IBPA board member here. Before I joined the board, I was a standard member with no special insights.
The programs and discounts that work for me include:
- Ben Franklin awards. This program is independently judged (professionals in the book industry) and reasonably priced if you are a member. It's a real contest, and most submissions don't make the cut (as I learned the first year I submitted a title for consideration)
- IBPA Independent. This magazine has hugely valuable insights into marketing, distribution, printing, bookstore sales, contracts, and other topics.
- Library catalogs and cooperative advertising at events like the annual ALA conference.
- Ingram discounts. This has saved me thousands of dollars in setup and annual maintenance fees the past few years alone.
- Sample foreign rights agreement. I modified this for a reprinting agreement.
- Total Printing Systems discount. Helped with two short-run digital printing runs for a title I released in 2016.
I have been less impressed with benefits like NetGalley, Grammarly, and some of the cooperative booth discounts at other shows. I don't think this is IBPA's fault as much as the programs didn't deliver value for what I am selling/wanted to do. I.e., getting a discount through another website or organization would have led to the same impression.
There are many benefits I haven't touched but I might be great value to others - a 15% discount on Bowker, NPD Bookscan, ABA Advance Access Program, book fairs targeting children's book markets, etc.
I can't speak to the design services mentioned by @Denise but if you hire professional book designers fees typically run into the thousands - IIRC my book Lean Media cost over $2,000 for cover and interior and another $1000 for pagination. The IN 30 MINUTES series I publish also cost several thousand to design the cover and template in 2015, less for a "refresh" earlier this year. Yes, you can "DIY" (as I did when I first got started, see http://www.digitalmediamachine.com/2012/09/do-people-judge-ebook-by-its-cover.html) or buy/use a template provided by a low-cost service or fiverr, but IMHO they rarely stand out.
Another important aspect of IBPA is advocacy on a range of issues. For instance, we took Amazon to task for taking away the Buy Box from the publisher for new copies. This policy may help sellers with legitimate new copies, but it also lets people with pirated copies, ARCs, or used books pass them off as new to buyers (see examples here and here)
IBPA's ultimate mission is to help publishers of all sizes succeed. They provide a lot of great tools and discounts and networking opportunities for what I consider to be a very reasonable price - some of the discounts basically pay for the membership.
Let's examine the benefits you listed:
- Ben Franklin Awards: It costs $95 to enter, when you are a IBPA member, or $225, which includes a one-year membership. So technically anyone who's interested in the awards will become an IBPA member.
Details here:
http://ibpabenjaminfranklinawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2019BFA_CallforEntries-Brochure-Interactive.pdf So ok, I guess, people who like to pay to enter for for awards could consider IBPA.
- IBPA independent: so it has tips for independent publishers? Are these tips something authors should consider, though, when the association has relations with hybrid publishers and could nudge them towards them?
- Advertisement is paid.
- Ingram discounts - Ingram usually has discount codes. That said, it's possible that perhaps, for someone who publishes a lot of paperbacks through ingram, and makes lots of changes, that IBPA could be worth it.
- Sample foreign rights agreement - I believe you could find it somewhere else.
- Discount for printing - I'd need to see the discount, but most authors use POD. Then again, I could bet my arm that you could find short-run prints for cheaper than with IBPA. I don't have data on that, but most authors use POD.
- Cover Design- Yes, many designers charge thousands of dollars, but indie designers usually charge between $200 and $800 for a cover. Reputable designers like Bookfly or Rebecca Frank charge much less than $1000. Ok, there's a long waiting list, but that's the price. By telling its associates that $2300 is a good deal for a cover, IBPA is doing authors a disservice. Not to mention that the designers listed don't seem to know much about independent publishing. Indie covers need to be different than trad covers. It's not IBPA's fault per se, since I guess they are service provider members, but an association for writers shouldn't be promoting less than ideal designers charging 4x the regular market price.
Advocacy is a good thing. So I guess there's one upside of joining IBPA.
And again, depending on the author's needs, the discounts could be useful.
But then, again, it is an association including the owner of hybrid publisher on its board.
