BL,

I, too, love what Harper Collins Teen FanLit is doing. It's a great way to engage both its current audience of readers and kids who may discover the joy of writing and reading from this contest.

As for publishers and marketing: It comes down to dollars and sense (cents). Most books lose gobs of money, and publishers operate on relatively thin margins.

Lewis

I maintain that publishing, as an industry, does a terrible job of promoting their titles.

That's why I find this so interesting and exciting. And I'm sure a lot of authors will breathe a sigh of relief to realize that at least one publisher is seeing the light of new media's promise.

B.L.

I wouldn't get too excited. Children's and teen books make money. It isn't unusual for publishers to promote them. At least that is my expereince from when I served as an editor at a large publishing house.

In the adult book market, unless our names carry cache with the audience, we, the authors, remain primarily responsible for marketing our books.

I have been preparing my campaign for nearly six months, and the book doesn't publish until the spring.

Lewis

Of course authors have to take responsibility for promoting their books and not sit back and wait for the publisher to do it all.

But most books get mediocre promotion at best.

What's exciting about this campaign is that a major publisher is trying new media tools and collaboration to get some buzz going.

That's new, that's exciting, that's wonderful!