By Brandy Wilson
Insight Staff Writer

Elizabeth Weise has three words for aspiring fiction authors to consider: vampire lesbian novels.

"Book 'Em: Getting Published" panelists. (Tracy Swatfager/Insight)

Weise, a science reporter for USA Today and adviser at Ted Weinstein Literary Management, was one of five panelists at Saturday's "Book 'Em: Getting Published."

The panel was moderated by Bob Smith, a stand up comic and author of "Selfish and Perverse," a romantic comedy about a burned-out TV script supervisor who goes to Alaska with three friends. The other panelists were Dan O'Connell, a literary agent with the Strathmore agency; Trebor Healey, author of "Sweet Son of Pain," a collection of homoerotic poetry and editor of "Queer and Catholic"; Kim Powers, novelist and producer for ABC's Good Morning America; and Noël Alumit, author of the L.A. Times bestseller "Talking to the Moon."

According to the panelists, there's good news and there's bad news: Journalists are both advantaged and disadvantaged when it comes to publishing a book.

The disadvantage, O'Connell said, is that journalists tend to write short.

"You have to learn to write long and tease it over 300 pages," he said.

The advantage is that journalists are a step ahead of most writers because they already have stories in print.

"Do readings, go places," Healey said.

Their opinions differed on the benefits of self-publishing. Healey and Smith believe that authors could often sell more on their own, but Powers said that self-publishing can sometimes work against you.

"I'd be surprised if you could sell without an agent," Powers said. "Wait until you've exhausted all options."

The panelists also agreed that finding representation can be difficult.

"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy finding an agent," Alumit said.

Healey had a slightly more optimistic view on it.

"Finding a publicist is like finding your life partner," he said. "There are a million ways to do it. But you can't just say 'I've been on dates with millions of guys that like me' so you should just sign on."

Other tips:

• Choose topics that will be relevant in two years because that's the typical delay between writing a book and its being released.

• Know your market.

• Research the publishers you send your query letters to.

• Build relationships with bookstores and book clubs

• Building a Web site, blog or MySpace page

"There was a good diversity of approaches," said Sophia Wallace, a photographer looking to publish a photo book on butch lesbians and female-to-male transgendered people.

"I took a whole page of notes, and I'm ready to try the Web sites they cited," said Dave Brousseau, syndicated cartoonist of the comic strip "A Couple of Guys."