Issuu

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www.PWRBookCAMP.com First, let me congratulate you and your family and staff over the excellent affair you produced. The dinner was truly fabulous,as was the accompanying get-together, photos, etc. The actual award I received was above and beyond what I was expecting, although it didn’t make it through TSA without an explanation. The TSA officer however, was also impressed after his inspection.

Scott Eveloff MD

I wanted to thank you and your family for running such an organized, first-class awards contest and banquet this past weekend. It was thoroughly enjoyable. When my friends and fans see the video snippet of the event, the reaction is typically, “Wow, based on the venue and the production, you really did something there by winning!” Thanks so much for everything,

Paul A. Cicchini

I wanted to reach out to thank you and your team. The dinner and ceremony were a genuinely special experience, and I left New York feeling grateful I had made the trip from Dubai. The evening itself was a wonderful tribute to everything independent publishing represents. Being in that room, surrounded by people who care so much about bringing different voices to readers, it meant a lot to be part of it. Thank you again, Ted. I hope you have had a chance to rest after what I can only imagine was an enormous amount of work behind the scenes.

I want to send a heartfelt thank you for hosting such a wonderful Independent Press Awards. It was truly an incredible experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such a well-organized and inspiring event.

VIP pictures showcased in such a grand way: the BIG screen in NY—are ones I will cherish forever. Thank you again for your dedication to supporting authors and for making the ceremony such a memorable success by including my mother. It was awesome to celebrate with you!

The care and effort you both put into celebrating the author community is evident in every detail. It was an honor to have been recognized among so many talented peers and the memories from the ceremony—including the thrill of seeing the

Warmest regards,

Diana Louise Webb

I want to extend my deepest gratitude to you, Gabby, and the entire team at the NYC Big Book Award committee for recognizing my book – Sower, Gon’s Infinity – as a Distinguished Favorite.

same time. Even though you only met me that weekend, you treated me like an old friend and that made the experience more enjoyable. I am very grateful. Thank you.

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It was especially rewarding to share this evening with my 15-year-old great nieces and co-authors, who can’t stop talking about it...and the next book they want to write! Early in my career, I worked in sports marketing and when honoring some of the top competitors in the world, I saw strong, tough-minded athletes shed tears of appreciation when being recognized for their hard work. Please never forget how much it means to people who work hard, do their best, and get recognized among their peers. It’s the gift of a lifetime.

I enjoyed my time at BookCamp and learned a lot from it. The Awards Dinner was just fantastic! I am glad I was there. It was my first ever Awards Dinner, and I was both nervous and excited at the

I’ll work hard to keep the momentum going and earn my place at another Awards ceremony.

Brice

Rannah Gray

I have had an absolutely fantastic and truly unforgettable time. We all have. It is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I am deeply grateful to you for arranging such a wonderful and meaningful event. And it goes for all of us.

I also want to sincerely thank you for your generosity in offering additional time on Times Square and for the press release, as well. That is truly incredible, and I am so touched by this gesture.

I know you undoubtedly have a million emails, and sorry to add one more, but I felt compelled to extend my gratitude as well in return. Like a lot of writers I’m sure, I have a difficult time getting out of my shell at times (or all the time really), but everyone I met that night was so awesome that it really was a pleasure!

Everything has been handled with such professionalism, warmth, and care, and I genuinely appreciate all the work and heart behind it.

Thank you again,

Thanks for everything.

Warm regards,

Sarah Barry

I wanted to give you a day or two to recover from the big success of the weekend before saying how much we appreciated and enjoyed the awards dinner. In my career, I have produced large events and had the pleasure of attending others and yours was professional, considerate, and entertaining! Every detail was a thoughtful nod to your honorees, and it was so appreciated. My sincere thanks and congratulations to you, Gabby and your entire team.

Also, and perhaps ironically, while being recognized for what to me is easily my proudest achievement, I felt so incredibly humbled to be in the presence of such talent. Anyway, many thanks again (Ted, Gaby, Jack)! Sincerely,

Paris

Ivona Olofsson 2

Milan

PUBLISHER'S LETTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BookCAMP is your compass for the ever-evolving publishing landscape. If there is one constant in our industry right now, it is the sheer velocity of change. From the tools we use to craft narratives to the global deals that bring them to life, the traditional boundaries of publishing are expanding daily. This issue is designed to help you make sense of this shifting terrain and harness its incredible potential. Tackling the elephant in the writers’ room head-on, Nadim Sadek speaks to artificial intelligence in the creative process with his article (and book) Quiver, Don’t Quake. While the rise of AI has sent shockwaves through the industry, Sadek’s forward-thinking for creators and publishers encourages the use of AI as an advanced tool for brainstorming, refining, and scaling creative workflows rather than a replacement for creativity. It’s an honest, balanced look at how to adapt without losing the human soul of storytelling. In our quest to identify changemakers, we sit down with industry trailblazer Kuo-Yu Liang in The Dynamic Dual Dealmaker: Ku Worldwide. This profile feature pulls back the curtain on how modern rights management and cross-border partnerships are being redefined to maximize an author’s reach across multiple formats and territories simultaneously.

