The self publishing marketing conference run by the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) in Denver was a goldmine.
We flew out on Northwest and, in spite of their recent troubles, everything went well. There was a little irritability on the part of some staff but it was understandable. We learned that many of them will be starting over at the bottom of the pay scale with much reduced benefits because of the bankruptcy changes. We wish them well. It must be difficult.
As I said in an earlier post we decided to rent a car since we were going to Aspen and definitely were not going to pay $765 round trip per person from Denver. So we drove to the Marriott South Denver early in the evening. A really nice facility with extremely helpful staff. There was always someone around with a smile and an offer to help. It was quite apparent that they had taken a great deal of trouble to train their staff very well. Very attractive facility and, while I'm usually not very enthusiastic about restaurants in hotels, their restaurant was quite good. A top notch facility.
Then, of course, there was the reason we were there. The SPAN conference. It was focused on marketing and they put us through our paces as they did theirs. The experience ranged from validation of our efforts to new important information.
Some of the presentations permitted me to do a checklist of what I had accomplished and what I had yet to do. I learned that I had done a lot right. Very validating. And then I could develop a new list of what needed to be done yet.
An example of the useful information was how to get in touch with other established authors to seek testimonials. We now have the contact information so we can get to the staff of the people we would like comments from. Want a comment from a celebrity? We have the right phone number for SAG (Screen Actors Guild). I also have a list of websites for all kinds of information I had wanted or had been wondering about.
The presenters were the important people in the self publishing field. John Kremer. Marilyn Ross etc. We were also entertained and energized by people like Rick Frishman who is really good at promotions. I also must mention SPAN's executive director, Scott Flora. He kept us organized and ON TIME. Thanks for the "on time" Scott. If we were fifteen minutes late, we missed fifteen minutes of content. Things really hummed thanks to Scott.
In our breakouts we did things like practice our "elevator speeches". That's where you have a surprise chance to give a quick spiel to someone about your book. Wow, was that hard. We found we had good elevator speeches for our prior nonfiction titles and completely fumbled a speech for our novel. Have to work on that. Boy, do we have to work on that.
It is much more difficult to get publicity for a novel than for nonfiction works. It was impressed on us that we had to have a good hook and things like tips to get media coverage. We spent time working up good copy for the media and it is already paying off. A conference like this helps the author focus on the crucial elements of marketing and promotions.
We also had the opportunity to interface with some suppliers. And, I actually now have the name and e-mail address of a rep for Amazon. There is now a real person I can contact with questions. No more canned responses from the help section which usually leaves me screaming HELP! The contact and information helps me smooth my way. It's always nice to have a face attached to a name.
I learned how active self publishing people are becoming. The publishing field is definitely changing and I am now over reservations about proclaiming that we are self publishing. WE ARE SELF PUBLISHING! Getting noticed is still difficult but that is nothing new. The important part is that the process is now under our control.
Shortly I will put together an outline of what I have learned about the changes in the field and what it means. It has been a revelation. I have said previously that it is best to take a look at self publishing and marketing before you begin writing your opus or great American novel. Unless you simply want to stack up manuscripts in your closet, you better know what you are up against. Read about the realities before you write and then decide if you are up to the total effort. There are two of us which helps a lot. Getting the second book out there is going to be much easier now that we have been through the process once.
All in all the SPAN conferences are not to be missed.
For Much More Come Visit Us at www.annierogers.com
We flew out on Northwest and, in spite of their recent troubles, everything went well. There was a little irritability on the part of some staff but it was understandable. We learned that many of them will be starting over at the bottom of the pay scale with much reduced benefits because of the bankruptcy changes. We wish them well. It must be difficult.
As I said in an earlier post we decided to rent a car since we were going to Aspen and definitely were not going to pay $765 round trip per person from Denver. So we drove to the Marriott South Denver early in the evening. A really nice facility with extremely helpful staff. There was always someone around with a smile and an offer to help. It was quite apparent that they had taken a great deal of trouble to train their staff very well. Very attractive facility and, while I'm usually not very enthusiastic about restaurants in hotels, their restaurant was quite good. A top notch facility.
Then, of course, there was the reason we were there. The SPAN conference. It was focused on marketing and they put us through our paces as they did theirs. The experience ranged from validation of our efforts to new important information.
Some of the presentations permitted me to do a checklist of what I had accomplished and what I had yet to do. I learned that I had done a lot right. Very validating. And then I could develop a new list of what needed to be done yet.
An example of the useful information was how to get in touch with other established authors to seek testimonials. We now have the contact information so we can get to the staff of the people we would like comments from. Want a comment from a celebrity? We have the right phone number for SAG (Screen Actors Guild). I also have a list of websites for all kinds of information I had wanted or had been wondering about.
The presenters were the important people in the self publishing field. John Kremer. Marilyn Ross etc. We were also entertained and energized by people like Rick Frishman who is really good at promotions. I also must mention SPAN's executive director, Scott Flora. He kept us organized and ON TIME. Thanks for the "on time" Scott. If we were fifteen minutes late, we missed fifteen minutes of content. Things really hummed thanks to Scott.
In our breakouts we did things like practice our "elevator speeches". That's where you have a surprise chance to give a quick spiel to someone about your book. Wow, was that hard. We found we had good elevator speeches for our prior nonfiction titles and completely fumbled a speech for our novel. Have to work on that. Boy, do we have to work on that.
It is much more difficult to get publicity for a novel than for nonfiction works. It was impressed on us that we had to have a good hook and things like tips to get media coverage. We spent time working up good copy for the media and it is already paying off. A conference like this helps the author focus on the crucial elements of marketing and promotions.
We also had the opportunity to interface with some suppliers. And, I actually now have the name and e-mail address of a rep for Amazon. There is now a real person I can contact with questions. No more canned responses from the help section which usually leaves me screaming HELP! The contact and information helps me smooth my way. It's always nice to have a face attached to a name.
I learned how active self publishing people are becoming. The publishing field is definitely changing and I am now over reservations about proclaiming that we are self publishing. WE ARE SELF PUBLISHING! Getting noticed is still difficult but that is nothing new. The important part is that the process is now under our control.
Shortly I will put together an outline of what I have learned about the changes in the field and what it means. It has been a revelation. I have said previously that it is best to take a look at self publishing and marketing before you begin writing your opus or great American novel. Unless you simply want to stack up manuscripts in your closet, you better know what you are up against. Read about the realities before you write and then decide if you are up to the total effort. There are two of us which helps a lot. Getting the second book out there is going to be much easier now that we have been through the process once.
All in all the SPAN conferences are not to be missed.
For Much More Come Visit Us at www.annierogers.com
posted by Roger | 9:55 AM
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