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IPG Publisher Summit

At our last sales conference, IPG offered a half day of seminars on various topics of high importance to the book business. The turnout was good and the response was extremely enthusiastic.

Due to the strong positive response, we are going to offer a full day of seminars led by industry experts on Monday, November 17, 2014 in Chicago. That evening, IPG will also host a reception. Publishers who attend will have the opportunity to mingle with other publishers, the seminar presenters, and the IPG staff, including outside sales reps. It has certainly been our experience that this sort of networking can be extremely valuable.

Here is a brief agenda of seminar topics:

  • IPG Sales Trends, introduction to the in-house team and overall business trends at IPG
  • Amazon Tips and Best Practices with Meredith Baker of Faherty Associates
  • Effective Strategies for Presenting New Titles at Sales Conference with Eric Heidemann of Fujii Associates
  • New opportunities with IPG Digital, including new eBook vendors and marketing tips
  • Book Industry Trends with Len Vlahos from BISG (Book Industry Study Group)
  • Rights Sales with Seth Dellon from Pubmatch
  • Production Work Flow with Mark Fretz from Scribe
  • Print on Demand with Joe Upton & Bob Durgy from Edwards Brothers Malloy
  • Industry Overview with Cevin Bryerman from Publishers Weekly

Meredith Baker is IPG’s dedicated sales rep to Amazon. She knows more about Amazon’s inner workings than nearly anyone else on the planet and has direct access to staff at Amazon offices in Seattle.

Eric Heidemann is the head of Fujii Associates, IPG’s commissioned rep group for the Midwest region. He has extensive knowledge of a wide variety of customers, including independent bookstores as well as educational and library wholesalers. After participating in hundreds of sales conference presentations, he is an expert on how to capture attention and make an impact when presenting new books.

Len Vlahos is the head of the Book Industry Study Group, the organization that sets the communication standards for our industry and gathers the most authoritative data on book industry trends.

Seth Dellon is the head of Pubmatch, an interesting new company that sends listings of titles for which rights are available to a very large number of possible buyers around the world. IPG is going to offer this service to its client publishers.

Mark Fretz is a principle at Scribe, a company that offers sophisticated software and support to new publishers as well as to established companies that want to add book publishing to their operations.

Joe Upton & Bob Durgy are senior executives at Edwards Brothers & Malloy, the fifth largest book printer in the US and a clear leader in the area of high-quality Print-On-Demand services.

Cevin Bryerman is the publisher and vice president at Publishers Weekly. He has given lectures and seminars at numerous universities and institutions, including the University of Michigan and Northwestern School of Journalism, as well as serving on industry committees, most notably the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).

View the schedule for the program.

In Spring 2015, IPG will also be hosting a larger conference. If you would like to sponsor, exhibit at, or speak at the conference, please contact Berianne Bramman for more information.