John B. McHugh, a 30- year veteran of the publishing business, came to the conclusion that he wanted to do something interesting career-wise during monotonous and uninspiring duty while serving in the U.S. Army. "It struck me then that book publishing was what I wanted to do with my life" according to McHugh. He continues, "I felt that this field would provide me with a stimulating and interesting career." Growing up in a family that discussed books at every opportunity, publishing as career choice became obvious.

After a short tenure in law school, "Jack," as he likes to be called, accepted a job with Richard D. Irwin, then a leading publisher of college textbooks, as sales representative covering the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. After 5 years of selling textbooks, McHugh had peaked out his learning curve and was eager to acquire a new set of publishing skills.
 
McHugh’s next career steps included stints in book acquisitions and editorial management with Houghton Mifflin in Boston and with Charles E. Merrill Publishing in Columbus, Ohio. "While in Columbus, the entrepreneurial bug struck me in a most serious way." McHugh Publishing was formed with a mission to publish texts and professional books in the fields of accounting and real estate.

It was at this time that McHugh, in his own words, "learned about the harsh economic realities of publishing books." After 4 fun, learning-packed years, he liquidated his company and took a position with PWS.Kent Publishing in Boston—a division of Wadsworth, Inc.

From 1982 to 1990, McHugh wrote the column, "The McHugh Management Advisory" in the COSMEP monthly newsletter. He also served as Chair of COSMEP, Inc., a now defunct San Francisco-based trade association of over 1,000 members.

McHugh has written extensively about book publishing. While running his own firm, he was frustrated with his inability to find practical, management-oriented materials on running a book company. It was at this time that McHugh started to write and publish his own how-to manuals on publishing management. He also began his consulting career around 1980, which fit well with his writing. While working for companies, he moonlighted as consultant to keep up his skills.

"Writing professionally for me is the ultimate test of one’s knowledge" explains McHugh "as you are forced to distill what you know in concise terms, and you can’t fake it." How does he ensure the editorial integrity of his publications? "I rely on the talent and expertise of the McHugh Editorial Board, friends and colleagues, who critically read all my new work to ensure I maintain high editorial standards." My top critics give it to me straight with suggestions for improvements, which are incorporated in revisions" according to McHugh.

The result of McHugh’s writing efforts is the McHugh Publishing Management Series—54 publications on various aspects of publishing management. When asked what is his editorial focus, Jack replies, "I write for executives and managers who need to make decisions. These professionals are leaders who must direct others to do the work. All of my work is written within the context of organizations producing books, periodicals, and electronic publications."

In short, McHugh has experienced everything he writes about either as publishing executive, entrepreneur, or management consultant. "These days reality-based TV is big with the networks, and my writing on publishing has been ‘reality-based’ from day one."

When queried about his best-selling publications over the years and why, McHugh responds, "Because there is no competition for what I write, I publish definitive material in certain narrow areas of publishing management. Plus, my writing is practical, how-to material because this is what my customers want." Over the last 8 years, McHugh’s best-selling publications are:

After 6 years with PWS.Kent, McHugh joined the American Society for Quality (ASQ) in Milwaukee to run their growing book company, Quality Press. Within a year, he was promoted to Director of Programs and Publishing—a key executive position with 10 managers reporting to him. It was at ASQ where McHugh further developed his leadership skills at the executive level.

McHugh also observed that there was no information available to executives in nonprofit publishing that, in his own words, was "both hardnosed business management in its orientation and also included the special environment of nonprofit publishing." McHugh concluded that "most of the information in the field focused on editing or sales management but revealed virtually nothing on organization design, process management, the economics of publishing, and other higher level executive topics."

In 1994, after 7 successful years at ASQ, McHugh formed his own consulting firm, serving clients both in the commercial and nonprofit sectors. He specializes in book and periodical publishing, copyrights/permissions, executive recruiting, organization design and structure, and publishing audits and start-up. He is also fully qualified to serve as an interim publishing director.

After such a depth of experiences, McHugh does have a variety of opinions on publishing management. When asked about these, he provides a copy of his Core Concepts about the Publishing Business, which contains 22 of his beliefs about publishing. When pressed, he shares his top five:

1. Publishing is a business based on people, process, and creativity. Technology supports publishing, but without people, process, and creativity, nothing is published.
2. Keep in mind that publishing is a business, not some esoteric creative enterprise (although creativity is part of it). Stick with the basics: develop a product, market it, and monitor profit margins.
3. Success in publishing revolves around paying attention to process, documentation, measurement, accountability, and customer satisfaction.
4. Customer satisfaction is vital to your success. Constantly monitor and evaluate customer satisfaction. Design products and processes to serve customers.
5. Books and magazines are totally separate and distinct businesses. You can’t lump them together as operational and financial entities and expect to be successful. Likewise, trade and educational book publishing, and scientific, technical, medical (STM) publishing are different businesses with different characteristics.

McHugh was born in Evanston, IL and, according to him, "survived the terror of the Sisters of St. Agnes and the Christian Brothers," but enjoyed his 4 years at Xavier University, with the Jesuits, graduating with a BS in economics and a minor in business and philosophy. Like Tom Clancy, and thousands of other Jesuit-trained college graduates, McHugh maintains the Jesuits taught me two things, namely "To think critically and to research thoroughly."

McHugh has been married for 31 years to JanAline, a Wisconsin native and talented musician/singer. In his spare time he enjoys reading mostly nonfiction, primarily biography and current events. He also enjoys reading some fiction, his favorite authors being Kinky Friedman, Richard Russo, and Tim O’Brien. McHugh is a lifetime Ohio State football and Green Bay football Fan. He also enjoys hiking with JanAline on weekends.

For more information, call: 414.351.3056, email , or visit www.johnbmchugh.com.