| Sumario: | Selling books in an ultra-competitive environment and protecting against distribution problems were the main themes of last weekend's spring conference of the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG) in Torquay, England. A full agenda tackling some of the most pressing trade issues also confirmed members' feelings that the IPG has come of age, and is determined that the voices of small and medium-size publishers be heard. The IPG presented the findings of a survey of its members, which found that only a quarter of small publishers with an annual turnover of less than £100,000 outsourced their picking and packing. David Kewley, former interim managing director of Bookpoint, urged severe caution on distribution arrangements, and warned that putting publishers' money into a separate distributor's account was not necessarily enough to safeguard it from a company collapse. INSET: Guild gains clout.
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