Guest Post: Seth Dellon shares the genesis of PubMatch & a free trial members

Buying and selling rights is a critical element in the publishing industry, driving revenue and exposing authors to new markets.  It also provides access to books we would not otherwise discover and positions the publishing industry as an arbiter of culture and creativity, creating global access to literature, customs, knowledge and more.

The digital age has made communication constant and simple, but not necessarily focused.  Recalling a meeting in 2008 at the Beijing International Book Fair which placed publishers from the US and publishers from China in a room to discuss potential partnerships.  Alas, with little pre-planning, not much was achieved in terms of connecting.  However, that awkward silence did serve as motivation because it was that silent room that inspired the PubMatch—an online arena where publishers, agents and authors from anywhere in the world could have focused discussions dedicated to foreign rights.

Since then PubMatch has grown in to a worldwide community with thousands of members that connect by creating a custom professional profile, listing books they represent and having searchable access to the global rights community.  This enables, a rights buyer from France to find a book from the US with available French rights or an agent with a science fiction title that has available Dutch rights can search for a publisher in Holland that publishes science fiction books, and an author here in the US can find a publisher anywhere in the world.  Soon, through a partnership with the Copyright Clearance Center, people be able to sign the contracts and send the advance within the digital confines of the PubMatch network.

Most importantly, the PubMatch network enables members to plan ahead for fairs like BookExpo America by tagging users that are attending the fair, giving them resources to connect, and providing them with tools to make their onsite experience better. The PubMatch community is growing every day, and adding tools all the time. Take advantage of a free Premium Level trial membership ($79.99 value) for 30 days which gives you full access to all the features Pubmatch has to offer.  Click here PubMatch Trial

Advice Stephen King gave to Neil Gaimen

Someone shared this with me today, I saw myself where Neil Gaiman saw himself 15 years ago and I have decided I am going to save myself those 15 years and just start to enjoy things now....


Neil Gaimen: On advice he got from Stephen King

"What I said in the speech, and what I say in the book, is the most important piece of advice I was ever given that I didn't pay attention to and I wished that I had, came in 1992 from Stephen King at a signing I did in Boston for a Sandman book called Season of Mists. And he came down. He saw the lines stretching around the block. He wanted to take me out for dinner, but the signing wasn't done until 10:30 at night. And I wound up in his hotel room with Steve and his family, and he said, you know, 'This is really wonderful, this is special. You should enjoy this. Just make a point of enjoying it.'

"And I didn't. I worried about it. I worried it was going to go away. I worried about the next story. I worried about getting things done. And there was a point, a good 15 years after that, where I finally started to relax. And I look back and I thought, you know, I could have enjoyed it. It all went just fine; my worrying about anything didn't change anything. ... I should have enjoyed it."