Designing for Print-on-Demand Production by Joel Friedlander As the technology we use to manufacture books changes, designers responsible for creating those books adapt. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes reluctantly. But we adapt, because the new technology will eventually supplant the old technology. Today most books are still printed by offset lithography, and any print run over about …

      A Crash Course in Accounting Basics by Linda Carlson How do I know if I’m making money? Established publishing companies have finance experts who are responsible for answering that question in various ways at regular intervals. But micropublishers and self-publishers—including those starting out without a background in accounting or finance—may need to …

      Ten Tips for Web Site Success Today and Tomorrow by Neil Levin Does one of these scenarios sound familiar? You’ve been publishing for eight years, and your first Web site went up in 2003. You keep tacking on static pages and functionality one bit at a time. Every few months, some new …

      BOARD MEMBER’S CORNER Low-cost, High-value Market Research by Jeanne Kramer One of the most important and enjoyable roles of an IBPA board member is to gather with independent publishers at association and industry meetings and hear about your issues and concerns. Together, we share views about the state of the publishing business …

Steve Gillen (photo right) is a partner in the intellectual property firm of Wood, Herron & Evans L.L.P. and has focused his practice on publishing and media matters for 30 years. To reach him, email sgillen@whepatent.com or call 513-241-2324. Whether it’s general accounting, royalty reporting, workforce management, CTP imaging, or some other back-office process, the …

      PRESIDENT’S POST by Florrie Binford Kichler PRESIDENT, IBPA And the Winner Is . . . The Top Five Issues to Consider Before Entering a Book Awards Program As a publisher, I’m a believer in book awards. Not only does that gold or silver seal on your book attract the consumer’s attention; the …

      SKILL SETS: BUDGETING Building a Better Budget, Part 6: Projecting Cash Required for Expenses by Marion Gropen Publishing companies are more vulnerable to cash-flow crises than most other types of businesses. And most of the strategies you can employ to avoid them require time, which means you need to project your net …

      MEMBERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT “TODAY” SENDS SALES SOARING At Life of Reiley, Amy Reiley uses the “out of office” automated response to email to promote her books and appearances. And what appearances she has to promote! In August, the autoresponse informed people that she was scheduled for the Today show, demonstrating recipes …

      How to Find Potential Buyers in Special Markets by Brian Jud If you want to sell 10,000 copies of a book through a bookstore, you must get roughly 10,000 people to go there and buy it. If you want to sell 10,000 copies in nonbookstore markets, you can find one person to …

      Pearls from Publishing University by Dane Batty I am a new publisher who could be called a self-publisher, but I like to call myself a micro-publisher. It has better connotations. With my first book scheduled for release one month after Publishing University, I was excited to hear that I’d been awarded a …

    Survey findings show the computer continuing to edge out Kindle as the one device respondents said they most often use to read e-books; other devices lag far behind.   Consumers still get roughly half their e-books free, according to the BISG survey of print-book buyers. Although more and more e-books are available and …

      SKILL SETS: BUDGETING Building a Better Budget, Part 5: Projecting Cash Flow from Sales by Marion Gropen Publishing companies are more vulnerable to cash-flow crises than most other types of companies. The first step in avoiding them is to anticipate when they might occur at least a year beforehand. Most of the …

      Better Than Bookstore Signings: Party On by Tolly Moseley Let me ask you a question: When was the last time you attended a book signing for an author you had never heard of? Last month? Last year? Last . . . oh, forget about it; it’s not important. Except, it is. Whenever …

      FROM THE BOARDROOM Inside the August 2010 Board Meeting by Carlene Sippola CHAIR, IBPA BOARD The last report you got from me (July) was a recap of the State of the Association address given at our annual meeting in May. As you may recall, I heralded IBPA’s accomplishments from last year and …

Right after John Wiley & Sons acquired the book division of Bloomberg, Joan O’Neil, VP and executive publisher at Wiley, sent a letter that began: Dear , . . . It is my pleasure to welcome you to our Wiley community of authors. . . . We are pleased to inform you that we will …

      What Podcasting Can Do for You by Gail Z. Martin Think the radio serial is dead? Think again. One benefit of podcasting—the creation of Web audio in an MP3 format suitable for listening to on an iPod or other device—is that it can give the serialized story new life as it helps …

Linda Carlson (photo right) — lindacarlson.com) writes from Seattle for IBPA’s Independent magazine each month. Found money. That’s one way to describe content that you sell more than once. “Chunking, and Other New Ways to Get More from What You’ve Got” (September) focused on how independent publishers are repackaging material they have already published, or …

      Press Kit Power by Mary Jo Hazard News of The Peacocks of Palos Verdes flew into 10,000 homes in the South Bay area of Southern California on April 10, into 35,000 homes on May 5, and into 75,000 homes on May 18 this spring. The reason for the flights—stories in three local …

      My Lightning Source System for Self-Publishing Profit by Aaron Shepard Based on my own experience with Lightning Source, which goes back to 1998—only about a year after the company’s founding, when it was still called Lightning Print—it remains the prime choice for most modern self-publishers determined to maximize profit. I have no …

      E-books and the Independent Publisher by Curt Matthews Many participants involved in independent-press publishing have by now built good careers and successful companies by keeping clearly in mind what they can do really well versus what the big corporate publishing conglomerates can do. Successful independent publishing is about niche titles, moderate author …