Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA)

Has publishing changed much in the past decades? A lot, but in many ways not at all. Influential blogger and opinion leader Joel Friedlander tells us what’s still important for all publishers to know . . . and do. Topics include: First rule: authors still have to understand their market. Hard copy printing, despite what we hear about ebooks, is still the most popular way of manufacturing, and most...

Part 2 of a wide-ranging interview with Ian Lamont of i30 Media about selling, promoting, and advertising your books on Amazon, plus tips for getting reviews and understanding Amazon’s Terms of Service. Highlights of part 2 include: Amazon Terms of Service Who matters more to Amazon, you the publisher or the customer? Three guesses! the “buy box” controversy how to avoid getting kicked off Amazon:...

Working with Amazon, part 1: Keywords, Categories, and Advertising, with guest Ian Lamont Part 1 of a wide-ranging interview with Ian Lamont of i30 Media about selling, promoting, and advertising your books on Amazon, plus tips for getting reviews and understanding Amazon’s Terms of Service. Highlights include: CreateSpace and the not-so-smooth conversion to KDP using and choosing keywords and cat...

Matt Kurtis, VP of Sales & Marketing for Ware-Pak LLC, explains how book-fulfillment services (pick, pack, ship) can help publishers manage new logistical challenges, save money, and become more efficient. Highlights include: How is a fulfillment service different from a distributor, from a wholesaler? What does the term “3PL” refer to? What kind of publisher benefits the most from a fulfillme...

Why the hybrid model makes sense for authors and publishers, with guest Brooke Warner Brooke Warner, publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, talks about independent publishing and how the hybrid model is helping authors thrive by creating opportunity and diversifying the marketplace. Highlights include: What is hybrid publishing? What is the hybrid business model? Who pays, and what does it...

Deltina Hay from Elearning Delta, and past Board Chair of IBPA, talks about the benefits and methods of extending your book’s content and repurposing it onto elearning platforms. This podcast is for anyone with instructional materials of any kind: crafts, marketing, cooking, sales—just about any field where you’ve got information to deliver in a structured learning format. Subjects discussed inclu...

Professional booksellers talk about consignment, events, terms and other aspects of working with independent publishers. A store manager, restock buyer, and event coordinator at Books Inc., a leading independent bookseller in Berkeley, California, discuss ways they evaluate books from independent publishers and things publishers can do to make it easier to hold events at and get books into their s...

Mike Mansel is a Certified Insurance Counselor, and here he shares his decades of experience working with publishers large and small on sorting out their insurance needs. Highlights of this podcast include: types of liability insurance the role of Intellectual Property attorneys in defending claims do insurance companies just settle or do they go to bat for their customers? why to avoid jury trial...

Ebook production expert Laura Brady suggests ways you need to think about ebook design and creation to produce reliable and good-looking results This podcast is for anyone who is thinking of creating ebooks or hiring an ebook designer, or who has seen the ads for “ebooks made easy!” and is thinking, well, how hard could it be? Topics include: problems of ebook conversion (especially if you are usi...

Andy Ross of the Andy Ross Agency discusses how agents evaluate manuscripts and how agents operate in today’s book publishing climate. Andy Ross has been active in the publishing world for 40 years, first as a bookseller and now as an agent. In this podcast conversation, he shares his thoughts on agenting and when and how an agent can work with a small independent publisher. Highlights include: Is...

George Dick, president of Four-Colour Print Group, talks about all the reasons you might want to print your next book in Asia, especially if it’s in color or for kids Many publishers of full-color books—coffee-table books, art books, cookbooks, children’s books – choose to print in Asia because printing costs less there. But cost may not be the only consideration. Topics include the future of prin...

Tami Dever, co-owner and founder of TLC Book Design, discusses key elements of book design that signal professionalism, readability, excellence, and permanence What are the elements a book designer needs to consider when designing an interior? A cover? Tami Dever discusses how she works with clients and notes the factors that make a book look good against the competition. Topics include things to...

