Publishing News Roundup Series: What Does the Expansion of Indie Conferences Mean for Publishers?
by Maureen Crisp • December 4, 2019 • Follow
Published in News • No comments
Indie publishing is taking charge in regards to conferences.
As indie publishing expands its reach, it is beginning to mimic traditional publishers. Conferences are expanding and the indie community is growing. As more and more authors and readers turn to the indie community, what will need to change?
Sustaining The Words
This week was ‘the after week’ of one of Indie Publishings biggest conferences, 20 Books Vegas. Nearly 1000 indie authors and publishers got together to look at best practice and share thoughts about publishing. Already the plan is to significantly ramp up the conference for November 2020 with news today that it will expand to 1500 attendees. After 20 Books, attendees go home heads stuffed with learning and plans, they share their thoughts and takeaways on social media. To give you a little sample- here is a link to Dean Wesley Smith’s keynote on having a sustainable writing career. Absolutely must watch!
The Returns system is often called flawed because it can encourage waste of epic proportions. Publishers are locked into big publishing runs and then Booksellers get locked into taking huge amounts of books, which they can’t sell so they get returned for a credit at the publishers. Often those books are in such a poor state they need to be dumped or pulped… a scheme ripe for graft as one enterprising bookseller, now in court, found out.
If by lucky chance the books are returned in good condition they can be on sold quietly to Big Bad Wolf- A book retailer in Asia known for the huge discount booksales fairs. BBW have just celebrated 10 years in the business with the startling prediction that in the next 5 years they WILL be selling 1 billion books.
The New Publishing Standard have been trying to find out just how big the book market is in China. All indications are that the market is seriously underrated. If you take Amazon and their bookselling dominance and then look at Alibaba- the eastern equivalent- they must sell books as well. The fact that Alibaba recently clocked up 1 billion dollars in sales in 68 seconds-( yes, that is not a typo,) indicates that if the book market was proportionally as big as Amazon’s then it must be huge!
It’s the middle of November and NaNo WriMo is getting serious. If you have the mid month writing blues check out these prompts.
Or gamify your sprints with 4thewords– and slay some monsters while adding more words to your daily total.
Or read this inspiring article on the secret of writing success by Diana Wink.
The secret life of an audiobook narrator was an interesting read. Nobody prepares you for the fact that you can’t read the words you have written. It’s harder than you think-says Bill Bryson.
Are you a push writer or a pull writer? This is a thoughtful read about motivation and getting the words down.
In The Craft Section,
How to add dimension to your story– September Fawkes Bookmark
What micro tension is and how to master it – C S Lakin- Bookmark
6 tips to describe place– Now Novel
How to overcome fear as a writer– K M Weiland
Writing a series, 7 Do’s and Don’ts– Kassandra Lamb- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
How to write a blog post people read– Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
How to DIY an audiobook– Renee Conoulty and Sacha Black- Bookmark
Prerequisites of author marketing success– Joanna Penn
Email sign up forms– Blogging wizard
To Finish,
A Reedsy rep emailed me, this week, to tell me about a new plot generator that they had developed.
So much fun! When you are in the middle of NaNo WriMo and you need some inspiration to crack on with the final 20,000 words…check it out for inspiration or even just your next project!
Don’t Forget the Storybundle NaNo collection of Writing craft books- only available until the end of November.
Maureen
@craicer
About Maureen Crisp
Maureen Crisp has been writing her weekly publishing roundups for over seven years. She is a traditionally published children's author as well as indie-published. She lives in New Zealand and is heading the team organising the 4th National Conference of Children's Writers and Illustrators. She is currently trying her hand at writing a children’s book series if she can drag herself away from forever tweaking her Mars novel or obsessing over space.