Students, libraries and teachers rightly decry the high cost of textbooks and educational materials. Melvin & Leigh, Publishers was founded in the belief that this situation is intolerable, and that we can do better. We seek to meet students' need for affordable educational books by emphasizing content, not expensive packaging.

How Can We Do That?

We can produce books with superior content by attracting authors who believe in our mission, who have a demonstrated ability to produce the best work in an engaging manner, and who are willing to assist us in implementing an effective marketing campaign. We believe such superior authors deserve superior royalties and we are committed to providing royalties at least equal to the royalties provided by our competitors. We are a publisher by and for educators and students.

We keep our costs lower than the large textbook publishers in several ways:

• We rely on state-of-the-art technology to prepare materials drawing on our network of production and design professionals, reducing fixed costs.
• Our marketing is based on delivering complimentary desk copies of our books to those who teach the courses for which our publications are intended, rather than relying on salespeople who call on instructors in their offices. In this way we directly put our books and materials into the hands of educators without the expense of sales-force salaries, benefits and travel costs.
• Our emphasis is on subject matter content, written in a readable and engaging way. We do not seek to distract from dry, disconnected bullet-point lists of topics with expensive cartoons, newspaper clippings and lots of color on the page. Our books are for college courses, and we are confident that these students prefer printed text that is engaging and informative, rather than paying for costly efforts to make the material look like a children’s picture book.

Who Is Behind Melvin & Leigh?

The President and Publisher of Melvin & Leigh is Harry Briggs, longtime Executive Editor at M.E. Sharpe, Inc. and former Acquisitions Editor at Sage Publications. Harry is best known for building award-winning, best-selling portfolios of textbooks and scholarly books in Public Administration, Management, and Marketing/Advertising. His long career has included both grass-roots and managerial positions in editorial, sales, and marketing functions.