From Publishers Weekly

In a bustling Italian restaurant in the once industrial River North section of Chicago, now home to art galleries and creative businesses, PW got what can best be described as the "soft sell" from the principals of Independent Publishers Group. IPG president Curt Matthews recently promoted himself to CEO and named 12-year veteran Mark Suchomel, former vice-president and sales manager, to take his place as president.

In the early '70s, Matthews founded Chicago Review Press out of the back of a Windy City bookstore. In 1987, he purchased IPG, a small distribution company dedicated to independent publishers. His first order of business was to transplant the operation from New York City to the Second City. It's been a history of annual sales growth in the 25%-30% range ever since, a fact Matthews pointed out early on in the meeting with PW. It was an emphatic statement, expressed modestly, and he attributed a large amount of the success to a combination of picking the right projects and recruiting good people.

The two men easily took turns in conversation. Matthews, who has a background in Japanese poetry, is the professorial type. As president of the Publishers Marketing Association, he often writes about the state of the industry for its newsletter. He might have stroked his salt-and-pepper beard absently, but when he mused about the "intrinsic flakiness" of the book business, his opinions were clearly focused. High returns, shrinking margins and the need to create new ways to promote individual titles are among the things always on his mind. "Every book deserves a chance," he said.

With his characteristic smile, Suchomel seems younger than his 38 years. He teamed with Matthews at CRP and has consistently moved up in the company since IPG became part of the mix. If Matthews is apt to go off on philosophical tangents on the state of the industry, Suchomel seems delighted to focus on the new directions the company and its publishers are taking. Their individual styles appeared to gel with their new roles as CEO and president, with Matthews working on long-term projects and Suchomel on the day-to-day.

Clearly, they like what they do. Their not-so-subliminal message: they want IPG and its affiliate, the Chicago Review Press, to be seen as the company run by those nice guys (and gals) from the Midwest. Most people PW spoke with agreed with that characterization. With an ever increasing amount of their business coming from international rights sales, domestic distribution for foreign publishers and expansion in non-traditional markets, however, their interests are hardly parochial.

"They try to combine the old-school idea of publishing-with its attention on writing-with growth," observed Doug Werner, publisher of Tracks Publishing in San Diego. Werner has worked with IPG since he started his company five years ago. At the time, all he had going for him was a notion that he'd like to produce a series of sports books for beginners. Tracks now has 10 tiles in their Start-Up Sports series, beginner's guides covering everything from surfing to fencing.

"IPG's main strength lies in its emphasis on repetitive sales rather than bestsellers," said Holmes Crouch, publisher of the Allyear Tax Guides. Crouch, who recently returned to IPG after a couple of years with another distributor, said he is especially taken with the professional but informal personality of IPG. "You make a call to IPG, you get a real person, no menus or anything," he explained. "Small publishing guys like that." Before taking him back as a customer, though, Crouch said Suchomel insisted the publisher spruce up his covers, and then found him a designer. "For certain types of small press publishers I think IPG is ideal," added Crouch.

About four years ago Matthews made what Marcella Smith, the small press buyer for Barnes and Noble, called a "gutsy move." IPG packaged together more than 300 publishers, of the one- and two-book variety, into one catalogue. Smith serves on the advisory board of the trade distribution group Matthews started with the Publishers Marketing Association. "Four years ago, there was hesitation among distributors to take on single title publishers," Smith continued. "For Curt to take on this catalogue was a gentleman's gesture."

Matthews said he is not so much interested in the size of the publishers as what they publish. "We're looking for interesting books," he insisted. When PW visited the Chicago offices of IPG, the staff was passing around a copy of The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls, a novel by Bonnie Bluh due out in January from first-time publisher Lyre Bird Books. "It is not often I read something and say `Wow!'" Matthews said. In the past few years he said he has been most amazed with the increase in the number of bulls-eyes coming from first-time publishers. IPG is hoping to score for distributor and publisher both with The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls.

"To Curt's credit," said B&N's Smith, "you have to have a good nose about which of those one-book titles is going to sell in the trade." Sales at B&N from IPG's small press catalogue have been "terrific," according to Smith. "He has proven there's a lot of vitality going on in small press."

Working one-on-one with clients on every aspect of publishing and marketing is what Suchomel likes best about heading up IPG. He described a project with Craig Alliose, publisher of Amherst Media, a small photography publisher based in Amherst, N.Y. "He came to us with two or three books, and next season he'll have about 15," explained Suchomel. Although it took some convincing on Suchomel's part to get Alliose to back his books up with some publicity, Suchomel and Alliose have manned an Amherst Media booth at the Photography Marketers Association trade show for the fourth year in a row. Suchomel said IPG is always looking for similar outlets to help sell a title beyond the trade.

Exploring nontraditional markets is part of IPG's goal to build individual sales of books, as opposed to adding more titles. "We have an eclectic list, with midlist/backlist that sells year after year," said Suchomel. "So it is not only important to distribute efficiently, but also to publish efficiently."

When Suchomel joined CRP and worked later for IPG, he was a sales and marketing force of one. Now the company has 33 commissioned reps covering the chains, independents and specialty markets. IPG produces four catalogues a season to optimize growing specialty areas like children's and African-American titles. As PW went to press, the computer publisher 29th Street Books had just signed on with IPG and will be featured in its next computer catalogue.

All along Matthews has tried to grow the company slowly and promote from within. Staff continuity is also a big plus with independent publishers. "You don't feel like every time you make a phone call you talk to a different person," Crouch said.

So when Matthews and Suchomel were planning the company's latest expansion this summer, it was no surprise that the result was a flurry of internal shuffling and new hires. Among the newcomers at IPG are Brook O'Donnell, trade sales manager, formerly at National Academy Press in Washington, D.C.; Vicki McCullough, marketing manager, from Dartnell Corporation, a business publisher in Chicago; and Eleanor Dodson, special projects coordinator, who moved to IPG from Wordsworth Books in Cambridge, Mass.

At CRP, long-time associate publisher (and even longer-time wife of Curt) Linda Matthews was named publisher. She plans to double the list and produce 50 titles a year. CRP recruited Gerilee Hundt, former senior editor of NTC/Contemporary Books in Chicago, for the newly created post of associate managing editor. Earlier this year, Yuval Taylor, former editor at Da Cappo Press in New York, became acquisitions editor for the Lawrence Hill and A Cappella Books imprints.

Pretty soon the company might have to expand its physical office space to accommodate its growing staff. But for now they toil away in lofty, if a little jammed, quarters overlooking the most photographed Chicago "el" stop. Television and movie directors like the location because in one shot they get an unmistakable Windy City scene: a sign for the elevated train that reads simply "Chicago" for the Chicago Avenue and Franklin Streets intersection, while above the tracks swerve and bend into the urban horizon.

For now, Matthews and Suchomel seem to think they're in a pretty good spot. "We want to be profitable every year," said Matthews. "We don't want to grow like crazy and then say we'll be profitable down the road." As for clues about what lies ahead, don't expect to get much more than Matthews's beard stroking and Suchomel's everpresent smile. "Do you want dessert?" Suchomel asks.