Photos and Notes from BookCAMP 2026

Publisher’s Letter

Ku Worldwide, the Dynamic Dual Dealmaker by Jessica Shih

Call for Impact & Influencers: Printed Word Reviews’ Changemakers

Independent Publishing and Industry Insiders Convene at BookCAMP 2026 for Multi-Day Publishing Conference

WEBINAR: Make your Book into a Movie for a Fraction of the Cost.

Quiver, Don’t Quake by Nadim Sadek

Call for 2026 NYC Big Book Award Submissions

Creating Audiobooks on ACX: A Practical Guide by Rick Krueger

Directory Included: BookCAMP’s Publishing Services & Products

BONUS list of 200+ MFA Programs

Audio remains one of the fastest-growing segments in publishing. Rick Krueger’s Creating Audiobooks on ACX: A Practical Guide provides a breakdown to demystify the production and distribution pipeline on the Audiobook Creation Exchange, giving you a blueprint to bring your stories to listeners’ ears.

DISCLAIMER: Book CAMP by Printed Word Reviews magazine, Online format Library of Congress ISSN: 2994-4406 is published 5 times a year. Questions or comments are welcomed, please contact the Publisher Ted Olczak at Ted@PrintedWordReviews.com.

Speaking of creators, how about turning your book into a movie for a fraction of the cost? Join Creatorwood’s Michael Evans webinar on August 5th to see how anyone can easily make that happen. Netflix anyone?

No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without express permission from the publisher.

Finally, navigating this vast ecosystem requires the right partners. Turn to the back of this issue to find our comprehensive Directory: BookCAMP’s Publishing Services & Products. Think of it as your curated rolodex of professionals ready to elevate your next project.

To submit your book for our award programs, visit the websites:

Publishing has never been for the faint of heart, but for those willing to innovate, the opportunities have never been grander. Dive in, take notes, and let’s keep building the future of books together.

Fall 2026: https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/ (More consumer focused; different judging; allows for all authors and publishers to participate; closes every August 15th, winners announced in October of every year.)

Happy reading,

Spring 2027: https://www.independentpressaward.com/ (Independent press and authors consideration; does not permit the big 5 publishing houses to participate; closes December 15th every year, winners announced in March of every year.)

Ted Olczak TED OLCZAK

Publisher, BookCAMP Magazine

To advertise, please contact: Ted@GabbyBookAwards.com or Ted@PrintedWordReviews.com, or visit our website, https://www.independentpressaward.com/advertise

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INDUSTRY FORCE

Ku Worldwide, the Dynamic Dual Dealmaker By: Jessica Shih Ku Takes Root

or veteran literarists like Kuo-Yu (“Ku”) Liang (https://www.linkedin. com/in/Kuoyuliang/), the international publishing landscape is a fast-moving—and his global advisory firm, Ku Worldwide (Ku@Kuworldwide.com), drives deals right at its center. With a 30-year career commanding operations at foundational industry pillars like Random House, Diamond Comic Distributors, and ReedPOP, Liang leverages decades of experience engineering the architecture of global entertainment. Back when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sudden layoff from ReedPOP, Liang bypassed traditional corporate job-hunting to forge an independent path, launching Ku Worldwide in 2021. To execute this transition, he assembled a strategic “kitchen cabinet” of trusted advisors: Emma House, who provided a blueprint for transitioning from the UK Publishers Association to independent consultancy; Jenn Risko, Co-Founder of Shelf Awareness, who urged him to commercialize his expertise independently; and executive coach Diana Scott-Shied, who structured his entrepreneurial business model. Today, Ku Worldwide executes an aggressive, multifaceted strategy, advising on major studio acquisitions, press mergers, and publisher buyouts while anchoring cross-border ventures in new markets. Orchestrating “Ocean’s 11”-Style Operations Within the high-stakes arena of mergers and acquisitions, Liang is the chief architect of an “Ocean’s 11”-style team dynamic, uniting specialized lawyers, accountants, and financial analysts to close complex deals. Within this unit, Liang’s role transcends conventional single-domain consulting by integrating an unparalleled professional network with cross-industry expertise in bookselling, traditional publishing, distribution, licensing, business development, and pop culture conventions. In sales management and multi-million-dollar deal structures, Liang enforces a rigorous culture straddling strategic debate and peer review.

