Whether you’re a freelancer building relationships with publishers or an in-house employee seeking a reliable network of collaborators, this conversation between experts provided a thoughtful perspective on what makes partnerships and projects truly thrive.

At its core, the success of publishing relies on communication and lasting collaboration amongst professionals. During this event attendees gained insight into cultivating strong, sustainable relationships between in-house publishing teams and freelancers in order to problem solve, manage tasks and execute successful projects together!

The recording is available on the members-only section of our website.

Is “Project Manager” in your job title? Even if it’s not, your success in publishing likely hinges on expert execution, which means you’re managing projects.

In today’s fast-paced publishing environment, project management principles are no longer confined to a single role. Whether your official title is Editor, Managing Editor, Production Manager, Content Strategist, Digital Coordinator, Marketing Specialist, or Publicist, the ability to shepherd complex projects from concept to completion is essential for success.

MBPR spoke with three seasoned publishing professionals as they shared their most effective, real-world tools and strategies for navigating the complexities of modern publishing.

Thank you to our panelists for a lively discussion of project management strategies! Members can listen to the full discussion in the Resources area on the MBPR website.

How will people find this book? To whom should we pitch it? When do we need to launch the campaign? What can small press publicity teams do to amplify their impact?

These questions are just a few of the many that small press publicity, marketing, and sales teams ask every day. With small budgets and a frequently changing media landscape, getting the right book coverage (whether in trade reviews, articles, excerpts, awards, influencer posts, or author appearances) is more difficult to navigate today than it has ever been. For our first in-person event of the 2025–26 season, MBPR hosted a panel to hear from three savvy and experienced local publishing PR experts as they discussed core tenets and fresh insights of book discoverability and helped us focus on the most important practices of book publicity planning today.

The panel discussion was followed by a brief Q&A.

Members can listen to the full discussion in the Resources area on the MBPR website.

For our final in-person panel of the year, Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable convened booksellers from our most dynamic community-oriented bookstores, including Big Hill Books, Milkweed, Black Garnet Books, and Wild Rumpus, to share their perspectives on supporting the diverse reading communities upon which all our work depends.

Discussion topics included:

• The place of bookstores in Minnesota’s reading and educational ecosystem
• The efforts of booksellers to meet current readers and recruit future ones
• The role of bookstores as a stable haven for diverse perspectives
• What publishers and those in publisher-adjacent fields can learn from booksellers’ local perspective on the reading public

The panel discussion was followed by a brief Q&A.

Members can listen to the full discussion in the Resources area on the MBPR website.

Work to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in publishing is both essential and ongoing. But many discussions of DEI efforts focus on large corporations with established programs. On March 19, the Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable hosted a virtual panel discussion specifically focused on strategies that smaller companies can use. A panel of experts from across the industry discussed practical action steps and highlighted ideas and initiatives with proven success in the past. There was also a brief Q&A.

Due to technical difficulties, a recording of this webinar is not available.

This event was presented in partnership with the Professional Editors Network (PEN), www.pensite.org.

MBPR and PEN welcomed Russell Harper, principal reviser of The Chicago Manual of Style, for a discussion of the 18th edition! Harper detailed decisions behind some of the more significant changes in the new edition. This in-person event also included a Q&A opportunity.

Russell Harper has served as principal reviser of the last three editions of The Chicago Manual of Style, including the 18th, published in 2024. He is also the editor of The Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A and the CMOS Shop Talk blog and contributed to the 8th and 9th editions of Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Before working on The Chicago Manual of Style, Russell was a manuscript editor in the Books Division at the University of Chicago Press; before that, he worked in printing and typesetting.

Members can listen to the full discussion in the Resources area on the MBPR website.

MBPR’s March webinar, Agents: Unclassified, featured agents Eric Smith (P.S. Literary) and Jennie Goloboy (Donald Maass), alongside Mari Kesselring, a former acquiring editor and a current publishing manager (Girl Friday Productions). The panel shared insightful information about career paths, agent services, and best practices for managing relationships with (and between) authors and publishers.

Eric Smith is a literary agent with P.S. Literary and has worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. His recent novels include the YALSA Best Books for Young Readers selection Don’t Read the Comments (Inkyard Press, 2020), You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press, 2021), and the anthology Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, 2021), co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi. His latest book, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, was written with Alanis Morissette, Academy Award-winner Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, and is an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award-winning musical.

Jennie Goloboy is a literary agent at the Donald Maass Literary Agency, specializing in science fiction and fantasy, and history for a popular audience. She’s also a writer, and her most recent book, Obviously, Aliens, was published by local press, Queen of Swords. 

