Halfway Through!

We're over halfway through SelfPubCon: Writing Craft for Indie Authors!

I hope you're enjoying the sessions from our fantastic speakers and sponsors so far, but there's still plenty still to come.

As we pass halfway mark, we're going to quickly review the past 12 sessions and take a look at what's in store for the second half of #SelfPubCon21!

What have I missed?

10:00 am Amazon KDP — Publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing: Setting up your Writing for Success

In this session, hosted by Victoria Innell, about how to set up for publishing success on Amazon KDP, Nicola May, JM Dalgliesh, and Suzy K Quinn discuss best practices across print and ebook, and the tips and tricks they have picked up during their publishing journeys.

11am The Quartet — Writing and Editing for Successful Self-Publishing Panel

This session will teach writers how to use editing to improve their story including the title, blurb, and manuscript. We’ll show the writer the key areas to focus on for each step in the journey from story editing, copyediting, professional editing, and self-publishing.

12pm Sophie Playle — Crafting Beautiful Prose

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are ways you can bring more lyricism to your writing – without falling victim to purple prose. In this session, from professional fiction editor and director of Liminal Pages, Sophie Playle, learn the mindset and methods needed for elevating the artistry of your writing at the sentence level.

1pm Troy Lambert — Plotting for Pantsers: How to Plot a Book if You’ve Never Plotted Before

Does the idea of outlining your book make you itchy? Do you worry it’s going to ruin your creativity? In this session, Troy Lambert, mystery author and Education Lead for Plottr, the popular visual book outlining software, shares a simple and straightforward four-step approach to plotting that can work for anyone.

2pm Carissa Andrews — Writing Books for Rapid Release: The Prolific Author Mindset

Having a sustainable author career that’s both fulfilling and profitable means setting yourself up for success from the start. In this presentation, Carissa Andrews shows you how deliberately mapping out four books a year can transform your author career, your income, and your life!

3pm Denise Baden — Writing for a Cause: Dos and Don’ts with Speaker Q&A

Research doesn't have to be distracting and time-consuming. This session from an experienced librarian shows indie authors how to structure their research time and organize their sources, to enhance the time they have for writing.

5pm Jeff Elkins — Writing Great Dialog: The Essentials

Far more than plot or prose, compelling dialogue takes our readers on an emotional journey that leads them to fall in love with our characters and keeps them invested all the way through our series. In this session, Jeff Elkins (The Dialogue Doctor) teaches you how to build unique and interesting character voices.

6pm Nick Stephenson — How to Write Emails that Sell Books

In this workshop, Nick will breakdown the four essential elements of every successful marketing email - including how to come up with topics and ideas (even if you have no idea what to write about), the "missing link" to launch campaigns that can double your sales, and how to integrate your sales message in a fun and interesting way without being "pushy".

7pm Matty Dalrymple and Mark Leslie Lefebvre — The Craft of Writing Short Books with Speaker Q&A

What is short fiction? What are your goals for your short fiction? What do you need to consider when crafting short fiction? How can short fiction improve your craft? In this session, Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Matty Dalrymple will answer key questions related to the craft of short fiction. Plus, there will be a short fiction challenge for all conference attendees!

8pm Jeremy Bassetti — Story Craft in Travel Memoir

Travel literature is an exciting genre. It is also a difficult one to write in. This session will focus on the importance of story in travel memoirs, offering participants practical tips on crafting a compelling narrative. Participants will also learn about some of the most common subgenres or frameworks for travel books.

9pm Kathryn Goldman — The Craft of Writing Good Agreements with Speaker Q&A

Writing good agreements is easy. Writing bad agreements is really easy. Successful creatives sign agreements of all types. Understanding contract structure and the meaning of key provisions will keep you out of bad deals, help you negotiate the deal you want, and save you money when working with your lawyer. If there is a contract in the future of your creative career, this session is for you.

What's coming up?

HAPPENING NOW: 10pm Findaway Voices — How to Write for Audio

In this session, Christina Calderone and Scott Curry from Findaway Voices chat with author M.K. Williams on the craft and nuances of writing for audio, a different skill to writing for the page. BONUS: Will Dages, Head of Findaway Voices, will do a LIVE pre-launch sneak peek of what to expect from Findaway’s upcoming Marketplace for audio authors.

