IBPA News, Networking, Resources

News from IBPA, MIBA, and GLIBA

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Hello MiPA Members, As a part of MiPA’s mission to foster community in our industry, we are sharing some information […]

Hello MiPA Members,

As a part of MiPA’s mission to foster community in our industry, we are sharing some information and opportunities from our friends at the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the Midwest Booksellers Association (MIBA), and the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA).

IBPA

IBPA receives tons of questions from independent publishers and author-publishers about IngramSpark, so IBPA has partnered with IngramSpark for their team to present a webinar on March 26 – “IngramSpark Made Simple: A Beginner’s Guide for New Publishers.”

IBPA is happy to invite all MiPA members to attend for free! You can register through the link above. It’s okay if you can’t attend live, as IBPA will send a recording of the webinar about a week after it airs.

This is an excellent way for all publishers who use IngramSpark to learn how to maximize how they use the platform, so we hope that you’ll join our friends at IBPA for this informative webinar.

MIBA

MIBA will be hosting their annual Spring Road Trip on May 12th & 13th in Lincoln, Nebraska. This gathering of indie booksellers, industry partners, and authors features ample opportunities to network as well as relevant industry education sessions.

The attendee registration deadline is Friday, April 3rd. Please see their website for more information on lodging, events, and registration.

GLIBA

Registration is open for GLIBA’s Spring Forum! The Spring Forum this year will take place on Wednesday, April 15th – Thursday, April 16th at Loganberry Books in Cleveland, OH. Publishers who wish to apply should make sure to check out their information and guidelines.

We hope that our members can take advantage of these and other events to connect as publishers, authors, booksellers, and industry partners. Thank you for being independent together!

Marketing, Meetings

Press, Public Relations, and Marketing For Authors

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Happy March, MiPA Members! We hope that everyone has been having a fantastic week. If you haven’t done so already,

Happy March, MiPA Members!

We hope that everyone has been having a fantastic week. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to submit your entry for the Midwest Book Awards soon! We can’t believe that that deadline (March 15th) is approaching so quickly. If you were still on the fence about submitting your books, now is the time!

As Jason indicated in his letter last week, our speaker for March is Sean CW Korsgaard. Don’t let his presentation title fool you: his talk on Press, Public Relations, and Marketing is just as important for independent publishers as it is for authors! Learn how to work with your authors to develop a personal brand, create an effective media kit, and prepare bios and pictures for every kind of marketing occasion. While this talk does include a bit about social media, it’s primarily about the ways in which we present ourselves, both online and off.

Join us this coming Tuesday, March 10th at 6:30 p.m. CT for networking, followed by Sean’s 7:00 p.m. presentation. We’re excited to have him, and we hope to see many of our members there! If you’re interested in attending, please register for the event!

About Our Speaker

Sean CW Korsgaard is a U.S. Army veteran, award-winning freelance journalist, author, editor, and publicist who has worked with Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Baen Books, and Writers of the Future, and recently became the editor of Anvil and Battleborn magazines. His first anthology, Worlds Long Lost, was released in December 2022, as was his debut short story, “Black Box.” He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and child, along with, depending on who you ask, either far too many or far too few books.

Event Details & Registration

Date: Tuesday, March 10th
Time: Networking “open mic” starts at 6:30 PM CT; program starts at 7:00 PM CT
Location: On Zoom

Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tY7g6hQpS7iOKSWezazBTA#/registration

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting, including access online or using one of Zoom’s dial-in numbers to call from your phone.

Meetings, Member News, Midwest Book Awards

Midwest Book Awards Update; Events with Bookseller Partners

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We’re in the final few weeks of accepting submissions for the Midwest Book Awards. The deadline is March 15. So far,

We’re in the final few weeks of accepting submissions for the Midwest Book Awards. The deadline is March 15. So far, despite the shifted window, we’re doing well — lots of excellent, interesting books have joined the fray. The Midwest Book Awards celebrate the best independently published books from our part of the country, so this is a great time to nominate your own book(s) before the deadline passes!

