CEO Angela Bole of IBPA summarizes some of the key issues facing book publishers and authors in the coming year—hint: there are challenges, but lots of opportunities (and lots of great books!)

• important issues, some old, some new
• AB5 (the gig economy law)
• windowing ebooks to libraries (the Macimillan controversy)
• the CASE Act, on the way to passage?
• tariffs: not here yet, but not off the table either
• a continuing challenge: diversity in the publishing workspace and content
• Barnes and Noble: a new owner, but will it make the company more responsive to its community and local publishers?
• the challenge of reaching independent booksellers without a distributor
• achieving profitability by publishing more!

Links

IBPA Comments on proposed tariffs on printed books
https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/456983/Updated-IBPA-Comments-on-Section-301-Investigation--Proposed-Tariff-on-Printed-Books.htm

IBPA’s own source of news and updates on the Audible lawsuit
https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/467194/Updated-News-Related-to-Audible-Captions-Program.htm

Mike Shatzkin’s thoughts on changes in publishing as the decade begins
https://www.idealog.com/blog/2020-zero-year-thoughts-about-the-changes-in-book-publishing/

Participants

Angela Bole is chief executive officer of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the largest book publishing association in the U.S. serving independent publishers and self-published authors.

Prior to joining IBPA, Angela served two years as deputy executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), an organization that fosters conversation and consensus across all sectors of the book business. Before that, she served two years as BISG’s associate director and two years as its marketing and communications manager.

Angela holds a Masters of Science in Book Publishing from New York University and currently serves on the board of directors for the Book Industry Study Group. In 2017, she was awarded the Book Industry Study Group’s Industry Champion Award, given to an individual whose efforts have gone beyond the requirements of his or her position to advance the book industry.

Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.

For more information, go to IBPA at https://www.ibpa-online.org/.