So you finish your book and then what? Do you build your platform before you query agents, (and p.s. what is a “platform” in the first place)? Do you hire your own marketing people to develop not just your website, but your brand, and if so, where do you begin? Or should you try for the book deal first and hope for in-house marketing support? Or both? Where should you put your social media efforts in a sea of cyber overwhelm? The world of marketing can be as creative as the act of writing, but it uses different acumen and strategies. Laura will break down the essentials for you, as well as take questions to help you gain confidence and vital information to support your dream.

Let’s be honest, we all judge a book by its cover. Books with compelling graphics, eye-catching fonts, and superior quality sell more copies than those books without. Join author Gerri Russell as she provides techniques, tips, tricks, and then show examples of book covers that were altered to reach a wider audience and maximize sales.
Host/Moderator

Join agent Erin Cox and her client Noelle Salazar as they talk about the agent and author relationship.

Today's publishing marketplace is more competitive than ever. It has become a pay-to-play arena, but that doesn't mean authors can afford to neglect the basics. This marketing workshop features three experienced publishing professionals, each of whom will address one aspect of Practical Marketing. USA Today best-selling author Jacki Delecki will share lessons learned, mistakes to avoid, and unexpected successes. Indi publishing coach Amy Atwell of Author E.M.S. offers tips ahnd strategies to optimize your eBook files and store metadata for organic growth and sales. Author project manager Maria Connor of My Author Concierge reveals how having a plan and being organized can maximize resources and profits.

Would you like to learn some of the tricks you can use to make your writing really stand out from the crowd? In this workshop, we will look at using the five senses, colorful descriptions and literary techniques to make your world really come alive for the reader.

We all love a good laugh, so why don’t more books give readers the pleasure of humor? Because humor is difficult to write. If you want to inject some humor into your stories, let Melinda Curtis and Sheila Roberts, two bestselling authors known for writing books with that delightful light touch, help you find your funny bone. Class will explain how humor involves characterization and plotting and will include examples and specific how-tos.

In-depth story structure techniques for building a page-turning romance. You have done the hard part! You have created a good working draft of your romance novel. Now it is time to switch into editing mode and shape that draft into an effective page-turning romance that readers will love. We will be working on the structural foundations of your story before developing the plots points for the external and emotional conflicts which drive the romance relationship. The structure of the opening chapters of your manuscript will be covered in-depth to ensure that your readers are hooked from the start!

Writing a book series is challenging, and it's a great way to create an enthusiastic, loyal readership. Attendees will learn what you need to create your own book series. Your planning begins with your first book. Then we'll review the key concepts to creating a successful series and some tools to help you make it happen.

In this era of #MeToo consent is on the forefront of not only our everyday lives but also in our choices of entertainment. Romance novels have been held in high regard as bastions of consent in the same breath as they are ridiculed for feeding the fantasy of the bodice ripper. Join award winning author Anna Alexander in an open forum discussion of how do we as authors pay heed to societal changes and reflect those views in our works. Are we doing enough, or have we not gone far enough?

Introducing the idea of focused drafts; Macro-edit drafts (structure, character, scene/summary)