Independent Press Association folds

Suddenly, in San Francisco, from causes related to operating a newsstand system, The Independent Press Association (IPA) in the U.S. has died.

A notification to its members and directors December 27 attributed it directly to the brutal realities and the consequent indebtedness incurred by trying to run an alternative distribution system for independent magazines in the hairy and competitive U.S. market. Essentially, it was unable to raise enough money to pay its members the money they were owed from net sold copies.

The organization will be liquidated and its assets distributed to its creditors. Several of the IPA's charitable operations, including New York Grassroots Media Project, the George Washington Williams Fellowship, the Campus Journalism Project and the George Washington Williams Fellowship and Campus Journalism Project, may continue as separate, independent not for profit charities.

The closure of IPA will be a blow not only to the few Canadian member magazines but also to all independent publishers who felt that its model was something that the Canadian industry should have been emulating. Magazines Canada maintains its own, robust and apparently successful, subsidized, independent distribution system on behalf of its many smaller members. Without it, many of them simply wouldn't be able to have single copy sales. So, ironically, independents in Canada now have a system that is essentially unavailable to their U.S. counterparts.

In 2006, IPA entered into a partnership with Disticor Newsstand Services to assume responsibility for distributing Indy Press Newsstand titles and it seems Disticor expects to negotiate arrangements with the existing individual clients. In an April 2006 newsletter, the parnership was said to provide the funding necessary to allow the Indy Press to pay publishers for past due amounts owed. Essentially, the IPA had been robbing Peter to pay Paul for years.

"In 2001, IPA entered a very harsh newsstand market and attempted for five years to provide an effective alternative for independent publishers to get the kind of distribution services commonly enjoyed by large, mainstream magazines," the IPA board said to its members. "Despite our best efforts, we were unable to make it work in such a difficult climate.

"The board is extremely sad that the IPA has had to close shop and that the organization can no longer play its important role in the independent press sector. But we have enormous faith in the power of independent ideas and are confident that independent publishers will continue to publish, survive, and even thrive as long as there are citizens who care about freedom of speech and thought."

The receiver appointed to liquidate the organization is Uecker & Associates at (415) 362-3440.

In addition to operating a newsstand system, IPA published useful practical guides, operating a revolving loan fund, held a well-liked annual conference and championed many other aspects of independent publishing for its members.