Northern California Publishers & Authors (NCPA) is an alliance of independent publishers, authors, and publishing professionals in Northern California. Our purpose is to foster, encourage, and educate authors, small publishers, and those interested in becoming authors and publishers.
We support small indie presses, the self-publisher, and the aspiring author with monthly meetings and information on self-publishing, traditional publishing, as well as information on the craft of authorship, editing, and book design. To encourage excellence in publishing and writing, we sponsor an annual book contest with awards in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, and children’s books.
NCPA’s networking forum allows Northern California’s finest writers, editors, publishers, and aspiring self-publishers to connect for advice, shared services, critiques, and lessons learned in the creation, publication, distribution, and marketing of their work.
We started in 1991 as the Sacramento Publishers Association (SPA). The organization was formed by a group of independent publishers who wanted to increase their professionalism by pooling their knowledge and resources. In 1993, the group formalized its structure with officers, and in 1994 held its first awards gala.
In October 2001, we changed our name to Sacramento Publishers & Authors, recognizing that many of our members were authors as well as publishers. In 2004, the change to Northern California Publishers & Authors acknowledged the regional compass of the organization’s membership, with members’ locations extending from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe and from the tip of Northern California to the southern reaches of the Central Valley.
We are a regional affiliate of the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Association of Publishers for Special Sales.