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.

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.