PubU | ECPA

The Rights Playbook for Christian Publishers

For Christian publishers, rights management is more than a business function. It is part of the responsible stewardship of the content, authors, ministries, and communities they serve. In this practical session, attendees will learn strategies for licensing content in and out, maintaining compliance, identifying appropriate revenue opportunities, and extending the reach of their publishing programs while remaining aligned with the values of the Church. Participants will also receive actionable resources they can use to bring greater clarity, fairness, and accountability to everyday rights decisions.

James Whittaker

James Whittaker, is the VP of Sales & Business Development for MetaComet. He brings more than 27 years of leadership across global publishing and B2B SaaS sales and partnership development in North America, the UK, and Europe. Whittaker is recognized for his domain expertise in rights and royalties, metadata, and technology-enabled publishing workflows. A frequent industry speaker, he has presented at leading trade fairs including London and Frankfurt. He has held senior roles at Phaidon Press, Paperblanks, and Hachette Book Group.

Book Printing - Navigating Best Practices When Printing/Fulfilling Books

With buzzwords like POD, ultra-short-run, short-run, long run, fulfillment, distribution, and hybrid-inventory-management being used frequently (often interchangeably) in the print world, it's difficult to determine what print buying approach will be best for you. There are so many different situations that publishers find themselves in. Find out what printers mean when they use certain terms, and learn what approach may be best for situations you may encounter.

RJ Lindemann

Born and raised in the print industry, RJ Lindemann is the third generation at Total Printing Systems. He's devoted the last several years to management in the print business and has become one of the very few young executives remaining in the book business. With one eye on the future and one eye on the present, RJ knows what works for publishers now and what will work for them down the road.

Irreplaceable Ideas: How to Market Books in an AI-Saturated World

AI can create more content in seconds than most marketing teams could produce in weeks. But when everyone can generate endless posts, summaries, emails, videos, and ad copy, more content isn’t the answer. More value is. In this practical session, we’ll explore how publishers can move beyond simply marketing books to identifying and amplifying the irreplaceable ideas behind them—the insights, stories, expertise, experiences, relationships, and trusted voices that AI can’t easily replicate. You’ll learn how to uncover the distinctive value within a book, turn one title into an ecosystem of compelling digital content and experiences, and use AI to multiply that value without making your marketing sound like everyone else’s. We’ll also look at how to shift from marketing a product to marketing the transformation, question, or big idea the book represents. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for turning books into idea engines—and creating marketing that stands out in an increasingly AI-generated world.

Katie Nguyen

Katie Nguyen is Managing Director at FrontGate Media, an award-winning marketing agency specializing in reaching faith and family audiences. A seasoned digital marketer and communicator, Katie helps authors, publishers, ministries, and faith-based organizations turn meaningful ideas into digital strategies that connect with the right audiences. Her expertise spans digital and social marketing, content strategy, audience development, and creating campaigns that move beyond simply generating attention to building genuine engagement. Katie is passionate about helping authors and organizations identify what makes their message uniquely valuable and translating that value into content people want to discover, share, and act on. Katie is also a writer, speaker, and host of the Faith For Her podcast, where she combines her love of communication with her passion for encouraging others.

Introducing Covered: Ingram’s Digital Review Copy and Catalog Site

Join us for a look at Covered, Ingram’s new site designed to connect publisher digital review copies (DRCs), title information, and ordering tools with booksellers, librarians, and other industry professionals. In this session, you’ll learn how Covered makes it easy for publishers to share catalogs and marketing information with more than 50,000 buyers in Ingram’s network and beyond.

