The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) is a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

membership organization serving the

independent publishing Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

community through advocacy and education. With over 3,500 members, IBPA is the largest

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. IBPA programs and publications include the IBPA Book Award/Benjamin Franklin Award, IBPA Publishing University, and the monthly ''Independent'' Magazine. IBPA was founded in 1983 as the Publishers Association of Southern California (PASCAL). It later became the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA). It adopted its present name in 2008.

IBPA Book Award / Benjamin Franklin Award

Established in 1985, the IBPA Book Award (formerly the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award) honors independent publishers and

self-published Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

authors In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

for excellence in book editorial and design. It is the most established and recognized book award dedicated to the craft of independent publishing. Prizes are given in a number of categories including Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book. Over 190 judges including IBPA members, as well as librarians, reviewers, editors and bookstore owners choose the winners and provide feedback to the authors about their books.

Publishing University

IBPA's Publishing University is a two-day networking and educational event. Hosted annually, the program includes

learning lab Learning Lab (LL) is a research methodology developed in 2011 by Aydin Bal that provides guidelines to develop family-school-community partnerships and design behavioral support systems within a local school community. The Learning Lab builds or ...

s and a book-award ceremony.

IBPA Industry Standards Checklist for a Professionally Published Book

Since 2017, IBPA has published an Industry Standards Checklist for a Professionally Published Book. The purpose of the checklist is to give independent publishers an at-a-glance gauge of the professional presentation of any book in order to help level the playing field between indie publishers and large-scale conglomerates.

IBPA Hybrid Publishing Criteria

In 2018, IBPA published the first iteration of IBPA's Hybrid Publisher Criteria, a list of nine criteria defining what it means to be a professional hybrid publisher.

IBPA Publishing MAP (Models and Author Pathways)

In this free guide Publishing Models and Author Pathways, IBPA provides an overview on the 8 types of publishing business models i.e. types of publishers, and a guide for authors looking at different pathways to getting their creative works published.

References

External links

* {{Official website, ibpa-online.org
IBPA Book Award / IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards
1983 establishments in California Arts and media trade groups Trade associations based in the United States Publishing-related professional associations Organizations established in 1983