Book Clubs, Part 2: Identifying Groups to Approach by Linda Carlson   This screen capture from novelist Meg Clayton’s Web site shows one of the ways she’s made the site book club–friendly. Book groups create buzz—and buzz helps sell books, sometimes years after they’re published. That’s why authors and others in publishing believe it’s often …

How to Measure Success with Your Social Media Efforts November 2011 Deltina Hay   Once you’ve been using social media tools for a while, it makes sense to start measuring what is working and what is not. Though there is no single established framework for measuring social media success, there are some tactics you can …

Because not every book is a success and not every successful book has an indefinite shelf life, the publishing contract has evolved to anticipate and incorporate an exit strategy for that day when the publisher decides that revenue from expected sales will no longer justify the cost of continuing to carry the work. Once a …

      AN IBPA ROUNDTABLE E-book Reality Show (and Tell) What’s really happening with e-books? The best answer may surface if we picture the book-industry world of digital products as a mosaic (or maybe a tapestry) with innumerable pieces (or maybe threads). With that image in mind, we asked IBPA members to report on …

      Tidbits and Tricks for an Old Dog; or, The Best Lessons I Learned at Publishing University by MaryAnn F. Kohl If prizes besides the Benjamin Franklin Awards had been given at IBPA’s 2011 Publishing University, I would have won for Having the Most Questions. After 26 years as a profitable, confident publisher, …

      MEMBERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AIRING WHAT MATTERS MOST “The question isn’t which format the reader will choose, but if there will be readers in the first place,” wrote Rudy Shur, head of Square One Publishers, in the April 18 “Soapbox” column of Publishers Weekly. You should worry more about teaching America’s children …

      Should I Kill This Project? by Marion Gropen If you’re in this business long enough, it will happen to you. You commit to publishing a manuscript, perhaps before it is finished, and then you realize that you have made a horrible error. The book is either bad in itself, or the market …

      Where Should We Have This Event? A Checklist for Picking the Best Place by Kimberly A. Edwards Event planners know the value of booking the right property. A prestigious location beams your brand—but only if the venue functions well. To sort out prevailing needs for a meeting, workshop, or any other event, …

      AN IBPA ROUNDTABLE Books That Sell Best In this era of instant, atomized information, it can be especially important to focus on carefully contextualized words with staying power—the kind you find in books that attract readers year after year and sometimes decade after decade. This series celebrates books from independent publishers that …

      PRESIDENT’S POST by Florrie Binford Kichler PRESIDENT, IBPA Unsung Heroes: Farewell and Hail to Board Members Who’s your hero? When asked that question, many people respond with the name of somebody famous like Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, or Amelia Earhart. Certainly no one can deny that they, along with numerous others who fill …