
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.

"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.
Here's the official publicity release from Penguin Random House.
Penguin Random
House Australia announces inaugural
National Book Bloggers Forum
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 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
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.