Good news about the book awards of years past, though — Allison (our supremely talented administrative coordinator) has tracked down all winners going back to the 1999/2000 submission cycle. We’re working on getting those prepared for permanent placement on our website. Some interesting and well-known names dot those early winner lists!

While boxes are rolling into Jennifer, we’re in a bit of a quiet period between the Scylla of “start the darn awards already” and the Charybdis of “the Gala in St. Paul in June.” It’s been an ideal time, actually, to work to broaden our reach. We’ve connected with the leaders of GenCon, a large gaming convention, to help shepherd a new collaboration track for the Writers Symposium. GenCon runs July 30 to August 2 in Indianapolis; it attracts more than 70,000 attendees, roughly 3,000 of whom participate in the Writers Symposium. So if you happen to be there, drop by the MiPA table to say hi or sign up for any of the events where we’re sponsoring or serving as panelists. 

One topic that’s gaining some renewed interest is the idea of a publisher-focused “mastermind circle.” It’s basically a time-boxed activity of several sessions over a period of weeks or months with peers, where you share best practices, deepen your business acumen, and build deeper connections with your peers. If you think you’d welcome the opportunity to be in such a group, contact me by email to president@mipa.org so I can gauge interest.

Also — don’t forget our member meeting on Tuesday, March 10. Our speaker, Sean CW Korsgaard, will talk about public relations and personal branding, in a conversation that moves beyond social-media plans. Please register for the event; our member meet-and-greet starts at 6:30 p.m. CT and Sean’s talk begins at 7 p.m. And don’t worry, you’ll get more info about the talk and about Sean in an upcoming message.
News from Our Bookseller Friends

MiPA keeps in contact with our colleagues in the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. Their recent newsletters include tidbits that may be of interest to MiPA members, including:

– Check out the Top 40 Bestsellers as tracked by the Independent Publishers Caucus.April 24-25, consider visiting the Pulp and Press Lit Arts Fest in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

– The GLIBA Spring Forum is April 15-16 in Cleveland, Ohio. You have until March 6 to make an author pitch to have books or ARCs available for the event, or to support the event financially. [Read the guidelines for more information.

– The Indy Indie Book Crawl is back, March 19 to March 22 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Check out IndyIndieBookCrawl on Instagram for details.

– MIBA’s Spring Road Trip is May 12/13 in Lincoln, Nebraska. This event might be a good opportunity for more established indie presses to attend, to learn from and network with booksellers.

Thank you for being independent together with MiPA. We look forward to seeing you at a virtual member meeting soon!

IBPA News

IBPA Regional Publishers Newsletter

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Hello MiPA Members! We are sharing three topics from IBPA that may be relevant to your publishing business! IBPA has

Hello MiPA Members!

We are sharing three topics from IBPA that may be relevant to your publishing business!

IBPA has updated their DEI Resource Center, and it is free and available to everyone. Having a greater pool of authors and publishers and reaching a wider audience of readers makes good business sense for all of us. If DEI is new to you, start with the Learn section!

Amazon’s 2026 eBook Download Update: A “Reader-First” Change that Publishers Should Understand

By Penny C. Sansevieri, founder of Author Marketing Experts and IBPA member

Amazon’s 2026 update to Kindle eBook downloads has sparked some anxiety across publishing circles—but the real story is far more nuanced, and far less alarming, than the headlines suggest. Framed as a reader-first move rather than a power grab, this change gives paying customers more flexibility in how they access DRM-free books, while leaving publishers fully in control of whether that option is available.

In this article, Penny C. Sansevieri cuts through the speculation to explain what Amazon is actually changing, why it feels bigger than it is, and which types of books may benefit—or suffer—from going DRM-free. If you’re an author-publisher or independent publisher trying to decide whether this update is a threat, an opportunity, or a non-issue, this clear-eyed breakdown will help you make a strategic, reader-aligned decision rather than a reactive one.

To read more from IBPA’s website, click HERE!

Why Might a Distributor Turn Down My Book?

