May 2010
IPNE is Growing Fast, for Good Reasons
Steve Carlson, IPNE President

These are interesting times for publishers. Of course, “interesting” can describe everything from ancient curses to exciting new opportunities, all of which now seem plentiful. One positive trend is that independent publishers have learned that it is futile to try to compete with each other for market shareundefinedit makes far more sense to work together to increase overall readership. That’s where IPNE comes in.

Our nonprofit organization has made remarkable strides over the last year, more than doubling in membership while adding new events and activities. Our newsletter is our latest new initiative, and we hope that over time, you’ll come to look forward to it every month as an important source of information and ideas.

A Rapidly Changing Industry

Think about this: Last year, according to Bowker, over a million new titles were published in the US. Of those, only about one quarter came from traditional publishers. The rest came from self publishers, subsidy publishers, and micro-niche publishers. When I started publishing in 1986, numbers like that were inconceivable. I still shake my head in wonder at the steady parade of changes in our industry that have occurred, and that continue at an accelerating pace. The rapid rise in sales of eBooks in competing formats. Book promotion via social media. The decline of bricks-and-mortar stores, accompanied by the rising importance of Internet sites and non-trade venues. Not to mention the confusing but essential new technologies such as EDI and ONIX.

In the last couple of days I’ve exchanged a few e-mails with Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru, regarding a seminar we will present together at IBPA’s Publishing University (Monday, May 24^th at 4:00pm, Session 301). Dan has made some astounding statements. For example, he says there’s no longer any point in sending out galleys to the big pre-pub review journals such as Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Why? Well, because of the decline in bricks-and-mortar bookstores and reduced reliance by librarians on the reviews in print publications.

In making such a pronouncement, Dan might be slightly ahead of our time. This year, a nice review in PW of my latest book has already resulted in sales of well over 1,000 copies that wouldn’t have sold otherwise, so I’m not ready to give up on galleys yet. But just a few years ago, that same review might have directly led to several times that many sales. Dan has been predicting publishing trends with astounding accuracy for as long as I can remember, so I take seriously his warning that I’ll need new and different ways to get the word out about new titles as time goes on, to replace the benefits I have gotten in the past from pre-pub reviews.

IPNE's Role

IPNE has become an important place to share this kind of information and insight. Through it, we help each other to keep up to date about eBooks, social media, non-trade sales, and all the other things we need to understand if we are to succeed in this rapidly changing environment.

Importantly, IPNE welcomes book publishers of all sizes and types. I’ve been a traditional (albeit very small) publisher for 24 years now, and I hope that my experience can be helpful to newer publishers, including self-publishers. I know I still have a lot to learn from some of the larger publishers in the group. But it is not a one-way street of teaching from experience. I also learn from the newer, smaller publishers, who look at the industry with a fresher lens and adapt more nimbly to changes in the book market. We truly all help each other.

Of course, IPNE also continues with the traditional functions of trade groups, such as displays at book shows. Frankly, the book trade shows are becoming less important than they used to be, but ironically, that makes a group like IPNE even more important. Most publishers should still be represented at these shows, but may be less inclined to spend big money on their own displays, so IPNE gives members a presence that is both effective and affordable.

IPNE is indebted to IBPA, the national publishers’ group, which has greatly helped and encouraged our growth. Thanks to an IBPA grant, we have a terrific part-time executive director, Lyn Toomey, without whom we would never be able to achieve as much as we do. To keep this up, we will need to continue to increase our membership and add new activities. A key initiative will be an annual region-wide publishers’ university. We haven’t been able to schedule one for this year, but we hope that annual tradition will begin in 2011.

Your Participation is Needed

Keep in mind that IPNE depends upon its members to develop and implement programs. Over 90 percent of the work is done by volunteers, including those who serve on the Board of Directors. We can take on new projects, and improve present ones, only when we have enough volunteer help. If you think of new things we should do, we want to hear about them - particularly if you are willing to put in some time to help make the things happen. If you have insights you’d like to share, check with Lyn about submitting an article for this newsletter, and participate in our various discussion groups on LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Facebook. If you’d really like to roll up your sleeves to help turn IPNE into the best organization it can be, consider running for the Board of Directors this fall. All of this volunteer work can be time consuming, but I can testify that it also provides experience that can make you a better and more successful publisher.

This is your organization, dedicated to independent publishing and to helping your business to succeed. The more active participants we have, the better able we’ll be to carry out our mission.

Steve Carlson
IPNE President
Email:  TalktoUs@ipne.org