Rewards from Reviewing!

I'm a writer, first and foremost, before anything else to do with publishing. However these days you have to be more than a writer in a corner. A writer is also a marketer and business person, whether they take the self-publishing route or are published through a publishing house.

One of the things I love most about social media is connecting with readers and fellow bloggers. My great fortune through reviewing is to e-meet publicists from all the big five publishing houses and many others houses, large and small, as well as many of the authors I interview or whose books I review. Reviewing, I believe, is a worthwhile venture as not only have I learned a tremendous amount about the publishing industry, but I think its good karma to help other authors. You never know what lies in your future.

Sometimes though it can be frustrating because blogging, tweeting and everything else associated with the business side of my writing can chew into my creative time, and the writing is the reason I'm here. It's my greatest joy after my family. 

But there are moments when putting yourself out for others brings extra reward. A few weeks ago that reward arrived in the form of an email from the lovely Kirsty, one of Random House's publicists.

"Would I like to come to the Penguin Random House Australia's inaugural National Book Bloggers Forum?" 

After the happy dance and the jumping for joy, I managed to breathlessly type my acceptance. So wonderful readers I shall be winging all the way from Perth over to Sydney on Monday 19th May to attend the conference on the 20th.  Stay tuned I will be tweeting, facebooking and blogging live from Sydney and the conference on #NBBF14.

Here's the official publicity release from Penguin Random House.

Penguin Random House Australia announces inaugural
National Book Bloggers Forum

Penguin Random House Australia has just announced the inaugural National Book Bloggers Forum – a first-of-its-kind conference being held specifically for book bloggers in Sydney on Tuesday May 20.

Random House Australia Marketing and Publicity Director, Brett Osmond, said the free, one-day forum has been developed to foster a closer working relationship with the growing book blogging community.

“In this constantly-evolving media landscape, readers now get their information from many different platforms and as part of this we recognise that blogs are an increasingly important source of information and entertainment,” Mr Osmond said.

“The National Book Bloggers Forum will be a collaboration between the growing book blogging community and Penguin Random House – we want to share news about our books and authors with leading bloggers and equally want to hear what bloggers would like to see from us too.”

The conference, coinciding with the opening day of the Sydney Writers Festival, will feature surprise guest authors, insights from publishers and sessions on blog promotion, as well as an open forum in the afternoon for bloggers to discuss whatever they see fit.

Winner of the 2013 Best Australian Blog Competition and Random House Australia author Sneh Roy is just one of the day’s guest speakers.

“This conference is a fantastic opportunity for bloggers to hear from publishing insiders as well as learn some best-practice tips on blogging,” said Ms Roy, author of the Tasty Express cookbook and the Cook Republic blog.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of the first-ever National Book Bloggers Forum and I cannot wait to share my own blog-to-book journey with other Australian bloggers.”

Bloggers not able to attend the conference can keep up with the conversation on Twitter by using the #NBBF14 hashtag or following @RandomHouseAU. The full program for the forum will be announced in coming weeks.

About Penguin Random House Australia

Penguin Random House is the world’s first truly global trade book publisher. It was formed on 1 July 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent company, owning 53% and 47% respectively. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.