The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), located in Southern California, supports author/publishers and small publishers. Author/publishers write and publish their own books. Small publishers publish other people’s books (and maybe their own as well). The IBPA is the umbrella organization for about a dozen regional associations across the United States, two of which I am a member of: BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association in California) and FAPA (Florida Authors and Publishers), where I just joined the board. Although I moved away from California in 2019, I still belong to BAIPA because I love the people and the meetings, which have been on Zoom for a couple of years and for which there will continue to be a Zoom option.
Every year, IBPA has a conference, called Publishing University. Its location varies from year to year: San Francisco, LA, Chicago, NewYork…and this year Orlando, so I don’t even have to fly. And this is the first Publishing U that I have attended. I will be going to Orlando this weekend, and I spent three days last week at the virtual part of the conference, which was wonderful.
However, this year many members complained about the location: With its book banning, “Don’t Say Gay” law, and hoopla about critical race theory, they felt that Florida was hardly the place to celebrate book publishing. Conferences are planned a long time in advance, so there wasn’t much that could be done about it. The IBPA board considered what they could do, and they prepared a position paper on the Parental Rights in Education and the Individual Freedom laws and sent them to the Florida legislature. The IBPA stands for inclusivity and had strong feelings about LGBTQ+ rights and teaching real history in the schools.
I was surprised at how good the virtual part of the conference was. After two days of workshops (our choice of three during any one session), we could have one-on-one conversations with various experts. My two major concerns were
- Would having a distributor for my books be advantageous and/or feasible?
- What is going on with Amazon Advertising and am I being priced out?
I took a workshop about All Things Amazon and talked to two experts about the advertising, which I have used (pretty successfully until lately). I discovered that I need to work much harder creating my Amazon ads. It is a complicated thing! Keywords and bids…my ads need some attention!
I talked to a couple of people about distribution and decided it was not financially feasible for me right now. I had a distribution contract about 10 years ago, and I remember at that time looking at the terms and saying Nope.
There was a panel of successful indie authors. I said to myself, They sound pretty successful. I wonder if I am doing as well as they are.
Another workshop dealt with all things audio and video from the simplest iPhone video to podcasts and book trailers. The speaker advised us all to just pick one thing and do it. Good advice when these types of events can really overwhelm one!
The keynote talk on the second day was a panel talking about book banning. The panel comprised mostly librarians. Seventy percent (sounds too low to me) of Americans oppose banning books . The majority’s moral compass points to equality. And, as one speaker said, “Book banning is never successful for a long period of time in a wide area. It might work for a short time in a localized area.”
Editorial Sensitivity in Publishing, Cover Design, and Getting into Chain Stores were other talks I attended…and for the ones I couldn’t attend, they were recorded and are all available to us for a month.
And now I am off to Orlando for part 2, and to meet in person a bunch of people I have seen only on Zoom!
John A G Smith says
On banning and censorship I always think that it seems like a good idea when you are the censor but it’s not so funny when somebody else is censoring you.
A free society mean we are free to say exactly what we want no matter how hurtful to others.
A kind society means that we choose not to.
Arlene Miller says
Excellent points!
Lois Pearlman says
Our constitution allegedly provides us with freedom of speech. and not is absolutely vital. Of course we need to be willing to pay the price when others do not want us to speak (or write) our minds .
Arlene Miller says
Since the book banning, we have new issues with freedom….Jeesh!
Dave LaRoche says
What did you learn, already know, that would be helpful for your reades.
Arlene Miller says
Great question, Dave! I just got back from the in-person portion of the conference, and my head is still swimming with information. I will write up another post in a couple of weeks and try to answer that question when I talk abut the in-person sessions too. The first thing is to definitely join one of the IBPS affiliates if you publish your own or other people’s books. BAIPA is the Bay Area affiliate and is fabulous if you don’t belong already. Monthly meetings are virtual.
Lois Pearlman says
Since I will be looking for a publisher for anon-fiction book I am interested in learning more about these groups an d how to connect with them
Arlene Miller says
The IBPA is your association if you are interested in finding a small publisher for your book — or want to publish it yourself. go to their website (Independent Book Publishers Association). They have about a dozen regional affiliates across the country that are listed on their site too. Where are you located? Then there is also a Nonfiction Authors Association that maybe can help but it is more for writing than publishing.