SPN Independent Publishing Conference 2013 program released

17 October 2013 Books+Publishing

The Small Press Network (SPN) has released the program for its 2013 Independent Publishing Conference.

This year’s conference will be held over three days, from 14 to 16 November, at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre. It will feature an academic program, an industry program and a day of practical workshops.

The academic program on Thursday 14 November will be launched with a keynote speech by Anne Richards entitled ‘Coming Out: Rewriting the Public Face of Publishing’. The program will explore the changed relationship between publishers and readers, and how publishers ‘increasingly must either publish into a well-defined niche or else seek to manufacture their audience through events and other forms of participatory communities’. Among the guests of the academic program are Ruth Jelley, Beth Driscoll, Alice Grundy, Emmett Stinson and Charlotte Harper.

The industry program on Friday 15 November will be launched with a keynote speech delivered by an international guest speaker. The program includes a trade show and a range of industry sessions, covering topics such as: customer/reader-focussed marketing; Indigenous publishing; international rights sales; children’s and YA publishing; libraries and librarians; crowdfunding; sales and distribution; and a market overview. Rooms will be available for break-out meetings between delegates and suppliers, and for pitch/Q&A sessions between delegates and literary agents, booksellers and reviewers.

Friday evening will include the announcement of the winner of the Most Underrated Book Award (MUBA), which celebrates ‘the diversity and strength of the small press sector’, at a public gala event held at the Wheeler Centre. Last year’s winner was Wayne Macauley for The Cook (Text).

On Saturday 16 November a day of practical workshops will cover topics such as: setting up a small publishing business; contracts, royalties and rights; ebook basics; and ebook production (metadata, testing and formatting).

SPN general manager Mary Masters told Books+Publishing that SPN is ‘proud to be able to present this unique event, which has been programmed creatively by Tim Coronel to engage with a wide range of publishing people’. ‘The issues facing independent publishers are not unique just to the “small” end of the sector—they cover all facets of the publishing process from crafting products to reaching audiences and competing in the global marketplace,’ said Masters. ‘We hope that all people engaged with the publishing industry will come along to learn, to be inspired and to network with peers.’

Masters said that SPN has been able to ‘keep our ticket prices accessible’ as a result of ‘generous support’ from the Copyright Agency, and that an ‘observer’ price will be available this year for individuals who are interested in attending the academic day.

The SPN held its inaugural Independent Publishing Conference in 2012. To view the full program for this year’s conference, visit the SPN website here.

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