This may go without saying—as I believe it is already a well-respected resource—but the beauty of Publishers Marketplace is that it provides valuable information on the publishing industry in a very compact, clean format. If you visit their site, you will notice that the color scheme and layout is very simple, with few or no photos. But, what they lack in extravagant design they make up for in valuable information for publishers, authors, and other industry insiders alike.

You can gain access to Publishers Marketplace in a couple of ways: you can sign up for their free daily e-mail list (if you are an industry professional, like an author, librarian, etc.), Publishers Lunch. It contains snippets of all kinds of valuable info, including job listings and book deals, not to mention some great articles. You can also access their job board for free. A subscription will run you $25 a month (we share a login at my workplace—shhh) but will get you access to all of that PLUS information on deals, numerous publishing articles, sales information through their Book Tracker and contact information for numerous editors, agents, and authors.

I use Publishers Marketplace on a daily basis in a few different ways: to monitor the job boards, to keep current on who’s at what companies (who knows when that information will come in handy), and for analyzing deals and articles to understand what is trending in book genres. It makes me feel like I’m constantly in the know.

For example, because of an email from them the other day, I know that there are discussions related to the Obamas’ writing careers following their departure from the White House. Apparently, President Obama has an obligation to Crown to write another nonfiction book, so that should be interesting. Considering what he got as an advance (it’s not very high for who he is), I wonder if he could write something generic in the non-fiction vein and save his memoir for a higher advance. We shall see how that plays out, but I found the whole discussion intriguing.

They also highlight newsworthy books like you see here:

For more on Publishers Weekly, this article is very informative:
Writers: Why You Need to Join Publishers Marketplace

*Disclaimer: I do not own any of these photos. They are the property of Publishers Marketplace and have been used here as examples of the company’s brand and features.