Cynthia Frank, publisher of Cypress House, shares some of the hard-won insights from more than 30 years as an independent publisher Listening to this wide-ranging interview you get a sense of what issues come up and what life is like as an independent publisher in a small town on the northern coast of California. Cynthia Frank has been publishing for as many years as there has been an IBPA and bef...

Lisa London, CPA, author, and publisher, discusses many of the specialized points of accounting that every publisher needs to know This podcast looks at many of the things publishers need to know when setting up and using accounting packages to manage revenue, expenses, and taxes. Among the subjects mentioned are: keep it simple! automate everything you can is Quickbooks a good package for publish...

Daniel Lerner, inspirational speaker and teacher at NYU, discusses how publishers can invigorate their work with passion and find happiness by serving themselves in a way that serves others Following his enthusiastically received keynote at IBPA’s Publishing University 2018, Daniel agreed to this interview to further reflect on what makes people happy. So many accomplished people—doctors, lawyers,...

Judy Baker of Book Marketing Mentor discusses how branding your book can help you grow your readership and establish yourself as an expert in your field This podcast looks at branding your book and the benefits it brings. Books, especially nonfiction, are where experts can showcase their expertise. The book becomes a starting place for building a business, and can lead to follow-up series, worksho...

Jonnie A Bryant, Executive Director of Sales/Marketing at book printer McNaughton & Gunn, talks paper, cost, and schedules, and offers her take on challenges facing the industry If you are wondering what’s happening in the world of book manufacturing, and how that might impact your ability to produce a book economically and on time, you’ll definitely want to listen to what Jonnie Bryant of McN...

Board Member Elizabeth Turnbull discusses quality standards, hybrid publishing, diversity, and other target areas for IBPA's Advocacy Committee Subjects covered include: how to achieve a level playing field for indie books the IBPA publishing standards checklist the IBPA hybrid publishing checklist removing the stigma from indie publishing once and for all expanding diversity in publishing future...

Editorial Director Jim Milliot talks about how leading trade magazine Publishers Weekly views book publishing today and the rise of the indie publisher. In a wide-ranging interview, Jim Milliot looks at how book publishing has changed in the last decade and how Publishers Weekly has adopted strategies to adjust, such as developing digital outlets for news and advertising in the face of declining p...

Robby Price, in his last term as IBPA board chair, talks about the association, how it has changed, and how it is helping transform and strengthen indie publishing today. Robby explains how he got his start in publishing, evolving from a 1-page printout to a full traditional printer and then, more recently, a successful author services provider. He then reflects on how IBPA has changed during his...

Robin Cutler, Director of IngramSpark, discusses ways that publishers can use print-on-demand technology to launch their business and achieve distribution quickly. Topics include: how IngramSpark can help the small publisher manufacture and sell using IngramSpark and CreateSpace printing internationally indies vs the Big 5 full-service options for advanced indies the state of the ebook market is p...

Angela Bole, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, gives an overview of IBPA and how its mission can help publishers become more successful in an ever-changing publishing landscape. Topics covered include: what is IBPA? who is IBPA for? how is publishing changing in America, and is it changing too slowly? why the era of stigmatizing self-publishers – or, author-publishers – is OVER!...

Anne-Marie Concepción of Seneca Design & Training presents the case for using InDesign as a p-book and e-book creation tool. Topics covered include: can Microsoft Word be used for book publishing? (the short answer: please don’t.) the importance of styles in InDesign learning InDesign using InDesign to create e-books creating Kindle books and using the Kindle Previewer designing for print vs d...

Tom Doherty of Cardinal Publishers Group presents need-to-know pointers for independent publishers seeking distribution for their books. He covers: the different types of distributor typical working arrangements, including exclusivity, house accounts, chargebacks, and services what you need to provide to find a distributor (such as a solid marketing plan!) the importance of keeping the lines of co...

Ian Lamont of i30 Media discusses strategies for using Amazon Marketing Services to make your book pop to the top in Amazon searches. Covered here are key concepts like bidding and budgeting, and a real-world assessment of what works and what doesn't when working with Amazon (or with Facebook and Google ads). Here’s the YouTube how-to video Ian mentions in the podcast: “How to Make Amazon Marketin...