben Clark, Minneapolis, MN, for their manuscript After the Floating Barn.

In our archives, we’ve found copies of, and photos of, chapbooks being letterpress published by poet and faculty member Richard Lyons in the 1950s and 1960s. Decades later, in 2016, NDSU Press returned to publishing chapbooks on letterpress equipment. Now, as we produce our tenth POPP Award publication, I’ve expanded the enterprise by taking my publishing students into North Dakota communities; by publishing state, regional, and nationally located poets; and by providing national distribution for our prizewinning chapbooks.

The success of our project is the result of our collaborative arrangement between Bonanzaville and The Braddock News Letterpress Museum of the South Central Threshing Association and the dedication of Allan and Leah Burke, retired weekly newspaper publishers, who are the driving force behind the collection, preservation, and revitalization of letterpress printing. We also rely upon the generous nature and expertise of pressman Mike Frykman and the Iron Men (and women) of the threshing association.

Beth Jansen, executive director of Bonanzaville, said she is pleased to welcome the students to the pioneer village. “There is nothing better than to have students visit Bonanzaville to experience history through 19th Century technology,” Jansen said.

Introduction to Publishing is one of the required classes for NDSU’s Certificate in Publishing.

 

 

 

 

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A Safe Place

. . . where-in we share “A letter to Lance Richey,” author of Champagne Times: Lawrence Welk and His American Century (NDSU Press 2025) from Allan Burke, Secretary-Treasurer, Friends of the Welk Homestead, Inc., presented here with Allan’s permission.

Author Lance with a photo of Lawrence.

Lance,

I found one of your statements in the recent radio interview so profound that I spent considerable time transcribing it. I’m sure there is a way to transcribe it instantly with AI, but I did it the old-fashioned way by listening, typing, rewinding, listening, typing . . .

Here’s that section, which I’d like to title “A Safe Place”:

“Lawrence gave the people what they wanted. He was an entertainer. He wouldn’t describe himself as an artist. He loved Jazz music. He loved Dixieland. But he said, ‘I don’t play much of that on my television show because the audience wants something different.’

“Lawrence’s greatest success on network television actually came in the most tumultuous times, the 1960s. He hit the Top Ten of all television programs in 1968. In 1969 when the nation was coming apart at the seams with the Baby Boomer revolution, with the Vietnam War, with the civil rights movement. Because everyone knew for one hour a week I can check into Lawrence Welk and I’ll hear music I recognize, I won’t have politics in my face, and I can just for a moment step away from all the turmoil and enjoy a show that presents to me the America that used to be or that I imagine used to be. That was Lawrence’s secret.”

This section is what I think could be the heart of a marketing campaign for the [Welk] biography and documentary.

The times we live in today, highlighted by this week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk and earlier by the shootings of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband (not to mention school and other shootings), call for “A Safe Place.” At the risk of being declared sophomoric, I believe Public Television can provide that with the Welk documentary and The Lawrence Welk Show, and NDSU Press can market Champagne Times: Lawrence Welk and His American Century.

It seems to have gone unnoticed that The Lawrence Welk Show by Joyful Voices drew an estimated 600 people to the Welk Homestead on June 1. This past Sunday, Joyful Voices’ Lawrence Welk Hoedown drew several hundred people to a steamy machine shed at the South Central Threshing Show at Braddock, N.D. Contrary to the notion that Mr. Welk’s fans are dead, none of the people at the show in Braddock appeared to have left this life. In fact, there was some dancing at the end of the show.

In my opinion, public television stations across the country should be adding The Lawrence Welk Show . . .

Just some thoughts.
The best to you and Carol,
Allan


P.S. from Suzzanne Kelley, Publisher, NDSU Press: Here are some links to the Prairie Public documentary about Lawrence Welk (viewed already by 37,000+ people!) and the NDSU Press publication of Lance’s book Champagne Times: Lawrence Welk and His American Century. The biography (a 3-volume limited edition [just 500 copies, autographed and numbered], printed as hardcovers in a beautiful protective slip-case) contains photos and stories beyond the documentary with more insights to Welk’s motivation, aspirations, and success-driven route from farm boy roots to becoming a media mogul millionaire. A history of Lawrence Welk–North Dakota’s and the nation’s eminent entertainer of his time–is also part of a month-long exhibit at the NDSU Memorial Union Gallery, showcasing unique historical objects and running through October 9. For parking as the guest of NDSU Press, email NDSU.Press@ndsu.edu to obtain a free pass. 

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How Our Books Go from Us to You

Note from NDSU Press Publisher, Suzzanne Kelley

Here is Emma Borah, Graduate Research Assistant in Publishing, taking care of sales and communications during the 2024 Western History Association conference in Kansas City. Hosting an exhibit table at conferences and book festivals is one way we are able to get our books into the hands of readers.

Almost every time we sign on a new author, they ask about our methods for distribution. This is a good and important question to ask. Authors (and their presses!) want to make sure that their books are getting into the hands of readers everywhere. Our authors are much relieved when I share the following information about our distribution practices.

  • All of our books (since 2015) are available at Amazon, which works with us as a wholesaler. When Amazon receives orders for our books, they will then send us a list of the books we are to ship to one of their multiple distribution hubs. We receive that list every Monday at 3:00 a.m. We can only send Amazon the books that they request.
  • Ingram Content Group also works with us a wholesaler, meaning they place orders with us when they receive orders from third parties, usually from bookstores.
  • Follett School Solutions and Higher Education Follett work with us as wholesalers, too, filling orders for public schools and university or college bookstores.
  • Baker & Taylor places orders with us for libraries across the United States.
  • We sell direct to public libraries and bookstores (at discounts to each). For the past couple of years, we’ve opened subscription accounts to public libraries that want to receive a copy of every book we publish. As soon as we have those books in hand, we ship them off to the subscribing libraries. We also gift a copy of every book to the eleven higher education institutions in North Dakota. We send those gift copies to the North Dakota State Library, and they take care of placing the copies with the universities.
  • We sell direct to individuals at our online store, at various conferences and book festivals, and at our own events, such as the POPP Poetry reading event that will take place this coming Saturday, December 12, and at our annual NDSU Press Party. Our 10th Annual NDSU Press Party is scheduled for May 3, 2025.
  • We even give some copies away! If a book editor from a journal requests a copy, we send it, no charge. Likewise, if a faculty member at any college or university is thinking about using one of our titles as required reading for their classes, we’ll send a desk copy to that faculty member.

With the various vendors that are involved, we spend a lot of time on fulfillment: accepting purchase orders; picking, packing, and carting orders to delivery points; and then invoicing the companies in a variety of ways that meet their requirements for record keeping. We try to send out all orders within two business days of receiving them.

So, that’s the distribution scoop for NDSU Press!