This weekend is the annual all-day workshop run by the (San Francisco) Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA).

This year the event has moved out of Marin County, where it has traditionally been held, to Nile Hall in Preservation Park, part of Oakland, across the bay.

Occupying two blocks in the heart of downtown Oakland, Preservation Park is a Victorian neighborhood, a unique collection of historic residences transformed into the City’s most innovative workplace and event center.—Preservation Park website

This is an excellent opportunity for people new to publishing. You’ll be able to:

• Learn about publishing from speakers and vendors
• Meet other authors who are investigating independent publishing
• Gain insight from writers who have self-published and can pass along their experiences.

There are large sessions for the main presentations and breakout sessions devoted to specific subjects. These are the main speakers scheduled for the event:

• Keynote Speaker: Jim Horan, owner, The One Page Business Plan Company
• Main address by Brian Jud, Award-Winning Speaker, Author and Publisher, “How to Make Money Selling Your Book”
• Jon Tandler, Esq. and Lloyd Rich. Esq. on Subsidiary Rights

Here are the breakout sessions:

• Lin Lacombe / From Passion to Publicity
• Vicki Weiland / Working With an Editor
• Pete Masterson / Book Design 101
• Kristen McLean / The Future of Children’s Publishing
• Pete Masterson / New Digital Print Model
• Catharine Bramkamp / Your Book Starts Here

These kinds of events are intense learning experiences. Usually, there’s way more available than you can possibly take in in one day. It’s a great way to network, find out what’s happening in independent publishing, meet people who can help get your book into the marketplace and generally spend a lot of time talking and listening about book publishing.

I’ll be having an early celebration for the publication of my new book, A Self-Publisher’s Companion with a really special sale for attendees only. I won’t go into details, since you have to be there to take advantage, but I promise it will be irresistible. I only have a few dozen advance copies, since the print book and ebook formats won’t go on sale until the end of the month.

Since TheBookDesigner.com is a sponsor of the Institute I’ll have a table there and would love to meet any readers who want to stop by and say hello. If you’ve got a book you want me to take a look at, bring it along. You can also meet my friend David Carr, an experienced and wonderful book editor who’ll be at the table with me. It promises to be a fun day.

Unfortunately, once again we have somehow managed to find a venue for this event that has no WIFI internet connection. This is surprising and depressing. Last year I had planned to live blog during the event, and ended up just sending Tweets with my phone. Unless I can find a way to get online at the event, it will probably be the same this year, and that just seems so, . . . I don’t know . . . 1990s.

In any event, I’ll be reporting anything interesting from the Institute, and might break out my video skills for a few on-the-spot interviews. Stay tuned.

Photo: Niles Hall by Andrew Ruppenstein for The Historical Marker Database