PMA-U 2008

The 2008 PMA Publishing University will be held in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Grand Hotel just prior to BEA. PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, also celebrates their 25th year.

PMA-U is the largest educational event for independent book publishers with more than 600 attending. This year there are 80 class offerings in nine tracks and half are new. They have also developed an Advanced Track Program for previous attendees and experienced publishers. Many NBN staff members will be teaching classes and on panels, including Marianne Bohr, Davida Breier, Jeanne Kramer, Tressa Helvey, Jeff Harris, Les Petriw, and Linda Sinisi.

To view information about the tracks and classes visit these links:

http://www.thepublishinguniversity.com/Tracks/tracks.html.

http://www.thepublishinguniversity.com/Classes/classes.html.

March is Small Press Month

Small Press Month, now in its 12th year, is a nationwide promotion highlighting the valuable work produced by independent publishers...

Copyright Infringement on the Web - Nomad Press's Story

We learned today about a serious copyright infringement incident that happened to one of our publishers, Nomad Press. Someone scanned every page of one of their books and posted it online. Deborah addresses the problem in her blog:

http://independentstitch.typepad.com/the_independent_stitch/2008/02/copyright-infri.html

Shelf Awareness's new drop-in title database

Drop-in titles (also known as crash or add-in titles) continue to grow--and getting the word to booksellers and librarians about these sudden new books or titles with major last-minute changes is ever more problematic. NBN releases new title information to accounts via Nuts and Bolts, but not all territories are covered by this release of information. Markets such as libraries and independent booksellers may not have access to such information, thus causing your momentum to stall in those markets.

In an effort to make it easier and more effective for publishers, retailers and librarians to communicate and receive information about drop-in titles, Shelf Awareness in partnership with Unshelved has launched a service for publishers to get the word out to the 12,000 people in the book trade who subscribe to Shelf Awareness and the 40,000 librarians and others who read Unshelved.

For a fee of $150, announcements about drop-in titles will appear in the Shelf Awareness and Unshelved newsletters--and then reside in the Shelf Awareness drop-in title database web site. The web site is fully searchable and will archive all drop-in listings.

Publishers who want to learn more about the drop-in title database should go to: http://www.shelf-awareness.com/howto.html.

PW's Annual Look at Small Publishers - Last Call for Submissions

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6528090.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=

"Friday, Feb. 11 is the last day submissions will be accepted for our annual look at fast growing small publishers. To be considered for inclusion in our annual look at fast-growing small publishers, presses with net sales of between $2 million and $10 million should submit net sales for 2005--2007, number of employees in those years as well as the number of new titles released. Sales will be kept confidential. A brief description on the reasons behind the growth should also be included. E-mail responses to Jim Milliot at jmilliot@reedbusiness.com; phone 646-746-6867."

Books 'most popular online buy'

According to a recent BBC article, books are the most popular item sold online http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7213686.stm