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2025
By: Brian Jud

There’s a wide world of retail opportunities beyond the bookstore—airport shops, gift stores, discount retailers, and more. The good news is that you sell to them in ways in which you are already familiar: You get a distribution partner, and they contact buyers for you. The bad news is that distributors are inundated with books that they cannot accept and therefore must reject. Even a good book may be declined if it’s not submitted properly or if it is missing information.

To learn more insights about why a distributor might reject your book, check out the full article on IBPA’s Pubspot!

For more helpful resources like this, click here to join IBPA—the largest trade association for independent publishers in the U.S.—and use the following promo code to get a special $30 discount for MiPA members:

ibpa26MiPA

Meetings, Member News

After the Author: How Literary Legacies Stay Alive

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Happy February, MiPA Members! As Jason mentioned in his letter last week, we’re excited to welcome a different Jason—Dr. Jason

Happy February, MiPA Members!

As Jason mentioned in his letter last week, we’re excited to welcome a different Jason—Dr. Jason Aukerman—as our speaker for this month’s membership meeting.

Join us next Tuesday to learn about Jason’s work with the Ray Bradbury Center, which was founded on the belief that a writer’s work does not end with preservation alone. How can authors and publishers best go about preserving and archiving their works? What goes into archival work, and why should authors and publishers consider this stage of the life of a literary work?

This talk traces how the Center came into being and how Bradbury’s ideas continue to move beyond the archive through public programs and festivals that place his work in the hands of new readers and writers. A literary legacy, properly tended, is not sealed away but carried forward through active engagement.

About Our Speaker

Dr. Jason Aukerman is the Director of the Ray Bradbury Center and a Clinical Associate Professor of American Studies and English Literature and Indiana University Indianapolis. He specializes in American literature, popular culture, and the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and visual media. Dr. Aukerman’s research and teaching explore narrative, imagination, and cultural storytelling, with particular attention to works by Ray Bradbury. He is committed to public humanities engagement and brings literary and cultural scholarship to broader audiences through lectures, podcasts, and interactive programs.

Event Details & Registration

Date: Tuesday, February 10th
Time: Networking “open mic” starts at 6:30 PM CT; program starts at 7:00 PM CT
Location: On Zoom

Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/zFadeDtpTVOkFHiOfKzrCA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting, including access online or using one of Zoom’s dial-in numbers to call from your phone.

Member News

Being Independent, Together

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The photo accompanying this post came from my bookstore, in November. You can still see greens and browns outside the

The photo accompanying this post came from my bookstore, in November. You can still see greens and browns outside the windows. We welcomed two dozen authors into the building for a day-long potluck and writing frenzy. It was a lot of fun. But now that we’re into the depths of winter, the view outside those same windows is obscured by 14 inches of snow piled atop the juniper. 

This winter has been harsh. Not just from a meteorological perspective, though. MiPA is headquartered in Minneapolis, a city that again dominates the headlines and encapsulates the tension and the uncertainty of the present moment. And our industry is shifting; Baker & Taylor’s closure and a decline in affiliation with trade groups has made it harder to get good books in the hands of eager readers. A friend of mine said she felt as if we’re in the opening moments of a Hobbesian war of all against all. I certainly understand her perspective!

But funny thing: We can make a difference. Our past president, Paul Nylander, was a big proponent of the idea of being “independent, together.” There’s a lot to be said for being willing to engage, to de-escalate, to educate, and to love. It doesn’t take much. Little things, like avoiding social-media drama, welcoming folks into your homes, and finding people who need people and being the person they need. Being intentional about being welcoming and finding reasons to get together — even if it’s just to have a potluck and write a few more chapters.

MiPA is working behind-the-scenes with other trade organizations in our region to find ways to work together to improve the connections between indie publishers, indie authors, indie booksellers, and readers of indie books. More to come!

Heat and light repels the cold and the dark. Perhaps, by being independent together, we can begin a thaw that leads to a calm and peaceful spring.

