My Method for Marketing Fiction May 2013 by Stanislav Fritz   On the surface, most advice about book promotion for small publishers and authors seems geared toward nonfiction. It assumes that the author is an expert on some subject so that cross-marketing between the expertise and the book itself will work. What is the …

Linda Carlson writes for IBPA’s Independent magazine from Seattle, Washington. She can be reached at linda@ibpa-online.org. Book manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers—with vertical integration, digital format, and print-on-demand, the distinctions among those intermediaries blur. In today’s constantly changing publishing industry, it seems as if few companies are sticking to their traditional roles in the manufacturing and …

An IBPA Roundtable   Books in Action, Part 1   We keep hearing—and talking—about print vs. digital and about whether a book is or isn’t a book if it’s “enhanced” or “chunked” or subject to readers’ revisions. But let’s forget all that for the moment and focus instead on the main event—what books do for …

PUBLISHED MAY 2013 by Lee Foster, Author, An Author’s Perspective on Independent Publishing — As the publishing of illustrated titles continues to evolve, I have been asking some questions about my world of travel books: Should we continue to include photos in print-on-paper book products? Should we shift photos to e-book versions? Should we present …

  Bulk Sales Bring More Revenue (and You Can Make Them Happen) May 2013 by Theodore P. Savas   As the co-owner and managing director of Savas Beatie LLC, a small independent publisher of (primarily) military history titles, I get to be responsible for everything. We launched in early 2004 and have about 100 books …

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 …

  With this issue, we’re starting to put the spotlight on individuals within IBPA as well as on companies and their achievements. This month we’ve got spotlights (and footlights) on Florrie Binford Kichler, a longtime member who is wrapping up her tenure as the association’s president/executive director, having represented IBPA at conferences and trade shows …

Tempted to snicker when someone says PMS? Not quite sure why OCR, PPI, and POD are important? We’ve got the answers for you in this installment of the IBPA printing and publishing glossary. To read or reread the installments featuring A through M, check the Independent archives. If you believe we’ve missed—or misdefined—any important terms, …

Writers know they should show and not tell because that will help readers understand and get involved with their story or content. For much the same reason, a publisher who wants to sell a book in large quantities to a nonretail corporate buyer should first ask about the prospective buyer rather than tell about the …

“What would your publishing house do to promote my book?” That’s a question I’m often asked by authors, and it’s a good one, especially given the rapidly evolving changes in today’s publishing industry. However, when I hear it, I take a deep breath and remind myself that what is often meant is, “How will you …

It comes in a FedEx envelope, or by U.S. Mail, marked certified, return receipt, or by Express Mail in a blue-and-white cardboard mailer, as much for impact as for evidence of receipt. The return address is clearly that of a law firm. Maybe it’s a letter about your surprise inheritance from some long-forgotten relative. But …

Now that businesses regularly use photos not only in print materials but also across the digital and mobile world, publishers must find images for everything from company Websites and author blogs to social media sites and beyond. Often, they turn to stock photo sites in hopes of discovering the best photo for the job while …

On-the-spot sales are the most reliable sales you can make. Sometimes you have to work at making the sale, however. Potential customers might say they don’t have the cash with them, or they left their checkbooks at home, and they’ll order the book from your Website later. Some people prefer purchasing books through Amazon.com, or …

What do Joe Biden, Tom Cruise, J.K. Rowling, and Bill Gates have in common? You won’t find them at IBPA Publishing University. But you will find a tech superstar and author, a digital pioneer who founded the largest woman-owned publisher in the country, the foremost expert on how to publish your own book, a founder …

  Stalking Invisible Book Sales An Anti-WYSIATI Approach April 2013 by Judith Appelbaum   A new survey of IBPA members has just confirmed what much broader earlier surveys also found: Smaller publishers make sizable sales that nobody adds up. The latest survey, which drew a 10 percent response, indicates that even the largest publishers in …

Details on Deal of the Day Having a book selected as Amazon’s Deal of the Day can send its sales skyward, so it’s no surprise that IBPA members have been asking what it takes to get a title selected. Here’s what a “services launch specialist” at Amazon wrote us: “To be considered for inclusion in …

PUBLISHED MARCH 2013 by Eric Kampmann and Margot Atwell Not every book is meant to be sold through book wholesalers and book retailers, and even books that should and do sell in “the trade” can also sell elsewhere. What follows is a quick look at options you may want to consider when planning your book-sales …

Has this ever happened to you? You’re in a meeting, and it’s going well. You can tell because of the positive body language that your colleague has been showing you. And then, something happens—you’re not sure what—and everything changes. In business communication, engagement and disengagement are the most important signals to monitor in another person’s …

Although authors can now “publish” at the click of a button, it’s not easy to get attention in a world of cognitive surplus. Accordingly, more and more, respect tends to go toward authors who earn the attention of readers, rather than to those who pass muster with the traditional publishing gatekeepers. Most authors—before realizing that …

Publishers Weekly titled its recent story about Little Pickle Press “Big Ideas for Young Readers,” and it could as easily have said, “Big Ideas for New Millennium Publishers.” Founder Rana DiOrio is full of ideas about children’s media, and those ideas spill out like water overflowing a fountain. Whether or not you publish children’s books, …