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The Independent Publishers Guild's membership has been growing year-on-year, chief executive Bridget Shine said, as publishers look for support in "challenging times".
Meanwhile the body has been consulting on introducing a new membership category for self-publishers, Shine also revealed.
The IPG has seen an increase of around 15-20 members a year over the last three years, with 20 more applying just this month, bringing the total membership to 580. The IPG runs an annual conference and offers independent publishers a range of services, including financial support, and Shine attributed the membership growth to the fact that “some publishers are facing challenging times and in times of uncertainty, people want the reassurance of being part of a group like the IPG.”
Meanwhile the IPG is also considering introducing a new category for self -publishers as an "associate membership" band, “in recognition of the growth of self-publishing,” Shine said. This band is likely to come with criteria such as associate membership taking up no more than 10% of total membership and associate members would not have voting rights.
The spotlight has fallen on the health of independent publishing in the UK recently after Stieg Larsson publisher Quercus put itself up for sale this week following warnings of a “significant trading loss” for 2013. Atlantic Books also recently announced a major restructure in which editor-in-chief Ravi Mirchandani left the publishing house after seven years and three roles were made redundant.
While neither publisher were members of the IPG, Shine added: “Financial advice is an area where we have always offered a lot of support, and we are trying different things. For example, if we know people are looking for help, we will arrange meetings with business mentors. We also held a 'Meet the Investors' event last year, and will do more of these in the future."
For the first time, the IPG conference (26th-28th February) will give attendees the opportunity to partake in one-to-one "financial MOTs", providing members with financial "health checks: for their company.
The IPG Conference this year has a heavy focus on the health of indies’ business, with sessions on “Entrepreneurs Masterclass”, “You and Your Business”, “How to value your company” and “Going direct to consumer”. There are also sessions on what is “the latest with Amazon” including an update on Kindle e-reading device, a Q&A with Waterstones m.d James Daunt and a sessions looking at the next steps in e-book sales. The conference will also investigate bookselling’s “new horizons” and understanding customers.