Tidbits

A few other things to share:

  • Midwest Book Awards. Over the last two weeks we’ve seen a substantial number of submissions. Yay! As a reminder, we’re accepting submissions to this year’s program through March 15. Check out the FAQs, eligibility criteria, and submission link. And as always, specific questions may be directed to bookawards@mipa.org. 
  • February Member Meeting. February’s member meeting — which is scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, February 10 — features Dr. Jason Auckerman of the Ray Bradbury Center. You’ll get a message in a few days with Dr. Auckerman’s bio and the specific topics he’ll be covering (hint: think of single-author archives and the preservation of IP over the long run), as well as the registration link.
  • Independent Book Publishers Association. One of our board members, the talented Nancy Roop, also sits on IBPA’s DEI committee. She has proven to be an invaluable liaison between MiPA and IBPA; she’s prepared an IBPA-themed info package for all of you that you’ll receive soon.
  • Being Together. In the coming weeks, we’ve scheduled important meetings with peers and colleagues to find better ways to connect authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers. In addition to conversations with IBPA, we’re starting conversations with the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association to find better ways to collaborate on deeper, structural levels. More to come — but if you have thoughts to share about how MiPA can be a more effective convener within our industry, please do drop me a note to president@mipa.org.

Thank you for being independent together with MiPA. We look forward to seeing you at a virtual member meeting soon!

Stay warm, well-read, and well-connected!

Jason Gillikin
MiPA President

Midwest Book Awards

Midwest Book Awards: Now open!

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The Midwest Book Awards are open now through March 15, 2026.

We are pleased to share that the Midwest Book Awards are now open for submission!

The window opened today, January 15, and runs through Sunday, March 15. Our gala and awards are still planned for June.

Although the timing of submissions has changed, we’re still focused on books published by small presses and independent authors in the period 12/1/2024 through 12/31/2025.

Read the Rules and FAQ

What’s New and Different

A few things are different about this year’s awards:

  1. Condensed categories. We’ve reduced the number of categories based on our historical submission trends. This new structure reduces the risk of some categories proceeding without a winner because no title met the minimum standards for becoming a finalist. 
  2. Special distinctions. We’ve added several “distinctions” — awards that go beyond book categories to celebrate authors and presses. See the Categories and Distinctions page on our website for details.
  3. Streamlined submission process. Gone are Google Forms and PayPal links and paper checks! The information we need for your submission is now contained in a simple shopping cart item. Just complete the information in the cart and check out with your credit card. Then, mail the requisite number of books to our Midwest Book Awards coordinator in Michigan for distribution to the judges.
  4. Updated judging procedures. And speaking of judges, we’ve modified the criteria to be a judge and also how we evaluate books. In particular, the design categories are being carefully reviewed to ensure that books meet modern standards of excellent design.
If you have questions about the process, please reach out to our Midwest Book Awards team of Jennifer Baum, chair, and Allison Hawkins, administrative coordinator. The best way is to reach out by email to bookawards@mipa.org. 

Thank you for being independent together with MiPA. We look forward to seeing you at a virtual member meeting soon!

The awards at the 2025 gala.
Meetings, Member News, Midwest Book Awards

Midwest Book Awards, Updates, & Upcoming Events

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The last few months at MiPA have been a bit of a whirlwind of behind-the-scenes activity. The MiPA team has

The last few months at MiPA have been a bit of a whirlwind of behind-the-scenes activity. The MiPA team has been hard at work shoring up some neglected infrastructure and planning our programming calendar for the year. Some updates follow.

Midwest Book Awards

The timeline for the book awards has shifted this year. Submissions will open on Thursday, January 15, and run through Sunday, March 15. Our gala and awards are still planned for June.

We’re sorry that this process has taken a while. We were conceptually ready to go several months ago, but unexpected problems with themes and abandoned plugins on our website required a substantial rebuild of the site by our awesome administrative coordinator, Allison Hawkins. We didn’t plan for that, and the amount of time it would take us to get ready to launch wasn’t clear until very recently.

Over the next few days, we’re going to double-check some process and judging FAQs and the open to public submissions starting in just one week.

Your patience is appreciated, and I personally apologize that the complexity of the fixes made it more challenging to be transparent about the ultimate launch date.

