Exciting News! I'm The New Director of Marketing and Programming For IBPA, The Independent Book Publishers Association!

Can I get a waiver for over-use of exclamation points, please?

I am delighted to share that I've taken a full-time position with IBPA, as their Director of Marketing and Programming. (I know, I know... I said that in the blog post title, but I really like my job title! And it's still fresh!)

Monday June 19, 2017 will be the start of my third week working at the IBPA offices in Manhattan Beach, California – I hit the ground running and am learning lots, overseeing five different programs and helping shape the organization's marketing and social media strategy.

The most visible project I'm doing is hosting the once-every-two-weeks IBPA Publishing University webinars, PubU Online. I did my first webinar this past Wednesday June 14 with book marketer Shari Stauch, and it was phenomenal (we had live video, polls, prizes, and such inspiring and actionable info on "outside the box" book marketing ideas from Shari!) A great start!

And I'll be going to ALA's Annual Conference in Chicago this week, working at the IBPA booth and helping our Indie-Publisher and Author-Publisher members with their book signings! While I've always wanted to go, I've never been to ALA before (or Chicago, for that matter.)

My IBPA colleagues are wonderful, the community is passionate and engaged, and the organization is all about helping Indie-Publishers and Author-Publishers in a mission close to my heart: For everyone to be empowered to be their authentic selves and to share their stories, their voices... and be heard!

And like they say in improv, "Yes, And..."

Yes, and I will still be blogging twice-a-week for SCBWI (doing my work on the weekends, like this post here.)

Yes, and I will still head up SCBWI's Team Blog, leading the live-blogging and social media coverage of their twice-annual international conferences.

Yes, and I'll keep my new one-day-a-month gig producing and editing SCBWI's monthly podcasts. (Also on the weekends.)

Yes, and I'll keep blogging three days a week here at I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? (Yep, you guessed it: on the weekends!)

Yes, and I'm still writing an hour-a-day, every day. (Which means that Monday through Friday, I'm waking up extra-early, commuting down to Manhattan Beach before most of the traffic, and sitting in a cafe to write for an hour before heading into my new, awesome job!)

I love the new routine, feel very grateful for the opportunity, and am so happy to share the news with you, my community.

Hurray!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee