PUBLISHED JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 by Angela Bole, CEO, Independent Book Publishers Association — What IBPA’s recent membership in the Copyright Alliance means. Happy New Year, IBPA members! Welcome to 2022, a year I hope brings us all at least a few steps closer to the new normal. In this issue’s Directors Desk, I wanted to let …

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 by Allison Olson, Hay House and Monica Meehan, DropCap — The way we conduct business and showcase titles to prospective buyers must not only be reinvented but revolutionized for a more modernized future. For those unfamiliar to it, the world of translation rights can be mysterious, even daunting—the job of a small, …

PUBLISHED MAY/JUNE 2021 by Deb Vanasse, Reporter, IBPA Independent magazine — Subsidiary rights provide an opportunity for publishers to make the most of their assets, adding a potentially lucrative alternative revenue source. Synopsis: Subsidiary rights options include alternative book formats, supplemental materials, serialized content, audio rights, and more. Arrangements involving foreign and translation rights can …

PUBLISHED JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 by Angela Bole, CEO, Independent Book Publishers Association — What to know now that Congress passed the CASE Act. Last year was difficult for many, but we ended 2020 with some very good news to share. On Dec. 21, 2020, Congress passed the CASE Act as part of the end-of-year omnibus and …

PUBLISHED JANUARY/FEBRAURY 2021 by MJ Courchesne, Founder & President, Gryphon Publishing Consulting — Infringement and piracy will not go away, so it is important for you to learn what you can do if you find your work available online illegally. Infringement and piracy remain big issues for publishers. A 2017 report from Nielsen Digimarc estimated …

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 by MJ Courchesne, Founder & President, Gryphon Publishing Consulting — An overview of what the IBPA Advocacy Committee is monitoring and contributing to the copyright-related cases. As a professional trade association dedicated to leading and serving the independent publishing community, IBPA has an intrinsic interest in helping protect its members’ intellectual property …

PUBLISHED MAY/JUNE 2020 by Lee Klancher, Founder & Publisher, Octane Press — As founder and publisher of Octane Press, I’d never seen a trade book offered for rent until I saw one of our own books on Amazon. Late on the last Sunday evening in January 2020, I was happily exploring the features of my …

PUBLISHED MARCH/APRIL 2019 by Angela Bole, CEO, Independent Book Publishers Association — Why we signed an appeal against the new software system that takes advantage of authors. On Feb. 13, 2019, IBPA joined 37 other book industry associations on an open appeal to readers and librarians from the victims of Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). View …

PUBLISHED MARCH/APRIL 2019 by Leonard D. DuBoff and Amanda-Ann Bryan, Lawyers/Authors — Two lawyers navigate the lay of the land for book copyright notices. Editor’s Note: What follows is an excerpt from the book The Law (in Plain English) for Publishers. Works published under the 1909 Copyright Act had to contain the proper notice in …

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 by Lee Foster, Author, An Author’s Perspective on Independent Publishing — After almost 20 years, a writer receives compensation for copyright infringement. A check for $2,935.66 appeared in my mailbox on April 30, 2018. The check was for a little late justice, about 20 years after the offense. Checks of varying amounts …