Margaret Harrison

Vice President, Digital Services, Ingram Content Group

Emilie Obermiller

Digital Sales Manager, Ingram Content Group

Mastering Book Marketing: A Strategy for Every Stage

Book marketing isn't a one-time event; it’s an ongoing cycle that begins the moment a deal is signed and continues through the book’s entire life. In this master class, Joshua Tallent (Firebrand Technologies) and Kristina Radke (NetGalley) provide a comprehensive roadmap for navigating your marketing process. We will guide you through the full publication lifecycle—from pre-publication and launch to long-term backlist management—offering practical strategies to solve your toughest marketing challenges. You’ll learn how to:

- Shift from reactive marketing to intentional, strategic marketing moments
- Navigate the impact of GEO and direct-to-consumer sales on your strategy
- Implement metadata best practices that drive discoverability
- Leverage Amazon’s algorithmic flywheel to boost visibility

Kristina Radke

Kristina Radke has over 15 years of expertise in book marketing, publicity, and reader engagement. As Senior Vice President of Business Growth & Engagement at NetGalley + Booktrovert, she leads a global team specializing in high-impact discovery strategies for both frontlist and backlist titles. A firm believer that a book’s lifecycle extends far beyond its launch week, Kristina helps publishers leverage digital tools and community engagement to drive sustained ROI for their books.

Joshua Tallent

Joshua Tallent is the Director of Sales and Education at Firebrand Technologies where his focus is on helping publishers of all sizes learn about, and find solutions to, their workflow and metadata problems. Joshua’s background is deeply rooted in ebook development, metadata, and other publishing technologies, and he is an acclaimed teacher and guide on the role of data and AI in publishing. He serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the BISG Board of Directors and is the host of the BookSmarts Podcast, which features practical discussions and interviews about publishing data and technologies. In his spare time, Joshua enjoys teaching Bible studies, playing complex board games, and fiddling with AI coding projects.

U.S. BookScan 101: Turning Market Data into Business Insights

Join Brooke Borneman, Senior Director, Client Sales & Insights at Circana Books, for an overview of U.S. BookScan, the publishing industry's most trusted source for point-of-sale data. Go beyond your own sales results to gain a deeper understanding of what's driving the market, uncover emerging trends, benchmark performance, and identify new opportunities to grow your business. Whether you're acquiring, publishing, marketing, or selling books, BookScan provides the insights needed to make smarter decisions with confidence.

Brooke Borneman

Brooke Borneman is a Senior Director, Client Sales & Insights at Circana, a leading global advisor on consumer behavior and market intelligence. In her role, she partners with publishers and other industry stakeholders to maximize the value of Circana's data, reporting tools, and market insights by helping clients make informed strategic decisions, uncover growth opportunities, identify emerging trends, benchmark performance, and strengthen their competitive position in the marketplace. A publishing industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Brooke has built a diverse career spanning sales, marketing, business development, and client strategy. She works closely with a broad range of publishing clients, including Augsburg Press, Baker Books, Broadman & Holman, Charisma Media, Christian Art Gifts, Crossway, David C. Cook, Loyola Press, HarperCollins, Intervarsity Press, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, Tyndale House Publishers, Westminster John Knox, Passion Publishing, Our Daily Bread and many others. Prior to joining Circana, Brooke worked at Random House, Dorchester Publishing, Diamond Book Distributors, Penguin Random House and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Practical Advice for Book Publishers on Successful AI Usage

Publishers large and small are struggling to find ways to take advantage of what AI offers while mitigating the risks. This Master Class consists of three conversations with three different publishers on their AI journey- one Christian publisher, one trade publisher and one University Press, all of whom have spent a lot of time and resources evaluating AI for their publishing business. The conversations explore the obstacles to be overcome, the risks and the potential benefits. The takeaway will be tips and practical advice on navigating the journey and minimizing the risks.

Larry Bennett

Executive Director, North America, Nord Compo (moderator)

Theresa Hoffner

Theresa Hoffner is Divisional Vice President of Technology at InterVarsity Press, where she has served for the past four years. With more than 30 years in publishing, Theresa has held a range of roles including technology, print and digital production, marketing operations, and human resources. Her career reflects a deep understanding of how strong operations and technology strategy work together, and how that work ultimately equips the people who carry out publishing's mission. She currently leads IVP's exploration of AI tools, an effort that, like much of the industry, she still considers very much a work in progress.