inset data to multiple tables

I am trying to find a solution to enter data from a web page to several tables in the same database; actually, I have 9 tables bus several are basically id fields for foreign keys. So far, I have found: "use mysql_insert_id()" - the examples and directions are incomprehensible (to me, anyway) "use several insert statements" - what do you mean by that? The following is what I am trying to use - the first INSERT INTO books works fine. The rest, no. The string $some_fieldIN are values from input statements. $sql1 = "INSERT INTO books ( title, sub_title, descr, comment, bk_cover, publish_date, ISBN, language ) VALUES ('$titleIN', '$sub_titleIN', '$descrIN','$commentIN', '$bk_coverIN', '$publish_dateIN', '$ISBNIN', '$languageIN')"; $result1 = mysql_query($sql1, $db); $sql1 = "INSERT INTO authors (first_name, last_name) VALUES ('$first_nameIN', '$last_nameIN')"; $result = mysql_query($sql1, $db); $sql1 = "INSERT INTO publishers (publisher) VALUES ('$publisherIN')"; $result = mysql_query($sql1, $db); Obviously, I don't understand anything here. Questions: 1. Do we really need the statements - $result1 = mysql_query($sql1, $db); ? Why? What purpose do they serve? 2. How can one use "mysql_insert_id()" to insert data into multiple tables? Why would you need to insert an id - especially since there are only 2 fields in the pulblishers table (above) - id (auto-increment) and publishers? As I ;understand it, when the id field is auto-increment, a simple INSERT INTO publishers (publisher) VALUES ('$publisherIN') works fine (but not above) Can somebody suggest anything? TIA -- Phil Jourdan --- pj@ptahhotep.com http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com