The Secrets of the Book Biz

Welcome, one and all to my first post on my new blog, The Publishing Game. No, I'm not a publishing "insider". I'm not going to have tricks, or dirt, nor can I provide the inside track. So, you ask, what good are you? Aha! What I intend is to provide a clearing house for the information that I gather in my "travels". As a business-minded author of romance and women's fiction, I nose about around this mysterious world. I pick up news and info and rather than keep it all to myself, I'll spread the wealth.

What makes an editor buy a book? Or turn up her nose? Why do some books turn into mega-bestsellers, surprising everyone, author and publisher alike? How do books get to market? What publishers are leading the way with new trends, and which ones are lagging behind? How goes the e-publishing business when compared with traditional? Who's in, who's out, what changes are being implemented that will affect how we authors do business?

And what's up with the agenting world? Who's making the deals, who's hanging out a new shingle and looking for talent?

For those of us breaking out, first-timers or mid-listers, how do our fellow authors score those reading gigs? Where do they come up with the cool and effective marketing tools? How's that internet-thingy work, anyway? Blogs, websites, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, book trailers - what's a technophobe to do in this electronic age of sales and promo?

What's coming down the pike for the book lover? Audio books, e-books, books on your cell phone, new formats, new prices, new imprints. I hope to make this the place to find it all out.

Then there is the fun side of the game - the conferences, contests, winners, losers, movie deals and publicity events.

From the New York Times Book Review, to Publisher's Weekly. Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers, The Writer, Romantic Times, Book and the rest of the people that write about the people who write.

My goal is to gather, like a literary squirrel, all those golden nuggets of publishing goodness, secreting away the interesting bits and tids and provide them to you, along with ideas, advice, gossip, direction and motivation.

Every once in a while, us creative types have to hang up our authors' chapeaux and plunk on our businessman's hats. It's not always fun, but you've got to play nice with the other publishing types, and knowing who they are, what they want, where they work, and how to get to them, can only help smooth the path on your road to literary greatness. So, pull up a chair, hang your hat, and make yourselves at home!