Dan Poynter

Dan Poynter first connected technical expertise with independent publishing through aviation manuals. He began in aviation as a parachute designer and founded Para Publishing in 1969, initially producing manuals on parachutes and skydiving. His 1979 Self-Publishing Manual became an influential guide for authors managing their own books, and he later produced Writing Nonfiction as a practical system for researching, organizing, drafting and choosing a publishing route. Poynter helped found the Publishers Marketing Association, now the Independent Book Publishers Association, which named him its 1992 Benjamin Franklin Person of the Year for lifetime achievement. The International Skydiving Museum also inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2012.