Mike Shatzkin presentation at the Writers Digest Conference (going on now) was taped by Christine Katz, The Writer Mama (You Tube), aka @thewritermama See the video, but here are his salient points. 1. Start by organizing your "verticals," the realm of your story, of what your book is about. Know your vertical and know who else is in there. 2. Blog smart. Stick to something reasonably vertical so you audience can connect with you. Include lots of links to your blogpost, which reciprocate signals to those at the other end. This helps build an audience and credibility. 3. Subscribe, for as long as you need it, to PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE (Deal Database), which will make you aware of what agents are selling what kinds of books (subject area) to which publishers. 4. Enhance or supplement your author's page on Filedby, promote your book, especially for self-published books. 5. Search yourself on Google. Set up custom Google searches to learn where you've been mentioned. "Decent deals with publishers are going to be harder and harder to get. But ways to build your own audience are getting easier and easier to find. Writers who wish for the 1970s and the giant deal are going to be disappointed, but writers who put themselves out there, and do the things that I'm describing here, will be rewarded."