Mari Kesselring has more than a decade of experience in publishing. She started her career editing educational books for young people and guidebooks for early childhood educators. From 2016 to 2021, she managed the Flux and Jolly Fish Press imprints for independent publisher North Star Editions, acquiring and editing young adult and middle grade fiction. Mari has edited several award-winning books, including Before We Were Blue, Surrender Your Sons, and The Art of Running Away. Currently, Mari works for Girl Friday Productions, helping authors achieve their dream of publication.

Members can listen to the full panel discussion in the Resources area on MBPR website.

MBPR is grateful to have had Andrew Williams as our keynote speaker for a webinar about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Hiring and Retaining Employees. Andrew discussed strategies for companies to foster a diverse workforce and encourage inclusivity at all levels of employment. He also spoke about ways to proactively source candidates from underrepresented communities and promote diversity in job postings.

For twenty-five years, Andrew Williams has worked at the intersections of cultural anthropology, educational equity leadership, community-based learning, and global education to advance racial justice, environmental justice, food security, and health equity in the United States and abroad. Williams has served as faculty at DePauw University, as Director of the Posse Foundation, and as Executive Director of the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs. Before his arrival at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Andrew was Assistant Vice-Chancellor at the University of Minnesota Rochester providing strategic leadership for efforts to center access, equity, and public health in the university’s vision of health sciences education. As the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s first Director of DEI, Andrew leads the execution of the organization’s DEI strategy, including efforts to build an inclusive and diverse workforce, expand access to treatment services, and advance health equity.

Members can listen to the full panel discussion in the Resources area on MBPR website.

MBPR was pleased to welcome keynote speaker Claire Cucchi for a thorough introduction to data privacy as part of our November 2022 webinar. She guided a discussion on data privacy’s increased importance, a review of the collection and sharing of data, and steps companies can take to build and/or improve their data privacy programs.

Claire brings over 20 years of senior-level operations experience to Capstone, a leading content creator for digital solutions, children’s books, and literacy programs for school libraries, classrooms, and at-home reading. Before joining Capstone, where she currently serves as the company’s Data Privacy Administrator, Claire designed, implemented, and maintained the data privacy program for Buncee, a digital creation & communication tool for students, teachers, and administrators. There she ensured that Buncee maintained compliance with contractual obligations as well as federal, state, and international regulations. Claire continues to prioritize the protection of personal information by driving process change and privacy-driven policies, in addition to supporting practices that provide transparency, data minimization and limitation, and an individual’s right to control the use of their personal information. Claire studied International Business and Finance at American University in Washington, DC, and also served as a council member for the Eastern Suffolk BOCES School Library System.

Members can listen to the full panel discussion in the Resources area on MBPR website.

To kick off our 2022–2023 season, MBPR hosted an in-person event at Open Book, our first
since spring of 2020! Our panel featured three paper and printing professionals discussing, of
course, paper, printing, supply and demand, and scheduling, and their effects on the local
publishing industry.

Elizabeth Cleveland represents the US Midwest for Friesens Corporation, a Canadian-based
book manufacturer. At the age of twelve, Elizabeth knew she wanted a career in books. She
visited her dad at work and watched as he deliberated over covers for a catalogue. It was the
coolest thing she could imagine, picking a cover for a book! She likes to think she’s continuing
her dad’s legacy by representing such a professional company as Friesens, which genuinely
understands the importance of high-quality book-making. Elizabeth is based in the Twin Cities,
where she’s lived her whole life, and has worked in various print and publishing roles.

Rachel Holscher is the director of design & digital publisher services at Bookmobile in
Northeast Minneapolis. She has been with the company for twenty-three years and oversees
design, layout, print buying, and eBook conversion and distribution. The design & digital team
works with a wide array of publishers and authors in a variety of ways, from full production and
print management to providing a few of their services on an à la carte basis. They are grateful to
partner with wonderful publishers in Minneapolis such as Graywolf Press, Coffee House Press,
Milkweed Editions, Gryphon Press, Button Poetry, and the University of Minnesota Press.

Dave Lundell is a specification representative at Anchor Paper in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and has
been with the company for more than sixteen years. His main focus is working with the design
community on solutions for packaging and printing paper projects. He also runs the sample
department at Anchor and works closely with mill reps in an effort to find the best paper for each
job.

Members can listen to the full panel discussion in the Resources area on MBPR website.