He conducts rapid operation scaling by identifying exactly when a transaction requires a niche specialist, prioritizing collective intelligence and corporate ethos over individual ego to move deals across the finish line faster. Simultaneously, Liang serves as a critical bridge for business owners navigating the isolating transition of M&A. Recognizing that exiting a company built from the ground up can leave founders second-guessing corporate buyers under extreme time constraints, Liang positions himself as an empathetic yet strategic buffer. To do this, he leverages his dual background as a corporate buyer and independent seller to manage the emotional turmoil of an exit, helping founders successfully pivot from treating their business as a personal legacy to evaluating it through a concrete financial lens. Operating across the United States, Europe, Middle East, and East Asia, Ku Worldwide actively de-risks

international business expansions. Liang notes that when Western publishers falter in foreign markets, it is almost always due to a failure to manage granular (localized) operations. To counter the hubris of corporations attempting to run overseas entities entirely from domestic headquarters, Liang poses a sharp diagnostic: “Do you think an international company could successfully operate within the United States without a home-based management team?”

tegic foresight. Decades in the trade have proven his baseline thesis that M&A has never comprised a deterministic set of rules, but human negotiation shaped entirely by emotions, hidden motives, and competing internal agendas. “When you’ve thought of everything, it’s the thing that you didn’t think of that sinks the deal,” Liang states, a sobering takeaway he uses to de-risk deals before they fall through.

True cross-border commercial success requires an acute mastery of regional holidays, shifting time zones, local honorifics, and hyper-specific communication preferences (such as knowing whether an executive requires formal email documentation or a rapid WhatsApp message).

To insulate operations from this market volatility, Liang relies on Kevin Kelly’s mantra: “Don’t be the best. Be the only.” Featured prominently on the Ku Worldwide homepage, this philosophy serves as a daily directive to scale a singular, authentic corporate identity rather than replicate a generic industry blueprint.

This deep understanding of cultural nuances directly influences Liang’s approach to modern media consumption as a frequent moderator for major industry panels on manga and webtoons. Through this lens, he views these formats not as temporary market saturation, but as a structural shift that permanently dissolves traditional borders in how global audiences consume stories.

Looking ahead, Liang positions Ku Worldwide to capitalize on a consumer market defined by an insatiable, immediate demand for narratives. Just as Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube revolutionized media through unlimited digital access, modern storytelling platforms must rapidly adapt to new technical formats. Modern consumers are entirely agnostic about the source—whether a narrative originates from a legacy Big Five house, an independent creator, or a digital app, readers demand compelling content. And so, for global brands like Ku Worldwide, the corporate objective remains definitive: Wherever the next technological frontier emerges, stories will be its very first pioneers.

From Grassroots Foundations to Future Formats While Liang primarily operates at the macro-level of international licensing and M&A, he remains a fierce champion of the publishing industry’s retail roots. As a board member of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) (https:// bincfoundation.org), he secures the financial health of independent brick-andmortar bookstores, cementing these shops as essential community anchors that drive local employment and “locavesting,” or the practice of keeping capital within a community to yield both economic and social returns. In turn, this retail footprint creates the indispensable frontline space where authors and publishers connect directly with readers. Balancing local retail protection with global digital deals defines Liang’s stra-

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Independent Publishing and Industry Insiders Convene at BookCAMP 2026 for Multi-Day Publishing Conference

n April 24–25, 2026, authors, publishers, and literary professionals gathered at the DoubleTree by Hilton near Newark Airport for BookCAMP 2026. Hosted by Printed Word Reviews and publisher Ted Olczak, the multi-day educational conference and networking event aimed to give independent creators the corporate-level strategies and guerilla techniques needed to compete in a rapidly evolving book market.

Beyond the lecture halls, the event served as a high-value networking hub. Authors took advantage of dedicated “Meet the Expert” sessions, scheduling one-on-one consultations with literary agents, printers, marketers and publicists to get direct feedback on their current projects.

The Business Track: Sessions provided deep dives into scaling author brands, licensing global rights, navigating book-to-screen adaptations, and breaking through the logistics required to land independent books onto the shelves of big-box retail giants.

The weekend’s main event took place on Saturday night, April 25, with a joint gala dinner celebrating the winners of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award. Held in the hotel’s Garden State Ballroom, the evening featured a cocktail reception, red-carpet photography, and an awards banquet honoring standout independent literary achievements from creators across the globe. Attendees were from four different continents; and countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, and across the United States.

The Marketing Track: Industry leaders focused heavily on modern visibility tactics, including building publicity and marketing frameworks, Artificial Intelligence, pitching to independent bookstores, securing national media spots, and capturing market share in the booming audiobook space.

With social media feeds on LinkedIn and Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/independentpressaward/, still buzzing with photos of award wins and shared marketing frameworks, BookCAMP 2026 cemented its reputation as a vital annual accelerator for the indie publishing community.

The Writing Track: Craft workshops centered on mastering deep point-of-view, structuring sustainable book series, and understanding the specific elements required to secure a traditional or hybrid publishing deal.

BookCAMP 2027 has been announced for April 9-10, 2027. Tickets available at https://www.ipabookcamp.com/tickets.

The intensive weekend offered attendees a highly focused curriculum broken down into three specialized learning tracks: