Oops

How embarrassing to see that people have been checking this blog with some frequency but I haven't been updating it. Sorry.

So as you've seen from Lunch, I've been thinking a lot about RSS feeds these days, and ways to push Marketplace information to people selectively. I guess part of my late awakening comes from the integration of RSS into the new My Yahoo page (which I use frequently to aggregate a lot of other content), along with the simple RSS Bookmark feature in the just-released Mozilla Firefox browser.

If you haven't switched to Firefox yet, by all means you should immediately. Bugs that had bothered me, and made it hard to use on a Mac in some of the more recent betas, have gotten fixed, and it continues to be the fastest, most elegant, and most useful browser out there.

So first up for us was the Job Board RSS feed. Next, we've just added a feed from the Rights and Proposals Board. And of course many of our own PM.com bloggers are monitored by RSS now.

Most of the subscriber-only content doesn't really work for individual RSS syndication, but we are working on pumping it out to corporate users for their intranets, which should be very handy.

We're thinking of using XML to put together other syndicated bits -- Lunch news headlines, maybe a deal of the day, or a review -- that webmaster could integrate into their own sites.

As of next week, we'll have a short, public version of Lunch posted, and I imagine we'll add RSS functionality there, too.

Does anyone care? Do you have other ideas of what we should be doing? Please share.

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Blogs for All

We're officially finished with the beta phase of our new Blog page template, so now any PM.com member can take advantage of this option.

Already our few test bloggers have consistently made the Most Visited Pages list and are posting terrific stuff. MJ Rose is conducting a very interesting and provocative discussion about marketing books, and she's joined by the likes of Mark Sarvas (highlighting his outside blog The Elegant Variation), John Kremer, and longtime member Jerry Hatchett.

Not to be too self-serving, but Hatchett just posted recently: "An agent who saw a lengthier version of my blog that I have since...uh...compacted...took the time to click the link to a sample of my writing. He was impressed enough to ask for and read some more of my work, and after a discussion that went well, I signed with him for representation.

There's truly nothing else on the web like PM, no other place where writers actually have the chance to be seen by genuine publishing pros."

To start blogging, you need to "Edit your role" from the Your Account page, and change your primary category to Blogger. Then when you go to the page posting tools on the Your Account page, you'll have access to our Blog templates.

If you want to switch back to a regular page later on, your earlier PM.com will be archived.

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It's Not Just for Authors

Of course we hope and expect that many authors will want to use our new easy blogging format. But we see it a great way of exponentially expanding the circle of trade information that Lunch/Marketplace can present to the community.

We may take some concrete steps to that end to encourage/promote blogs from a few insiders in various parts of the business. But consider this a clarion call to all!

Also, even if you're already blogging outside of PublishersMarketplace, you can set up a "mirror" blog here within our system to help bring more traffic from within the publishing business.

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The Blogging Begins Now

This is my first sample entry in the new blog template we're adding to PublishersMarketplace any day now.

For months now, I've wondered aloud why more authors (and their publishers) don't establish blogs to connect with readers. Since we like to put our programming where our mouths are, we decided to create our own PM.com blog format.

We're very consciously not trying to replicate all of the features that come with Typepad or Moveable Type or other true blogger programs. What we've done is modify the simple forms that we've already used to help thousands of publishers and publishing professionals to post great looking web pages, with the needs and format of blogs in mind.

So you can easily post a sequence of dated entries, with links and personal commentary. And you can save your "best stuff" at the bottom of the blog.

On the left, you can post an image -- or yourself, a logo, a book jacket -- and you can add captions and links (like affiliate buying links at bookselling sites).

On the right, you can post your own list of recommended blogs. Updating is easy, and the page can hold lots of copy.

Unlike other blogs, we can help bring you the attention of the publishing community. Once enough bloggers start posting, we'll list the "Most Visited Blogs" on our home page, and "Recently Updated Blogs" on the Find Members page. And when we find interesting content on a PM.com blog, we'll link across from Publishers Lunch.

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This blog is compiled by the same team of chefs who prepare Publishers Lunch every day.