SPN announces 2015 Independent Publishing Conference program; Indyk, Chapman to deliver keynotes

The Small Press Network (SPN) has announced the program for its 2015 Independent Publishing Conference, which will run in Melbourne from 19-21 November.

The conference kicks off with an Industry Research Day on Thursday 19 November on the theme ‘Australian Publishing and Trans-National Cultures’. Academics and researchers will present papers that explore Australian publishing among global trends, with a keynote speech from Giramondo Press publisher Ivor Indyk.

New Zealand publisher Kevin Chapman will be the keynote speaker on the conference’s Trade Day on Friday 20 November. The director of independent publisher Upstart Press and a former managing director of Hachette New Zealand will ‘discuss his experiences founding an independent publishing firm after a long career at the helm of large publishers’. His keynote will be followed by a conversation with former Lonely Planet partner Jim Hart.

The conference’s Trade Day will include sessions on the state of the industry, diversity in publishing, new digital publishing platforms, marketing to millennials, branching into genre publishing, special and direct sales, and ‘getting past the gatekeepers’, among others, as well as the announcement of the Most Underrated Book Award (MUBA).

The conference will finish on Saturday 21 November with a ‘fundamentals of publishing’ day aimed at newer publishers, which includes sessions on editing, marketing, print-on-demand, publishing law, and grants and crowdfunding.

For more information about the program and speakers, visit the SPN website here.

Category: Conferences Local news