Professional Development Programs

In addition to our Book Awards program and Annual Conference, PPN’s mission includes providing professional development programs that promote publishing excellence and offer strategies for career and skill enhancement. Our goal is to help others strengthen their personal and professional relationships in the publishing industry.

Monthly Noon Zooms

Each month (unless otherwise announced), we offer members and the public alike topical, one-hour online sessions on broader trends and recent developments in publishing, called Noon Zooms. Each presentation features industry experts who share their experience and insights on specific areas of book publishing: design, editorial, production, sales & marketing, and publicity.

Our Best Practices Series

PPN recently launched a new series within our professional development programming, called Best Practices. The goal of the Best Practices series is to deliver pragmatic discussions that demystify how particular departmental workflows interact, including specific technologies and practices.

Below are recent and past presentations, including our first Best Practices sessions, which illustrate our wide range of topics. (If you have a topic to recommend, please send it to operations@propubnetwork.org.)

(Note: Members have first access to the recordings; nonmembers must wait 60 days after release. Learn about all membership benefits and join today!

Best Practices: Editing, Design, and Production w/ David Zielonka

EDP is at the heart of the publishing process...

Publishing pros know that editorial, design, and production are the heart of the publishing process. Each segment of the process is vital for turning an idea into a book. Whether it’s dealing with the language, layout, or look of a project, each step has its own internal logic and rules for how it meshes with what comes before and after.

This presentation, featuring David Zielonka, is aimed at both long-time EDP professionals and those who wonder what all the fuss is about.

An overview of the basics of editorial, production, and design processes
How each step depends on and supports the other two
Best practices for the development of a successful workflow
Developing and maintaining productive relations: within your group, across departments, and with vendors

David Zielonka is the Director of Editorial, Design, and Production at Stanford University Press, where he oversees a staff of eight individuals in the delivery of 140-plus academic, trade, and crossover titles per year. He started in the book business while still in college, packing books at the then-fledgling Publishers Group West. While searching for a direction early after college, he was handed a copy of the classic book production text, Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production. With that, a 40-plus-year career was born.

David has worked on K-12 and college textbooks (Addison-Wesley, Pearson, Cengage); trade professional titles (Sybex, McGraw-Hill); and, of course, in the university press world (Smithsonian Institution Press, Stanford).

PPN’s 2026 Book Cover Confidential

When book designers judge books by their covers...

What do professional book designers truly think of modern cover design?

When they look at current cover design trends, is their first thought, “Great!” or “Hate!”? Watch seasoned Bay Area book cover designers Nita Ybarra and Mike Nicholls give their rapid-fire hot takes on recent book covers from a variety of genres.

And beyond initial reactions, they’ll discuss what principles of design they’re seeing upheld or ignored. Whether you create cover designs, promote books, or just like to judge a book by its cover, you’ll hear a good review of the fundamentals and see plenty of examples of design that hits (or misses) its mark.

Veteran book designer (and PPN board member) Victor Mingovits leads the discussion, allowing time for audience engagement.

Typography in Book Design w/ Kevin Barrett Kane

Book designers are some of the most rigorous users of type...

With increased interest in type-design programs at design schools and universities around the world, new typefaces are becoming increasingly viable for book design.

Whereas book designers used to rely on desert island typefaces—a single typeface to use for everything—seemingly hundreds of new options emerge each year for even the most robust use-cases.

Yet with all those options, how does one choose what to spend precious dollars on for long-term use?

In this session, award-winning book designer, typographer, and educator Kevin Barrett Kane reveals his personal checklist for evaluating new (and old!) typefaces and presents an earnest call for increased collaboration between type designers and book designers for the present and future of both crafts.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Kevin Barrett Kane co-founded The Frontispiece in 2015 and currently serves as senior book designer at University of California Press. He has designed books and typography for Stanford University Press, Chronicle Books, Wilsted & Taylor, Amazon Publishing, Dzanc Books, and more.

In 2020, he graduated from the Type West postgraduate Type Design Program at Letterform Archive, where he designed Wordcooker with Nurullah Gokdogan. He teaches design practice, theory, and philosophy at Letterform Archive, Stanford University, the San Francisco Center for the Book, Type Electives, the University of Colorado, and more.

He lives in Grand Junction, Colorado, with fellow book designer Emma Christine Hall.

Founded as Bookbuilders West in 1969, the organization was rechartered as PPN in 2012 to reflect the changing nature of long-form content publishing and to embrace all the partnerships that exist within our industry.