Heavy Lifting, Lifted

Since the new board of directors took office at the beginning of July, we’ve done a lot of work to bring our association toward a more stable structural footing. A few wins of note:

  • We lifted our website from one platform vendor to another. And, accidentally, found a need to complete major changes to how it was designed and configured.
  • We dusted off our email servers to ensure they were configured optimally.
  • We closed a wonky Dropbox owned by a long-departed president in favor of a modern platform with several administrators.
  • We have migrated banks to a modern financial-services platform. This change means we’re doing away with cumbersome PayPal and Google Forms links for thinks like book-award submissions and ordering gold and silver seals.
  • We are retiring our MailChimp account, in favor of a blog-to-inbox strategy following a carefully planned editorial calendar.
  • We closed a few duplicate/overlapping social-media accounts.

These updates — and a ton more! — are intended to future-proof MiPA for many years to come. The efficiencies we’ve gained helps our staff and board to focus more clearly on serving the needs of our community. That said, they’re not really visible to most members. I wanted to pass along this information so that you know that MiPA is doubling down on our mission to foster community, celebrate quality, and raise the profile of Midwestern independent book publishers.

A More Connected Future

MiPA has historically focused on member meetings and the book awards. As we anticipate a more complex and more financially challenging environment for the indie players in our industry, we’re working to connect the dots with other stakeholders, like indie booksellers, so that we can lift each other up. Part of that future might include ways to connect independent authors and small presses together to share best practices and local news.

If you have ideas or needs about how MiPA can better support you beyond our current programming schedule, please send me your thoughts to president@mipa.org.

Upcoming Events

Don’t forget our upcoming member meet-and-greet conversations:

  • The Anatomy of an Anthologist with author and editor Jennifer Brozek — Tuesday, January 13. Please register to receive the join link!
  • Archiving and Literary Estates with Jason Aukerman, PhD, director of the Ray Bradbury Center — Tuesday, February 10.
  • Public Relations with Sean C.W. Korsgaard — Tuesday, March 10

Our “second Tuesday” virtual meetings start at 6:30p Central with a member meet-and-greet and open Q&A; the program with our featured speaker runs from 7p until 8p or a bit later. You’ll receive registration links for future presentations a week or two before the actual event, so stay tuned for more.

We’re erring on the side of “less is more” regarding our ongoing email schedule; if you need to reference what’s going on with MiPA, you can always read the blog. (These messages are our blog posts, delivered by email!)

Thank you for being independent together with MiPA. We look forward to seeing you at a virtual member meeting soon!

Stay warm and productive, and see you soon!

Jason Gillikin
MiPA President

Meetings, Member News

The Anatomy of the Anthologist

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Happy New Year from MiPA! The last six months has brought us a lot of under-the-hood improvements to MiPA as

Happy New Year from MiPA! The last six months has brought us a lot of under-the-hood improvements to MiPA as well as some new conversations about how MiPA can better serve your needs. We’re entering 2026 with a big agenda, which you’ll hear about on Thursday in our inaugural “Letter from the President” that’ll go out to each of you.

One thing that has not changed with the new year, however, is our programming schedule! We are still hosting our monthly Zoom meetings for our members, and we’re excited to host anthologist Jennifer Brozek as our speaker next week. If you haven’t yet done so, register at the link below!

Anthologies start with the anthologist–the editor and creator of the anthology. What does an anthologist think about, and do, throughout the lifecycle of an anthology? How does the anthologist create a work of literature that becomes more than the sum of its parts? An anthologist’s job begins with an idea but does not end until long after the anthology has been published. Find out what the anthologist’s job is before, during, and after the creation of an anthology.

About Our Speaker

Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of Never Let Me Sleep and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her YA tie-in novels, BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident and Shadowrun: Auditions, have both won Scribe Awards. Her editing work has earned her nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and multiple Hugo Awards. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology, co-edited with Amanda Pillar. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, Well World, and Predator.

Event Details & Registration

Date: Tuesday, January 13th
Time: Networking “open mic” starts at 6:30 PM CT; program starts at 7:00 PM CT
Location: On Zoom

Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OTImnr1ZTNW29jTTQfxfTg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting, including access online or using one of Zoom’s dial-in numbers to call from your phone.

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