Book News: PMA Executive Director Jan Nathan Dies

-- Library Journal, 7/3/2007 6:36:00 AM

Indie-book champion Jan Nathan, executive director of PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, since 1983, succumbed to cancer June 17 at age 68. PMA was an outgrowth of Jan Nathan & Associates, a company she formed to manage a group of 15 Southern California publishers. That operation grew into the Publishers Marketing Association, later renamed PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, which is the largest association of independent publishers in the United States. PMA represents 4200 book, audio, and video publishers, assisting them with marketing their titles to the trade (bookstores, libraries, reviewers), presenting educational seminars to assist publishers in understanding all aspects of the business, and acting as an advocate for publishers’ rights. Former PMA President Howard W. Fisher said Nathan “gave independent publishers a voice and support in an industry dominated by large publishers. She was the right person for the time in creating a national vision. The beginnings of this group coincided with the first desktop publishing computers that created an explosion of publishers, all who needed help growing every aspect of their business.”