~~The Official Blog of Missy Lynn Ryan~~: Publishers

It’s that time again. SXSW is kicking off in Austin today and will be taking over the city for a full week and a half. As a writer, it may seem like this annual event has little to offer. It certainly isn’t an opportunity to do pitches and mingle with agents and editors. But if you are interested in technology, trends in e-publishing, or innovations in the publishing industry in general this could be a great space for you.

If you aren’t familiar with SXSW, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.

What is SXSW?

An annual music festival in Austin TX that has expanded to include a trade show, film competition, conferences, parties and more.

How big is SXSW?

Big. Picture the biggest crowd you can possibly think of willing to venture to Texas for the week and double it. Maybe triple it. It’s not the Super Bowl, but the stats are still impressive:

—There are 92 music stages featuring more than 2000 bands

—The interactive conference (SXSWi) hosts approximately 20,000 people with more than 900 sessions

—An estimated 293 films will be screened to an audience of 66,000 people

—There will be 103 “official” SXSW partiers sponsored over the week and a half.

—There are 74 official hotels!

All in all the event brings in more than 160 million dollars to the Austin economy. Cool, huh?

So why on earth am I writing about a music and film festival that takes place in a city I’ve never visited? Because of those 900 sessions at the interactive conference several of them are focused on publishing, the future of publishing, the technology of e-books and various other industry innovations that as an author I am completely intrigued by.

Over the next week I will be virtually stalking Twitter and Facebook to find out what all these cool peeps attending these sessions are actually talking about. Some of the most intriguing sessions for me include:

If You’re curious check out the following article on the Publisher’s Weekly

Blog: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/conferences/article/50953-sxsw-preview-what-to-see-do-attend-for-publishing-folks-headed-to-austin.html

Or this additional post on ePublish Unum:
http://epublishunum.com/2012/02/the-definitive-digital-authors-guide-to-sxsw-2012/

So every time I run across an appealing market I feel the need to share with my other writerly friends and I couldn't resist getting a little hot and bothered about this one. Thus far I am very impressed with Entangled Publishing and have been looking for something in my own drawer of goodies that is a good fit for what they are publishing. This flirt line might just be the thing. I'll sleep on it.

They are looking for short novellas (10k-15K, which in my opinion makes them short stories, but novellas always sounds cooler) in all types of romance sub-genres to sell for 99 cents.

I have heard nothing but great things about EP thus far and my own interactions with them have been very positive. If your interested you should definitely check out the Flirt Official Guidelines on their submission page.

The Official Blog of Missy Lynn Ryan

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SXSW 2012!!

Market Spotlight: Entangled Publishing Flirt Line

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