by Florrie Binford Kichler

2011 marks the year of the leaner, meaner, Pub U—in a new location in the heart of BEA with the white hot spotlight focused relentlessly on what independent publishers need to know—and DO–right now to position their companies for success in a digital future. Visit www.ibpapublishinguniversity.com for details of the more than 20 general and break-out sessions, Ask the Experts personal consulting opportunities unique to this event, Table Top networking and much more. Whether you’re a new one-book publisher, a self-publisher, an author-publisher, a traditional publisher or anything in between, you will not want to miss the opportunity to hone your publishing skills with the latest in leading-edge tools, tips and techniques from IBPA Publishing University

You’ve heard all that before from me.

You’ve heard me extol the virtues of the most unique and amazing learning experience in all of publishing.

You’ve heard me say that a publisher missing IBPA Publishing University is akin to a diehard football fan missing the Super Bowl.

But IBPA Publishing University 2011 isn’t for everyone. In fact I would be remiss both personally and professionally if I didn’t point out some reasons why you might want to stay home on May 22 and 23rd catching up on your Twitter feeds, posting on your Facebook friends’ walls and wondering why nobody’s answering your emails (they’re all at Pub U)

Top Five Reasons Why You May Not Want to Attend IBPA Publishing University 2011

5. You’d rather contemplate and speculate about the state of publishing in 2050 than in the here and now.

Of course we all need to keep our eye on the industry view from 30,000 feet and you’ll get a taste of that from our visionary and dynamic keynote speakers at Pub U. But if you prefer dreaming about what might be in a dim future rather than what is in a dynamic present, you don’t belong at Publishing University. The U is created by publishers for publishers. New publishers learn the practical ground rules for successful publishing so they can hit the ground running right away, and the more experienced publisher comes back for a refresher course on what’s new—and what’s now.

But if you don’t want to find new, improved methods of doing business that you can take straight back to your office and implement right away, don’t come to IBPA Publishing University 2011.

4. You’re not interested in discovering, creative and low-cost ways to sell more books.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. More than 10 break-out sessions on sales and marketing both “e” and print will catapult newer publishers from status quo into “status grow.”

But unless you’re looking for new techniques to get more books out the door and more cash coming in, don’t come to IBPA Publishing University 2011.

3. Assembling an arsenal of practical, hands-on tools that you can put to work to improve your publishing program immediately doesn’t energize you.

Tips for reaching the library market, an ebook production primer, and the latest in social media tools for publishers are just a small sampling of what you’ll take home from IBPA Publishing University 2011. No generalities and platitudes allowed—what you’ll find in each session are knowledgeable instructors who have been where you are, know what you need to know, and are ready to supply the solutions required.

But if you’d rather face a 90 degree angle learning curve on your own, don’t come to IBPA Publishing University 2011.

2. The opportunity for a private one-on-one session with a publishing industry expert to find solutions to your particular challenges doesn’t appeal to you.

At IBPA Publishing University, you will find the best of the best industry experts. And brand new this year is the chance to meet them up close and personal in your own dedicated consulting session. And did I mention that your private meeting by appointment with the adviser of your choice is now free when you attend IBPA Publishing University?

But if you’d prefer to spend hundreds of dollars to hire your own consultant, don’t come to IBPA Publishing University 2011.

And the number one reason why you should not come to New York on May 22-23 and attend IBPA Publishing University?

You’d rather follow “book publishing” on Twitter than meet book publishing’s real people and develop a lifelong network of friends, colleagues and mentors.

You walk into IBPA Publishing University certain that your problems are unique and convinced that nobody has ever faced the challenges you currently face in trying to get your book (s) out into the world. You walk out with tools to take your publishing project to the next level and a group of advisers who have experienced and overcome similar problems to yours and are willing and eager to lend you a hand.

Isn’t that better than trying to learn publishing 140 characters at a time?

See you at IBPA Publishing University prior to BEA on May 22-23.

Reprinted with permission from the April IBPA Independent