September is already here. In Michigan, where I live, we’ve had a sudden burst of false fall after having been baked to a crisp through most of the summer. I love this time of year!
To keep everyone looped in on what’s happening at the Midwest Independent Publishers Association, I will periodically offer blog posts that summarize the association’s activity and other industry news of note. I’ll try to keep these messages short and sweet, and suitably infrequent. But there’s no better time to start than now, with some notes about what we’ve been doing.
Here’s what’s new at MiPA.
Upcoming Member Meeting & Survey
Our first member meeting of the 2025-2026 program year begins on Tuesday, September 9. We begin at 6:30p Central for our virtual happy hour and mixer, and then at 7p we transition into our first topic of the year: A roundtable discussion about what it means to be “midwestern.”
To RSVP for the meeting, follow this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/mnJfbl_OTpq1KqbLlScT7w
To take the survey that we’ll discuss during the meeting, follow this link: https://survey.mipa.org/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=868579&lang=en
The 11-question survey requests a few high-level demographics and asks a few short-answer questions. We hope that your participation will help shape the conversation next week and also to help us set a clear value proposition for the Midwest as a literary identity.
Midwest Book Awards
It’s time! Our book award season begins on September 9. We’re doing things a bit differently this year — we’re consolidating some categories, making a (small) pricing change, and updating the platform we use to submit books and make payments.
We’ve already signed a contract with the Frey Theater at St. Catherine’s University, where we held the gala this past June. So hold your calendar for Saturday, June 13, 2026. We’re even looking into adding a day-long conference before the gala, to provide even more benefit for attendees. More details to come!
New Board of Directors
At our June election, you selected the following slate of individuals to serve as your board of directors for the next two years: Jason Gillikin (president), Paul Nylander, Ronald Peterson (VP/secretary), Amy Rath, Nancy Roop, and Joshua Weber (treasurer). Your board is joined by two part-time staff: Jennifer Baum, coordinator of the Midwest Book Awards, and Allison Hawkins, administrative coordinator of the association.
Since then, Michael Braun of Orange Hat Publishing has joined us; you’ll soon receive a ballot to confirm him as a director. If you are eager to serve our community, please reach out to Jason at president@mipa.org to begin a conversation.
Infrastructure Updates
Over the summer, we’ve made a series of improvements to MiPA “under the hood.” We’ve changed web hosts, updated our email platform, added a survey and a social-networking functionality, and updated our financial accounts. Most of this work has flown under the radar, but we hope you will all see it in the coming months in a smoother MiPA.
(We’re also retiring MailChimp in favor of a post-by-email tool. This message, if all goes well, is our first attempt using this new software. So if things seem a wee bit wonky, we beg your indulgence.)
This is an exciting time to be a part of the publishing community in the Midwest. Thank you for your commitment to MiPA!
