At the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Publishing University 2024 in Denver, whose theme was “Rise and Disrupt!,” an April 27 roundtable addressed alternatives—or creative tweaks—to traditional publishing models. Introducing the panel, IBPA CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet questioned conventional measures of success. “Corporate publishers can operate on a model that allows for eight out of 10 books to be unprofitable,” she said, noting that indies cannot afford the massive advances or high returns and make this model possible. “This traditional model is broken. It’s bad for publishers, it’s bad for authors, and it’s bad for readers. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
