Online Indie writing conference IndieReCon ended last night with a bang, and I have a ton of stuff to write about and to implement for my own books. The whole conference is still available online here and will be added to the archives shortly if you want to catch up, though some of the best moments happened on Twitter. Here’s a list of my personal highlights:
David Farland (advisor to Twilight author Stephanie Meyers) shared tips on how to develop story ideas in such a way as to draw in more readers and help them relate to your characters. Many of his tips applied to a broad category of novels and ideas. Learn more here.
Self-published authors Barbara Freethy and Bella Andre shared some really useful information on the publishing process–especially on the pacing of series publications and on the importance of assembling a good publishing team to help you out. Learn more here.
Joy Capps led a brilliant session on Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) and how to brand your ideas to help them remain vivid in your readers minds. She also covered tag lines and how to brand yourself if you write in multiple genres–which I especially needed to hear. Learn more here.
Full-time writer Joanna Penn shared insight on how to earn a sustainable income from writing books. This included how to earn multiple incomes from a single book, how to manage optimization and keywords, and how to use writing as a doorway for other paid opportunities such as speaking and public appearances. Learn more here.
Book designer Joel Friedlander explained the layout of a proper book. This is an area I had previously prided myself in knowing, but I was surprised how much I still had to learn! Typefaces and the proper use of blank pages were especially useful for me. Learn more here.
Amanda Barbara, co-founder and vice president of PubSlush (a crowd-funding platform that focuses exclusively on books) shared information on what it takes to successfully crowd-fund a book and whether it’s a good call. It’s a step I’ve considered taking before, and I plan on emailing her for more information soon. Learn more here.
Jason Hovey from BookTrack gave a demonstration of a thrilling new technology that I can’t wait to implement! BookTrack is a way of designing original soundtracks for your books using music, ambient sound and sound effects. It follows the pace of the reader and allows for a fun and immersive experience for book lovers everywhere. Learn more here.
Yen Ooi’s presentation on knowing your book’s message was the shortest, but one of the more powerful that I watched. Your message goes beyond branding to the essence of your novel–but is so short that you could summarize it in just a few words or a single picture. Learn more here.
Bestselling Indie author H.M. Ward shared the miraculous secrets to her success and observations to the success of others. Ward and I started self-publishing within months of each other, after similarly leaving the world of traditional publication, despite promise. Why is it that she’s already made the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists while I only sell one book every few months? Now I know! Learn more here.
Lastly, social media marketing expert Kathy Meis explained strategies for running social media campaigns. Want reviews on Amazon? Want email subscribers? This was about the clearest strategy I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve been struggling to understand it for years. Learn more here.
There was a lot more to IndieReCon than what I listed above–those were just the highlights that both meant a lot to me and that I thought would be suitable for this site. I can’t wait to use what I’ve learned, and I’ve already gotten more ideas than I can even fully articulate at the moment. Please visit the website to watch any of the speakers I mentioned above and take advantage of this wonderful resource.
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