3 p.m.: How the internet helps small presses publish books / Derby / Scott Edelman(M), Mike Walsh, Elaine Corvidae, M.T. Reiten

Scott Edelman: Is it helpful? It's actually damaged one aspect of small press magazine publishing because it's replaced the zine niche.

Mike Walsh: A book that was refused by the big sale chains; SCIFI did nice review, but it was BoingBoing that really drove a sales spike. Also, while not being in a big chain used to be a horrible thing, Amazon now offsets that.

Elaine Corvidae: Growing up in small town, if a book wasn't on a shelf, you really couldn't get it (or not know about it). The benefit of the internet is that sites get exposure. Points that she's publishing her books for free on her site, which fuels sales of print edition.

M.T. Reiten: Internet helps with reach, but challenging aspect is marketing.

Scott Edelman: Seeing authors give away review copies of book or magazine to see if it leads to a buzz.

Scott Edelman: Locus is our New York Times. Everyone wants a review there. Joe Hadleman's always going to get a review there; how do you get one as a small press.

Should you distribute your first book online?

"Why Writing Can’t Be Taught And How To Teach It": Jim Kelly(M), Mur Lafferty, David Moldawer, Lee C. Hillman

What can't you teach?

David Moldawer: A writer's "voice" isn't something that can be taught, it can only be built up like a callous.

Lee C. Hillman: Can't teach how to listen, how to hear, to tell the difference between a sentence that flows and a sentence that doesn't.

Jim Kelly: Reads for MFA program, Clarion Workshop program. Looks at what's sound, what can be helped. What can't be taught: the restless need to write, well done social interactions between characters, the knack jumping into other people's skulls. Ability to learn; some people are just there to meet faculty/writers and aren't willing to learn new things.

What can you teach?

David Moldawer: How to write a book -- how to get into the trenches and write the book. Then how to re-write a book, to cut out chapters, re-write chapters. e.g. cut a scene by removing the first and last page; most times it'll be better.

Mur: Teaching how to edit; how to be cold and analytical. Teach what to cut. Learn the rules -- e.g. show don't tell. Going through as editing, you can realize mistakes and go back and edit.