More books coming

Librarians pride themselves on following news in publishing and keeping up with the latest trends and the latest books. That task becomes more overwhelming every year. It used to be we only had to browse through the catalogs that came in the mail from major publishers, but now there are thousands of books being published in all sorts of formats. Even for those of us concerned only with children's book, the numbers are growing. Self-publishing is becoming a major trend, making waiting for formal notices even less feasible. One good way to keep up is to follow the blogs and newsletters directed at children's writers and one of the best of these is Alice's CWIM Blog The CWIM stands for Children's Writers and Illustrators Market, the bible of children's publishing outlets. On her blog you'll find notices about editors moving from one house to another, workshops being offered, and general publishing trends such as the move documented by Publisher's Weekly about print-on-demand books outnumbering conventionally published books for the first time in 2008. That's a change that librarians will have to monitor.