Founded in 1984, the Midwest Independent Publishers Association, or MIPA, is a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving 12 states. The association serves the Upper Midwest

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

community through education,

Business networking Networking is the sharing of information or services between people, businesses, or groups. It is also a way for individuals to grow their relationships for their job or business. As a result, connections or a network can be built and useful for i ...

, and Community recognition. MIPA's members include printers, distributors, editors, indexing professionals, artists, and designers. MIPA is a regional affiliate of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). Since 1990, MIPA has sponsored the Annual Midwest Book Awards in the categories of the arts, autobiography, biography, business, children (children's literature, non-fiction, picture book), young adult ( young adult fiction, non-fiction), hobbies, education, family, fiction (science fiction,

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

mystery fiction Mystery is a genre fiction, fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains wiktionary:mysterious, mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually prov ...

, romance novel, anthology), health, history, humor,

inspirational fiction Inspirational fiction is a sub-category within the broader categories of "inspirational literature" or "inspirational writing." It has become more common for booksellers and libraries to consider inspirational fiction to be a separate genre, class ...

, nature writing, poetry,

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

, philosophy, culture, and design ( book cover, interior book design,

book illustration The illustration of manuscript books was well established in ancient times, and the tradition of the illuminated manuscript thrived in the West until the invention of printing. Other parts of the world had comparable traditions, such as the Persi ...

, and total book design). In 2010, MIPA awarded the first Pat Bell Award in honor of former board of directors member Pat Bell, who also served on the board of the Independent Book Publishers Association and focused on advocacy for

."Winthrop News" 9/25/13
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References

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External links

Official website

IBPA website
Publishing-related professional associations