It's hard to process everything that goes on in a conference session when you're one of its presenters, and the time goes by a lot faster. Fortunately, my BlogHer'10 panel, "The Evolving Publishing Ecosystem," was liveblogged, so I won't be making this post into a blow-by-blow recap; there will be some of that, but it'll also include my impressions upon reflection, particularly as the content relates to book bloggers.

Aside from a conference call last month, my panel members never did a chance to get together ahead of time to map things out, but I made a trip down to Greenwich Villlage on Thursday night to attend a meet-up for members of She Writes and meet our panel moderator, Kamy Wicoff. She was very prepared, and from where I sat, things seemed to run well - no dead spots in the conversation, and no serious arguments either.

Part of the "evolution" of publishing is that self-publishing has become a much more viable, acceptable option for writers who aren't making inroads with traditional publishers (for whatever reason). But along with self-publishing comes a lot of self-marketing, as discussed by panel member Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts, whose company provides both self- and traditionally-published authors with services to help them do that. Then again, due to shrinking publicity staffs and budgets, even authors whose books have been published traditionally - such as panel member Carleen Brice, whose debut novel Orange Mint and Honey was published by Random House, and Kamy herself, whose last book was published by Da Capo Press in 2006 - have to do nearly as much work on their own to promote their books. At one point, a member of the audience who works for a traditional publisher perceived a bias against them from the panel and spoke out in their defense. As a non-industry person, I don't really have a stake in this particular debate, but as a book blogger and reader I admit to a general preference for books that aren't self-published, and based on what I've seen in some review policies, it isn't just me. Some of us have been burned by poor quality and/or overly-invested authors who took a less-than-rave review personally.

Regarding the challenges getting published the "old-fashioned" way these days, it was noted in the session that what primarily drives decisions in traditional publishing is anticipated sales to bookstores; they're the publishers' direct customers, not readers. As this is part of what's fueled the boom in self-publishing, there was a pretty apt comparison made to major-studio movies vs. indie films. However, I'd suggest that readers - including book bloggers - can influence this way of doing business, and examples of major publishers picking up originally self-published titles like The Lace Reader and Still Alice are an indicator that we do. Good word of mouth, which is likely to include support from book blogs, will send readers to bookstores looking for the books that they're hearing about...which can drive the bookstores to order and sell them. It was also mentioned that, while many book bloggers would prefer to see those sales happen at indie bookstores, publishers usually pay more attention to sales activity on Amazon, and will encourage (sometimes require) authors to link there to build their sales rank. Even so, most websites will include purchasing links to IndieBound or a major independent bookstore, as well as the major chain bookstores, in addition to the big A, so that they don't miss a sales opportunity.

As for my part, all I really remember is the times I stumbled over my words, which is why I blog and don't do public speaking! However, I hope I got something across about book bloggers' role as a resource for readers and authors, which was my personal goal in participating. And in the spirit of the book-blog community, I really appreciated Melissa (of The Betty and Boo Chronicles, and my BlogHer'10 roommate) and Gayle (from Everyday I Write the Book) speaking up during the panel and elaborating on that. Melissa mentioned Book Blogger Appreciation Week as a resource for finding book blogs by niche, and Gayle suggested finding blogs that focus on your literary niche of interest by searching for reviews of books you've read and liked within that niche or genre. The Book Blogs Search Engine, a customized Google search, is particularly useful. Search out reviews of books you've read, and then explore what else that blog has to offer. Check out other blogs from its blogroll, and before long you'll have a list of go-to book blogs - then, if you're like me, you'll keep finding more and more blogs to go to until that list is well into the hundreds! Book blogger Beth Fish has also compiled an excellent listing of review databases and aggregators
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By the way, it's hard to answer the question "There are SO many book blogs - which ones should I start with?"...because there ARE so many book blogs, and it depends on what your emphasis is. Author Gretchen Rubin stumped me a bit with that that question, to be honest, but it was indeed a good one - the preceding paragraph is my attempt to give her a better response. (But clearly I missed the opportunity to say, "Well, mine, of course!")

Rebecca Schinsky of The Book Lady's Blog recently made me aware of a new source for connecting authors and bloggers, PressFinder. Book bloggers can add themselves blog as "Local Media Contacts" in the "Book Bloggers" category at no charge (I've applied to be listed as one for Los Angeles), and authors traveling in support of their books - or who are seeking out book bloggers in a particular metro area for any reason - can easily find them.

Speaking of authors finding book bloggers...after the panel, Melissa and I talked with Kamy about developing more of a book-blogger presence in the She Writes community, and we're going to work on ways of doing that. After all, as most of us have noticed, one thing that the publishing ecosystem is evolving into is a place where the connections between readers and authors are more direct.