Do you remember my mentioning a couple of months ago that I had submitted a proposal for a Book Bloggers “Room of Your Own” at the BlogHer’10 Conference, and asking for your votes to help get it on the agenda?
Some of us started blogging just to talk about the books we read. Others of us like to talk about the books we read, but don’t really want to build our blogs around them. Most of us probably expected we’d be mostly talking to ourselves – but we don’t, or at least not for very long. We find each other all the time, and great conversations result.
The session did get a decent number of votes – and if you contributed to that, thank you! – but not quite enough to make it on to the agenda. However, my proposal was one of several ROYO ideas concerning to the books-and-blogs relationship, and that got BlogHer’10’s team thinking about how to accommodate the topic. Here’s what they came up with:
The Evolving Publishing Ecosystem: We’ve had a Book to Blog session every year since 2006, and the topic is obviously still hot, as there were about half a dozen different submissions around the topic. So, how can we tackle this perennial favorite in a new way? By talking about the new publishing ecosystem, in which the lines between writer, critic and publisher have become irrevocably blurred.
We all know bloggers want to become authors. But with traditional publishers spending less and less on marketing, authors must now become marketers, and that means they must become bloggers too…sometimes they take to it eagerly, sometimes dragged kicking and screaming. Add to the mix how much easier than ever it is to self-publish and the book bloggers who are now being wooed by publishers and even authors directly, and you’ve got a new publishing eco-system.The solitary pursuits of writing and criticism are now transparent and sometimes even crowd-sourced. And more authors and critics are now not only the content producers, but their own publishers and business development representatives. The lines are decidedly blurred. But the opportunities seem so much more accessible than ever. We will dig into it all in this session featuring Kamy Wicoff from She Writes, book blogger Florinda, marketing expert Penny Sansevieri, and others from part of the new publishing eco-system.
I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to be part of this session. Since it will be a panel discussion and the panel members don’t all know each other yet, I don’t know exactly how we’ll develop our content, but I’m excited about working with this team and looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. If you have input or suggestions, please feel free to share them via e-mail (3.rsblog AT Gmail DOT com).
Today’s my birthday, and I found out about this at just about the right time to consider it one of my gifts – I’ve just been waiting till the official announcement so I could share it with y’all!
