This is the view outside our hotel room in St Pete, so you can tell we’re not suffering too much here at the Novelists Inc conference. We’re in a gorgeous setting, though most of what I’ve seen so far has been the inside of the big ballroom where we’ve had fascinating panel after fascinating panel today, all discussing the future of publishing. So much is changing so rapidly! Did you know that for every 100 mass market paperbacks sold this past year, 57 e-books were sold? The number is slightly less for hardcover, but still significant and only growing. That’s just one of many tidbits I learned today.

It’s been 5 years at least since my last NINC conference and it’s so good to see old friends and catch up with everyone. (I bet some of your favoite authors are in the picture to the right!).  I hadn’t seen Emilie Richards in so long, though thanks to the Internet, we’ve never lost touch. The last panel today had Joe Konrath, King of the Ebook, who always cracks me up. A couple of people from my publisher are here on panels as well as Al Zuckerman, founder of my agency. The thing I love about a NINC conference is that the participants are all multipublished authors, so it’s much more about the business of writing than the craft (although there’s certainly some of that). The atmosphere is more positive and upbeat than I’ve seen at a writers’ conference in a long time, though I think we’re all a little overwhelmed as well. Three more days to go. Can’t wait to see what I learn tomorrow!