#13: Angela Bole, IBPA talks hybrid publishing and professional standards
Release Date: 09/25/2018
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Learn about BookBaby's a la carte self-publishing and complete do-it-for-you packages, in-house printing on the latest equipment, how printing is done and why the self-publishing industry is plagued with variance in print quality and how they solved that problem. Though they print a lot of plain text books like novels and business books they print more full-color children’s books, cookbooks, travel books, and textbooks than ever. BookBaby sets a 55% discount with returns program that attracts bookstores.
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Gatekeeper Press provides full-service publishing and a la carte services for authors. They offer a wide and varied distribution network to protect you against possible distribution outages. They also offer lowest-cost printing I’ve seen in an on-demand service, and you’ll learn why. In this episode, we walk through the publishing process from editing, design, and distribution. You’ll learn how long each step takes so you can schedule your book launch.
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Pub Site is a super easy-to-use website builder just for authors and it only cost $20 a month. Husband and wife author and publisher marketing team John and Fauzia Burke developed it after 20 years of creating author websites. Among the big names they’ve designed websites for are Alan Alda, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy.
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In part 2 of my talk with Robin Cutler, Director of IngramSpark, we focus on distribution. IngramSpark has the widest distribution in the world, but we also talk about why you'd want to go direct with Amazon KDP Print and how to make that happen. You'll also learn how long it takes the stores to populate your book information and how this affects your book launch plan. Also, find out what bookstores expect a creative way to sell to your local independent bookstore..
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Learn about IngramSpark, the professional publishing tool from Ingram. In my talk with Robin Cutler, Founder and Director of IngramSpark, you'll find out about free resources for cover design templates, standard trim sizes, and how to calculate your costs and profits. We also talk about trim sizes, paper color, weight, "spot" color, "full" color, hardcover book choices, and so much more. This is just the first half of my talk with Robin. Next week, in part two, we talk all about distribution.
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What kind of editing does your book need? JoEllen Taylor takes us through all the different kinds of editing: copy editing, line editing, and content editing. We talk about character and story editing, structural editing, narrative arc, editing tools, common editing problems and misconceptions about what editors do. She also has tips on how to hire an editor.
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Fictionary's software appears magical and in this episode, you'll learn how Stanley (who is also an editor) figured out how to transform her story analysis spreadsheets to create Fictionary with the help of her co-founders. It's a family business with her husband, who watched her wrestle with the spreadsheets while they were on a long sailing journey, and her brother, who works in software and is also an author.
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Laurie McLean is the Director of the San Francisco Writers Conference, a literary agent, Founder of Fuse Literary, and a former Silicon Valley marketing and PR professional. I asked her to talk about the February 2019 conference and the return on investment for the money and the time for this or any conference. You’ll learn what makes the San Francisco conference different and how to get the most out of the sessions, exhibitors, and the agents, other participants, pre- and post-conference workshops.
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Angela Bole is CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, a non-profit membership organization for self-publishers and independent publishers that provides resources, education, advocacy, connections, and tools for success. We discuss the role and responsibilities of the publisher, no matter whether it’s you as an author who is self-publishing, or if you’re publishing via a hybrid publisher or even a traditional press, and why publishing standards matter.
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In this addendum to my interview with D2D Marketing Director Kevin Tumlinson (episode 12), he announces D2D Print.
info_outlineAngela Bole is CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, a non-profit membership organization for self-publishers and independent publishers that provides resources, education, advocacy, connections, and tools for success.
In this episode, we discuss the role and responsibilities of the publisher, no matter whether it’s you as an author who is self-publishing, or if you’re publishing via a hybrid publisher or even a traditional press, and why publishing standards matter.
You'll learn about the hybrid publishing options that have sprung up in the past years. There has been a lot of confusion around what they do and the IBPA has clarified these roles for us. Specifically, you'll learn about author-subsidized hybrid publishing, what a hybrid publisher does for you, how much they might expect you to invest, how much the publisher invests, and how much royalty you should negotiate.
In fact, the IBPA offers a nine-point hybrid publishing criteria you can download from their site for free. This document will help you make sure that a hybrid press is what they say they are and not just one of those vanity mills we want to avoid at all costs.
Other resources we discuss include the IBPA industry standards checklist, so if you’re doing it all yourself you can make sure that your books look just like those published by Harper Collins or Simon & Schuster.
Bole also talks about the cooperative marketing opportunities available to IBPA members, which includes physical catalog mailings to bookstores and libraries. They mail catalogs to 3500 independent bookstores, including the bookstores classified as top buyers.
There is so much to IBPA we don’t even get to cover it all in this podcast but you’ll get an idea of why it’s the professional organization I recommend most often to self-publishers, independent presses, and the people who support us. You'll find out why in this episode.
Find links and show notes on the Author Friendly Podcast website.