I had a great time at the writer’s conference in New York. There were many industry professionals willing to share their insight about the changing publishing climate. Here are five points I’d like to share with you.

1. When you’re just starting out don’t worry about publicity (a website is fine, a publicist is too much). Focus your energy on getting published. After publishing a few books it is up to you whether you believe you have the time and money to hire a publicist.

2. The Young Adult (YA) market is booming.

3. Agents are looking for ‘great’ books not just good ones. This means work on your craft and try to write books that stand out from the crowd. Agent Lori Perkins talks about this on Agent in the Middle.

4. Print books won’t die, but no one can ignore the growing popularity of ebooks.

5. Trade paperbacks are growing in popularity and more and more publishers are growing their authors in this format instead of hardcover.

On another note HarperCollins is trying a new publishing model where they will not offer advances to writers. Read more about it here.