A running theme at BookExpo America (BEA), the largest book trade fair taking place this week in New York City, is independence. From independent bookstores to independent self-publishers, the fair featured several events to discuss how the independents of the book world can thrive in the highly competitive market of book publishing and commerce. 

On Monday, a panel of international experts discussed how independent bookstores can compete and increase their profile during a time when even large chains like Barnes & Noble are being forced to close operations across the country. Yet online retailers such as Amazon.com continue to do well particularly with the advent of digital books. The panel painted a future that appeared grim for independent booksellers but also discussed tactics that have worked in other countries.  For example, some European booksellers get a boost from "Fixed Book Price Agreement (FBPA)," an agreement between publishers and booksellers to standardize the cost of books has apparently made a difference and gurantees that booksellers are competing not in price but in service. 

The editor-in-chief of Livres Hebdo, vice-president of a French magazine on the publishing industry said, "If you are a bad bookstore, people are not going to come." His point: independent booksellers would be able to compete by offering exceptional service if there was a law that ensured that all book purveyors sold their books at the same price.

Another popular event at BEA was a self-publishing seminar that attracted a large audience and discussed the latest trends of self-publishing. According to the presenter uPublishU, a self-publishing company, 211,269 self-published titles came to the market last year. That number represented a jump of nearly 100,000 from the previous year's number of self-published books.

Unlike independent bookstores and the grave challenges they have to overcome, independent publishing was portrayed as a booming area of book publishing that offered plenty of opportunities for authors to flex their muscle of independence.