Twitter

Friday, October 21, 2011

NOVELISTS, Inc Conference

NEW TOOLS,  NEW RULES
Ninc, 22nd Annual Conference, at the TradeWinds Island Resort, St. Pete Beach, FL
The Ninc is an organization for published authors and industrial professionals.
The title of this conference was:
The New Publishing: Welcome To Tomorrow


Hundred and sixty-eight people attended, mostly published authors and some publishers and marketing specialists.
On this panel from left to right:
Mark Coker: Founder and CEO, Smashwords.
Liz Scheier: Editorial Director, Digital Content, Barnes & Noble. com
Linda Quinton: VP of marketing , Tor-Forge
Don Weisberg: President, Penguin Young Readers
David wilk, Creative Management Partners.

The speakers on the first panel explained what traditional publishers still offer.What alternative publishers do? How sustainable is self-publishing?

Don Weisberg-- Opportunities for writers are greater but also more difficult. Penguin works with authors as a partnership. They don't look for a book but for an author to develop.

Linda Quinton--she loves to spend time working with the community, talking and listening to what they love.

Lou Aronica, publisher of The Story Plant-- small press focuses on one area. They know where the readers are and they don't mind working all the hours of day and night. Digital opened more sales. according to him, authors should focus on one genre to develop readership. Readers are more interested in things than we give them credit for.

Caolyn Pittis, senior VP at Harper Collins--They have seen a lot of changes. There are two markets: Value Market that gives bestsellers and seller markets.
Editors and readers alike want to be touched by what you write. Books with vampires or such characters are more likely to be pirated.

Mark Coker: Founder of Smashwords: He and his wife wrote a novel that was rejected by publishers. He ended up publishing it on his own, then he published two books for friends, the year after he published 100 books, and the year after 80,000 ebooks! It's a great time to publish ebooks. Publishers and editors acquire what they think will sell, but they release it after 10-16 months. By then the readers look for something else. Also self-published authors set more realistic prices than publishers. Consumers are looking for less expensive. Blog about subjects related to your book.

Liz Scheier: Barnes &Noble sells150,00 ebooks a day.

From Left to right: Thubten Comerford, CEO WePost Media
Tracee Gleichner: Founder and CEO, Literal Exposure
Joan Schulhafer: Publishing; Media Consulting

Whether you're working with a publishing house or on your own, you have to find your readers. This is easier and harder than ever. You either need money or time to do it.You can use a publicist to help you. The people above are expert in the field.

They do the advertising for you, while you keep writing. Price: $250 per module--they will specify what the module includes, or $249 for two months to promote one book with a virtual blog tour the publicist arranges in blogs that have over 1000 hits a day. Of course you write the blogs on subjects she suggests. Price also includes sending newsletters, notes on Facebook,  Tweets and Re-Tweets. and others...

Doing your own marketing is considerably cheaper, as long as you have a huge amount of time to do it. Build a useful social media presence, email list, and web presence.

The quality and distinctiveness of what you write has never been more important for writers. If you manage to bring readers to your book, you want them to find a long list of good reviews.


 Special at amazon.com for $0.99

16 comments:

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Thanks for sharing, Mona. I can't wait to read more about the conference.

Mona Risk said...

Hi Vonnie, I will be posting about it all week. Information about marketing and promotion was fantastic.

Beth Trissel said...

Excellent post, Mona. Thanks.

Barbara Monajem said...

Both daunting and exciting! Thanks, Mona.

Mary Marvella said...

Thanks, Mona. Good info.

Mona Risk said...

Stay tune for more tomorrow.

rbooth43 said...

I had to get this book by Lilly gayle's recommendation and the blurb. Sounds like a great read!
Thanks!
Rebecca Booth

Keena Kincaid said...

Thanks for sharing, Mona. Great information and NINC looks like fun.

Stephanie Burkhart said...

Mona, what an interesting conference. Thanks for sharing Sweetie. I agree the publishing industry is moving in a different direction. Amazing how Mark Coker's Smashwords really took off.

Smiles
Steph

Mary Ricksen said...

Thanks for the insight Mona! And it was just wonderful to see you today. You looked lovely in green! And I have missed you!

Mona Risk said...

Hi Rebecca, it's a nice story that will make you smile, cry and laugh. I have to thank Lilly! Happy reading.

Mona Risk said...

Hi Keena nad Steph, I'll have more on the Ninc conference tomorrow.

Mona Risk said...

Hi Mary, I was really happy to see you and you looked lovely in blue.

Bev Pettersen said...

Thanks, Mona. Appreciate the update. Hope you had some fun time at the beach.

Mona Risk said...

Hi Bev, there was no beach for me. I preferred listening to the panels.

Allison Chase said...

This is an excellent recap of the Industry day! You even filled in a few things I missed in my notes. It was an exciting day, wasn't it?