Websites for Author Promotion

The Association of Authors' Representatives holds the occasional panel for industry folks (usually above the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square - no kidding). Last week I attended one on e-platforms and author web-marketing. A few of the social-networking sites mentioned I knew (Goodreads, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc), but a few were new to me, like Library Thing, Shelfari, and Google Profile. These are tremendous tools for authors, who simply must have a strong web-presence to survive.

(For more online book-love, check out Booktumbling, a current pet obsession...)

-JMC

Ants Rule!

How I love this book! The manuscript arrived and it featured only ONE type of killer ant. Ants (being my #1 favorite insect), I happen to know, boast FOUR killer varieties. Nick Nirgiotis revised his manuscript accordingly and STNY sold it to the first editor to see it— fellow insect lover, Mary Cash at Holiday House.

the moral of the story: sometimes you hit an agent's quirk, bingo!