I've been writing professionally in Nashville since 1985. With due respect to the above poster, I would forego Songtown and go to NSAI instead. The two guys who run it are peers of mine who I've known a long time (I've written a good deal with Marty Dodson). It's nothing against them personally, but NSAI is a not-for-profit organization, and their website is for-profit.

They absolutely have some good advice, and the above distinction may not matter to you or others, but it would matter (and does) to me, for whatever that's worth. I'm also not trying to slam them behind their backs, as I have expressed the same concerns to them personally.

One last comment, that is purely a semantics correction. You don't "sell" songs. They can be published, recorded, licensed, etc. and that's all good stuff....if you "sell" a song, you relinquish all rights to the song, and any and all future royalties, in perpetuity. You need to be careful as to the language you use, because sometimes songs are in fact "sold", and I would highly, highly advise against EVER doing that.

A book I would highly recommend getting as a source of information on such stuff is "All I Need To Know About The Music Business" by Donald Passman. The current edition (the 10th) came out a few months ago. It is not a "How To" book - think of it like a music business encyclopedia. Passman does a great job of explaining how all this stuff works, in a very conversational way.

Hope that helps.

http://www.rogerbrownsongs.com
http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/roger-brown