Why the hybrid model makes sense for authors and publishers, with guest Brooke Warner

Why the hybrid model makes sense for authors and publishers, with guest Brooke Warner

Brooke Warner, publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, talks about independent publishing and how the hybrid model is helping authors thrive by creating opportunity and diversifying the marketplace.

Highlights include:

• What is hybrid publishing?


• What is the hybrid business model?


• Who pays, and what does it cost?


• What benefits does hybrid give the author? The publisher?


• How hybrid democratizes the list: all books get attention, not just the “lead titles”


• What points do authors need to pay attention to in hybrid contracts?


• Why do hybrid publishers still meet resistance from some reviewers, contests, and associations?


• What’s the future of indie publishing? (Hint: it’s bright!)


• Challenges ahead: costs of paper, book pricing, Amazon dominance


• IBPA’s role in promoting standards


• Key point: we need to rethink the way we do things and update our idea of what a book is: the current model may not be sustainable

Here are two essential IBPA checklists related to this podcast:

“Hybrid Publisher Criteria”

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ibpa-online.org/resource/resmgr/docs/IBPA-Hybrid-Publisher-Criter.pdf

“Industry Standards Checklist for a Professionally Published Book”

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ibpa-online.org/resource/resmgr/docs/IBPA-checklist-FINAL.pdf

Participants

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of the forthcoming Write On, Sisters! Voice, Courage, and Claiming Your Place at the Table, as well as five other books on publishing and memoir. Brooke is a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (“Write-minded” with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and the former Executive Editor of Seal Press. She’s the Board Chair of the Independent Book Publishers Association and writes a monthly column for Publishers Weekly.

Tweet: @SheWritesDotCom

Listen to Brooke’s TEDx talk "Green-Light Revolution: Your Creative Life on Your Terms"

https://youtu.be/5a0w4KgWyP8

Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.