Among all of us at the BBBB, we know a thing or two about books, and we want to share our knowledge with you. So from here on out, we’ll distill some advice into a handy little tip each week and post it on the blog. Whether groundbreaking or tried-and-true, we hope the weekly tip will provide you with new ideas for getting your book off the ground–and keeping it there.

We’ll focus mainly on new strategies and resources to help you market your work. Maybe there’s a new book-based social networking site that’s totally hot right now. Maybe there’s a common mistake new authors make when starting their book campaign that we want you to avoid. Or perhaps there’s a small detail about the complexities of book distribution that we think could make your publishing experience a little smoother.

A few teaser tips to whet your appetite:

• New publishers are frequently surprised and confused by the listings for “new and used” copies of their brand-new book on Amazon.com, eBay, and other sites. They are not stolen books or unreported sales. These online “virtual booksellers” are pulling title and inventory information from Ingram’s electronic database feed, and they rarely have the books in their possession. They will order from Ingram when one of their customers orders the book from them, so the publisher still earns their royalties.
• A new site in beta testing, FreeIQ.com, describes itself as the marketplace for ideas. They plan to allow speakers, authors, experts, consultants, trainers, etc. to upload content (audio, video, or print), which the site will then host in its entirety, free of charge. Internet users can then find specialized knowledge from the best people in their field of interest, and the experts get exposure and publicity. Search results are ranked based on quality of content, as determined by users and other factors the people at Free IQ haven’t given out yet. If you have seminars, speeches, or other presentations just sitting around, go to FreeIQ.com and put it to use. The site also allows you to sell your media products through their network of affiliate marketers.
• As a book moves out of production and into the distribution process, the manner in which its page count is tabulated changes. Remember that as a book is being assembled, the printer needs to know the number of physical pages in the book, arranged into signatures. But when a book is complete and moving into bookstores, and as you begin your marketing campaign, it is more important to give consumers an idea of how many pages in your book have printed subject matter on them. To give a better idea of the amount of content contained in a book, use the numbered pages as the page count after production is complete.

But wait! There’s a quicker way to take advantage of the breathtaking scope of our knowledge. Should you come up with a burning book biz question we haven’t yet answered, post it on the publishing Q&A in the wiki section of our site. We’ll promptly answer it. If you stump us, you get a prize: the satisfaction of having stumped us.