Where the Growth Is

From Self-Publishing to Success in Multiple Markets:The Penfield Books Storyby Linda CarlsonWhat keeps a publisher at her keyboard—andcamera—after a careerthat’s already more than six decades long?“A desire to learn, to search, to explore,and to share,” says Joan Liffring-ZugBourret, now in her mid-80s, withmore than 110 titles to her credit—and still turning out books in areas asdiverse as photography, ethnic studies,and humor.“I was so angry Isuggested we startour own publishingcompany to controlthe quality ofprinting.”Liffring-Zug Bourret founded PenfieldPress in Iowa City in 1979 with her latehusband, John Zug. In 2002 the namewas changed to Penfield Books. In herteens, she had been a photographer,and it was that background that led tothe pair becoming publishers. Amongher projects was a book about Iowa artistGrant Wood that an Iowa municipalgallery chose to produce with an inexpensivelow-quality printer.“I was so angry I suggested to John,a former newspaper editor, that westart our own publishing company tocontrol the quality of printing,” sherecalls. “We began with a regional title,The American Gothic Cookbook, usingthe famous couple painted by GrantWood on the cover. We also produceda little collection of recipes from ourannual Fourth of July potluck picnicfor friends and relations. Both bookssold immediately and incredibly well.”Liffring-Zug Bourret, who had alreadybeen creating features about ethnicgroups in Iowa as a contributing editorand photographer for The Iowan magazine,used recipes as a start for the nextproject, an Iowan feature on Czechs thatPenfield expanded with enough recipesand cultural information for a saddlestitchedbook, which sold 5,000 copies.The sales show Penfield’s understandingof its market: At least 30 percentof Cedar Rapids-Iowa City residentsare of Czech descent, the publisherestimates (a Website for Iowa teacherssays that more people of Czechancestry live in Cedar Rapids than inany other city in the world, except forthe Czech capital of Prague), and theNational Czech and Slovak Museumand Library is in Cedar Rapids.No surprise, that first book on Czechsled to more similar titles. Just last month,Penfield launched yet another, CzechTouches, this one with 32 pages of colorin print. A Kindle edition is planned too.Branching Out withContentAfter the initial success of her Czechbooks, Liffring-Zug Bourret pursued16 | IBPA Independent | February 2013