What Are the Classics and Do We Need to Read Them?

This week, we ask the question, do we need to read the classics? As people who work inside the publishing industry do we need to know the classics and if so, why? As authors, editors, and other professionals inside the industry, having a base level of knowledge in the classic pieces of literature gives us the ability to have clear and easy to follow conversations about important parts of literature. We also talk about what makes a classic a classic and whether or not there are instant classics.

Biz Buzz Segment: What Are the Classics and Do We Need to Read Them? (3:27)

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What Are Distributors and Do I Need One?

There is one area of the publishing industry authors do not normally interact with: distribution! But what are book distributors, who do they normally work with, and do authors actually use them? Most independent authors would be surprised to know who their book distributor is. Even if you are self-published your book has a distributor, you just may not have the option to choose a different one. Come learn more about a somewhat hidden part of the publishing industry.

Biz Buzz Segment: What Are Distributors and Do I Need One? (2:36)

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How Readers AND Authors Can Support Local Bookstores!

They say that bookstores are dying. That's not really true and whether you are a reader, an author, or a publisher you can help your local bookstore by buying books online. We discuss the site bookshop.org in this week's Biz Buzz segment. It's not always possible to visit your local bookstore and sometimes you want to support more than just one store, by using bookshop.org you can do just that!

The Bookshop

Peter goes back into the archives for this week's show to bring back his review on The Bookshop. This book takes a closer look at the history of the American bookshop from Colonial times all the way to the recent present and everything in between. Where do you buy your books today?

Plus, he reviews the Kobo app with his book review as this was his first time reading a book on the Kobo phone app.

Biz Buzz Segment: How Readers AND Authors Can Use Bokshop.org (3:13)

Book Review: The Bookshop Review (27:20)

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What Are My Self-Publishing Options?

There are many options authors have to self-publish their book. We begin by defining the term self-publishing and then go into more details about some of the options authors have to self-publish. We cover some of the major players like Amazon, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital but we mention a few newer options as well. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it does cover the major players in the publishing industry. Finally, we offer up a few different red flags to watch out for when working with a self-publisher.

Biz Buzz Segment: What Are My Self-Publishing Options? (3:47)

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Celebrating International Children's Book Day

Happy International Children's Book Day to you! Coming up on April 2, ICBD is a celebration of all things children's books. In this week's Biz Buzz segment, we dive a little deeper into the celebration like why it's on April 2, who puts the celebration together, and how we can all celebrate this day. Plus, we talk a little about the book award that accompanies this celebration - the Hans Christen Andersen Book Award.

Biz Buzz Segment: Celebrating International Children's Book Day (4:22)

Book award episode: And the Award Goes To...

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What Is Poetizer?

In this week's segment, we review the Poetizer platform where poets can share their poems in a social media platform geared specifically towards poetry. Plus, the platform offers poets a way to create and publish a book using the poems they create and share on the platform.

We look at the platform from our experience as publishing professionals and share what we learned and some pros and cons of using the Poetizer platform.

If you are a poet, we'd love to hear about your own experience with Poetizer or if we have missed anything in our poetry disucssion!

Biz Buzz Segment: What Is Poetizer? (2:41)

From Publisher's Weekly - Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks

From The Guardian - "We're Losing Accessibility": the US says goodbye to the mass-market paperback

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Ghost Categories On Amazon

What is a ghost category and why should you stay away from them? Amazon rarely makes it easy for us to understand the inner workings of the website. In this week's Biz Buzz segment we talk about one of the confusing parts of Amazon's website - the ghost category.

When a publisher puts a book on sale, they have the option to select three categories from a prescriptive list. But Amazon doesn't have to use those categories to sell books to it's customers. Often times a publisher (or author) will inadvertently select a category that does not match with the categories on Amazon which places the book into what we call ghost categories.

We talk all about these categories, how to avoid them and even if you should avoid them, and much on in this segment.

Biz Buzz Segment: The Ghost Categories On Amazon (4:45)

From Publisher's Weekly - Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks

From The Guardian - "We're Losing Accessibility": the US says goodbye to the mass-market paperback

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The Death of the Mass Market Paperback

Recently, news came out announcing the death of a popular book format - the mass market paperback. At the end of 2025, the largest distributor of the mass market paperback disclosed they are no longer distributing them to retailers.

So what is a mass market paperback and why are we sad to see them go?

We look at the life of the mass market book and their impact on the publishing industry in this week's segment.

Want to learn more? We've linked two articles down below where we did most of our research.

Biz Buzz Segment: The Death of the Mass Market Paperback (2:04)

From Publisher's Weekly - Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks

From The Guardian - "We're Losing Accessibility": the US says goodbye to the mass-market paperback

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Learn more about The Author's Voice on our website: theauthorsvoice.org