Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s resurrected PUBu gathering drew nearly 200 professionals

Resurrected after a four-year hiatus, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s (ECPA) Publishing University (PUBu) received a positive
reception last fall from Christian publishing professionals. 

Held Oct. 22-23 at Wheaton College outside Chicago, PUBu12 drew 195 attendees. 

Attendees were “very upbeat,” ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper told Christian Retailing. “They seemed to be excited to connect with each other and learn.”

Melissa Wade, production coordinator at Discovery House Publishers, concurred.

“Seeing colleagues and friends with whom I hadn’t seen in a while was a highlight for me this year,” she said. “It was great to network with individuals within the production area and learn from them what they struggle with and what they are doing to better their publishing house. Sharing ideas and working together is what it’s all about.”

Citing economic turbulence within the Christian product industry, ECPA moved PUBu from a physical event to multiple online webinars in 2009. The last time PUBu was held in Chicago was in 2008, attracting 175 professionals and featuring 10 tracks. 

“We knew in 2008 that publishers would slash training and travel budgets when the economy fell apart, and [so we] waited until they told they were ready to send their staff to PUBu again,” Kuyper said. “We relaunched with four key communities rather than 10, and we limited the event to an evening networking reception and a single day of sessions rather than two days of sessions. 

“Most sessions were also led by community leaders rather than outside speakers,” he added. “We also held the event at Wheaton College instead of a hotel, which provided an ideal classroom setting and reduced costs dramatically.”

There was no overall theme for PUBu12, but its “four communities” focused on marketing, editorial, rights and licensing, and production.

“The expanded goal for the communities is that they will provide opportunities for our members to connect through our socially networked site to share articles, white papers, forums, pictures throughout the year, as well possible webinars or other creative learning options,” Kuyper said. 

Janet Stapleton, rights and licensing manager at Nazarene Publishing House, said the event was beneficial.

“It’s always valuable to have the opportunity to dialog with colleagues in the industry,” she said. “The benefits from these opportunities are not the kind that can be easily quantified. PUBu provides a venue for publishing peers to connect and discuss the interests and challenges we face in our individual publishing communities, while offering the type of continuing education options, which are not available in the customary educational settings.”

Sherrie Slopianka, executive director of online sales and promotion at Worthy Publishing, agreed.

“It was great to spend the day together hearing firsthand what other publishers are doing to re-invent the wheel and offer up their insights,” she said. “Book publishing needs to be more about collaboration instead of competition. We need each other.”

Bailey Utecht, an editorial assistant at Moody Publishers, said the event was “a unique and invaluable resource for publishing professionals.”

“For me, the highlight of PUBu was observing the differences in how different publishers do their work and evaluating our publishing house in light of those observations,” she said.