MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association

By MBPA board member Mary Shafer

Spring always seems to bring with it a sense of excitement. The weather gets warmer, the days grow longer, new growth begins to emerge and migratory animals return. It’s a season of change and growth, and a great opportunity for organizations to look to the future.

Every year, PMA hosts an educational event for publishers called PMA Publishing University, or just PMA-U for short. PMA-U is held each year right before Book Expo America and in the same city. In 2008, PMA-U will be held in Los Angeles, California, the last week in May. If you've never been to PMA University, it's a great event, packed with educational sessions and networking opportunities.

PMA provides a scholarship for one member of each affiliate group to attend PMA University. Here's the information on the scholarship from PMA:

Please join the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association for a special event at the Baltimore Book Festival. We'll be hosting "Tea with Mr. Twain," with an entertaining presentation by a Mark Twain impersonator, followed by light refreshments and a chance to network with your colleagues in the publishing business. The event is free and open to anyone who would like to attend, and we hope to attract both experienced publishing professionals and those new to, or considering, publishing.

Please join us for a meeting of the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association, Friday November 3 at 6 PM. The meeting will be held at Klondike Kates in Newark, Delaware:

http://www.klondikekates.com/

Here are directions for how to get there:

http://www.klondikekates.com/directions.php

Please RSVP to Sheila Ruth, sruth@imaginatorpress.com, by Wednesday, November 1, if you plan to attend.

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show will take place September 16th and 17th, at the Valley Forge Convention center, located about 20 minutes from Philadelphia. The MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association will be displaying member books at the trade show. In addition to our own exhibit, we will also be staffing the PMA exhibit.

The NAIBA show is different than the Baltimore Book Festival in that it is a show primarily for booksellers, whereas the Baltimore Book Festival is a consumer show. This is a great opportunity to get your books out in front of the booksellers in the area.

Our July 10 meeting will be held at 12 noon at the Red Brick Station, a restaurant in White Marsh, Maryland. The Red Brick Station is convenient to both I-95 and I-695, so it should be easy for most members to get to. If you haven't already RSVPed, it's not too late. Please join us; we'd love to see you there.

Here's the web site for the Red Brick Station:

http://www.redbrickstation.com/

Sheila Ruth, President

On Saturday, April 8, Toni Albert and I attended the CityLit festival at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, and manned a table on behalf of MBPA. Treasurer Donna Wessell was there, as were several other members past and present.

Our goal at the festival was to spread the word about the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association, to find new members, and to make contacts that would be beneficial to the organization. In that, I think that we were very successful.

How many members are planning on being at BEA and/or PMA University? I'd like to try to set up a meeting sometime during that week, if we can find the time in a jam packed schedule. Is that something you would be interested in?

Sheila Ruth
Imaginator Press

To respond, go to:
http://www.midatlanticbookpublishers.com/

If anyone is interested in getting copies of the Small Press Month 2006 posters featuring Kurt Vonnegut, contact Christian McGuire at PMA:

christian@pma-online.org

You could put them up in your place of business, or ask your local library or bookseller to display it for the month. Be sure to see the Thirty-One Things to do for National Small Press Month