The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) is a not-for-profit membership organization serving the independent publishing community through advocacy and education. With nearly 3,000 members, IBPA is the largest publishing trade association in the United States.[1] IBPA programs and publications include the Benjamin Franklin Awards,[2] Publishing University, [3] and the monthly Independent Magazine. IBPA was founded in 1983[2] as the Publishers Association of Southern California (PASCAL).[4] It later became the Publishers Marketing Association (PMA).[4] It adopted its present name in 2008.[2]
The Benjamin Franklin Awards honor independent publishers and self-published authors for excellence in book editorial and design. Prizes are given in a number of categories including Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book.[5][6] IBPA members, as well as librarians, reviewers, editors and bookstore owners choose the winners and provide feedback to the authors about their books.[7][8]
IBPA's Publishing University is a two-day networking and educational event. Hosted annually, the program includes learning labs and a book-award ceremony.[9][10]
In March 2017, the IBPA Advocacy Committee published an Industry Standards Checklist for a Professionally Published Book. The purpose of the checklist is to give independent publishers an at-a-glance gauge of the professional presentation of any book in order to help level the playing field between indie publishers and large-scale conglomerates.[11]
In 2022, ((Lady Be Good: The Life and Times of Dorothy Hale)) by former NBC News producer Pamela Hamilton received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Historical Fiction gold medal. IBPA judges noted “The landscape of the book in setting and culture reminds the reader of The Great Gatsby.” The fictionalized biography tells the story of Dorothy Hale, the legendary socialite immortalized in one Frida Kahlo's most famous paintings, and her friendship with famed playwright and Vogue (magazine) and Vanity Fair (magazine) editor Clare Boothe Luce.
Thomas DeBaggio's book Growing Herbs from Seed, Cutting, and Root was the 1995 recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Awards for best garden book of 1995 for excellence in editorial content and design.
Since 2017, the IBPA publishes online a list of winners of its annual awards.[12] For example, in 2021, Minghui Report: The 20-Year Persecution of Falun Gong received a silver Bill Fisher Award for firsthand accounts of the Chinese Communist Party's systematic imprisonment, torture, and killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their faith in the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.[13] In 2023, Jonah Paquette was the recipient of the Gold Benjamin Franklin Award under category "Body, Mind and Spirit" for his book Happily EVEN After: Daily Practices to Recover Joy After Hardship, Heartache, and Heartbreak.[14]