11pm Sacha Black — Level Up Your Side Characters

All too often, side characters are afterthoughts for an author. Most writers spend their time focused on the hero and the plot, so their side characters are slapped on without much thought. But they shouldn’t be. Side characters are the pillars upon which your heroes and villains stand. If you want to level up your characters, story and craft, this session is for you.

Day 2 - October 24th

12am Mary Kole — Writing Irresistible Kidlit with Speaker Q&A

In this session, you will learn all about how to write compelling children's books (from picture books to young adult) to connect directly with a young audience. There are many opportunities across several markets, and this session will help you stand out and set yourself up for success.

1am Ross B. Lampert — Critique Groups: Finding One That’s Right for You with Speaker Q&A

Should I join a critique group? Where can I find one? How do I know if it’s right for me? In this session, Ross B. Lampert teaches you how to evaluate the groups and/or sites you find to determine whether they’re a good fit for you.

2am Michael La Ronn and Dale L. Roberts — The Craft of How-To Non-Fiction Panel

Writing nonfiction is an art, but there’s a science to it too. In this session, Michael La Ronn chats with acclaimed YouTuber and writer Dale L. Roberts as they discuss their methods for writing nonfiction. Dale shares the secrets that have helped him to write and launch a bestselling series of books for writers, while Michael reveals the tips and tricks he’s learned from publishing over 20 non-fiction books for authors.

3am Audrey Kalman — Using Writing Prompts to Animate Your Work-in-Progress with Speaker Q&A

Prompt-based writing is popular, with many opportunities to receive prompts by email or in apps, and the resulting writing bursts can be downright exhilarating. But how can you use this output effectively? This session explores writing prompts in depth—including two short prompted writing sessions—to help writers make the most of this popular writing process.

4am Helena Halme — Write Every Day: Motivate Yourself to Success in 10 Easy Steps

Writing every day is what you dreamt about when you embarked on a writing career, but somehow, everything else that needs to be done gets in the way. In this presentation, author and coach, Helena Halme will give practical tips on how to set up a daily, sustainable, writing routine. With this presentation, you will gain a totally new mindset for your writing!

5am Debbie Young and Lorna Fergusson  — The Craft of Genre Fiction

If the prime purpose of genre fiction is to entertain, following the expected rules and tropes should help you reach and please readers. But how do you adhere to the guidelines without becoming formulaic? In this session, find out how to determine reader expectations for your chosen genre, when and whether to flout them, how to plot effectively, and how to avoid common pitfalls.

6am Nat Connors — From Story to Blurb to Cover: Signposting Your Themes to Your Readers with Speaker Q&A

Getting your story in the hands of readers starts with your cover and your blurb, but many authors struggle with the challenge of making these fit reader expectations, while also communicating the unique elements of their story. In this workshop, you’ll learn a simple set of techniques for aligning your story with your cover and your blurb, in the context of genre fiction.

7am Alexa Bigwarfe, Cami Ostman & Laura Formentini — The Writing to Heal Panel

The Writing to Heal panel focuses on how you can use writing to process trauma, grief, and the challenges of life. This 3-person panel, composed of Alexa Bigwarfe, Cami Ostman, and Laura Formentini, digs into why writing is such a powerful tool to help process grief, loss, and trauma to re-open your creativity.

8am Alessandra Torre & Mathew Jockers — Can A.I. make your next novel a bestseller?

Matthew Jockers, PhD, co-author of The Bestseller Code explains how Marlowe from Authors. A.I. helps fiction authors enhance their storytelling, produce manuscripts more efficiently, and sell more books once their titles are published.  In this session with bestselling author and Authors A.I CEO, Alessandra Torre, they explain the science behind this new and improved A.I. service designed for fiction authors, and how it complements the writers' creative process.

9am IngramSpark — Publishing through IngramSpark: Setting up your Writing for Success

In this session about how to set up your books for success on IngramSpark, authors NGK and Alice Clover pass on their top writing tips, how they reach their readers and set up their writing for the best possible publishing outcomes.

10am Conference Close - Orna Ross

Orna Ross closes out the Writing Craft for Indie Authors conference with a look back at the highlights and a reminder of how to enter the giveaways.

Now, you can go straight to the session page where you can see the presentations unfold, one an hour over the next 12 hours — so that no matter where you are in the world you can enjoy the new content, competitions and live-tweeting.

But no, we don't expect you to stay up all night! The sessions remain freely available and open to all for 48 hours after the conference closes.

That's three days in all for you to enjoy everything completely free!

I hope you enjoy!

Warm Regards,

Kayleigh