PUBLISHED MAY 2013 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Several months ago, responding to a mandate from the IBPA board of directors, a strategic planning committee composed of four IBPA board members—Steve Mettee, Davida Breier, Peter Goodman, and Kelly Gallagher—and your IBPA staff—Terry Nathan, Lisa Krebs, and me—met for a …

PUBLISHED MARCH 2013 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Fifteen minutes. That’s how long it takes to publish a print book—shave five minutes off that time for e-book only. Upload the Word file, make a few choices as to trim size, cover template design, exterior color, and poof—you’re a publisher. …

PUBLISHED MAY 2013 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Cynics say that there’s nothing new under the sun, but I invite those cynics to take a look at IBPA, where the joint’s jumpin’ with new ways to increase the value of your membership. Right now—from the folks who in the …

PUBLISHED JANUARY 2013 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — If I asked 10 publishers to describe their biggest challenge in the industry today, I would bet my last digital file that 10 out of 10 would say it is keeping up with the relentless pace of change. Change is unceasing, …

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2012 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Shoe-repair workers have holes in their shoes. CPAs don’t balance their checkbooks. Publishers don’t read. In other words, what we spend our professional lives doing doesn’t necessarily carry over to our personal lives. Now, I realize sweeping generalizations are dangerous. Certainly …

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2012 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Amazon referred to a river in South America. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were undergrad students, and the term googol meant “a 1 with 100 zeroes after it.” The Sony Data Discman, an electronic book reader that could read books stored on CDs, was …

PUBLISHED AUGUST 2012 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — $21.79 That’s the value of an hour of volunteer time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Which means that in IBPA’s fiscal year 2011–2012 (June 30–July 1), your board of directors contributed more than $13,000 of value to your association …

PUBLISHED JULY 2012 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — Study the past, if you would divine the future. —Confucius The best way to predict the future is to create it. —Peter Drucker $129 or $10.75 a month for 12 months. $10.75 is less than the price of three skim milk …

PUBLISHED MAY 2012 by Florrie Binford Kichler, Executive Director, Independent Book Publishers Association — The City by the Bay was rocking as IBPA Publishing University came to the West Coast for the first time in five years. Just ask the close to 300 attendees, speakers, and industry partners who filled the Sheraton Hotel in San …

      President’s Post by Florrie Binford Kichler, President, IBPA How to Subdue the Procrastination Beast One of my all-time favorite New Yorker cartoons features a businessman standing behind his desk. He’s holding a phone to his ear, and the caption reads, “No, Tuesday’s no good for me. How about never, is never good …