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SPD, Consortium Web Sites Link to Promote Indies
Bridget Kinsella -- 3/27/00

Small Press Distribution, the Berkeley-based wholesaler for small literary presses, has launched a new Web site that will not only provide more detailed title information but also a secure e-commerce capability directed at individual book consumers. The new site represents the first step in a partnership between SPD and Consortium Books Sales and Distribution to promote independent literary presses. The SPD-Consortium partnership is the first serious initiative to result from the Independent Literary Publishers Institute, a group of various industry personalities who have met to discuss the state of independent literary publishing in the U.S.

SPD's executive director, Nick Setka, told PW that the impetus behind the institute was to bring together interested people to talk about "concrete steps that would bring small, independent literary publishers greater visibility." The Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation and the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses sponsored the first meeting of the institute in New York last fall. SPD sponsored the second meeting in San Francisco in February, and a third meeting is scheduled in Chicago the day before BookExpo opens. Besides the two distribution companies, other participants in the meetings have included such small publishers as Coffeehouse Press and Milkweed Editions, Arte Publico and Dalkey Archive. Also in attendance were representatives from the Book Industry Study Group, Barnes & Noble, Random House and several literary agents. "It was an open-meeting format," explained Consortium's president, Randall Beek. "There was a lot of sharing of ideas."

The new partnership will link SPD's and Consortium's Web sites and cross-promote their books. The site will also link to such literary Web venues as New York City's P ts House (www.p tshouse.org, due to relaunch April 1) and academic sites. "Our books appeal to Consortium buyers and vice versa," said Setka, who noted that Consortium represents the larger independent presses while SPD handles the smaller indies. "Together we represent a range of literary independent presses." The partnership will target independent booksellers as well as the library market.

Setka told PW that SPD has been marketing more and more to libraries, adding that the company's sales in that market increased 40% last year. "If librarians feel it is important to have independent literature on the shelf, then they will do it. And they will encourage people to read it," said Setka. SPD's Web site is located at www.spdbooks.org. Consortium's is at www.cbsd.com. For information about the next Independent Literary Publishing Institute, e-mail Setka at nick@spdbooks.org.

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