Indies Together and WisCon Schedule

Best-selling indie author Susan Kaye Quinn has started a Facebook group to help other indie authors. It's called Indies Together. It's a private group, but she's encouraging other people to join. Susan is sharing her marketing knowledge with indies and offers a couple of different "recipes" depending if you're exclusive to Amazon or have your work available in multiple markets. I've read through her advice, and it makes sense, though it does take multiple books in series, time, and some seed money to make it work. If you're looking for a group with supportive members, I recommend it.

It's hard to believe WisCon will be this weekend. Today is the last day to register here. Standard price is only $10, but there are other tiers available. I won't be able to participate much on Friday since I have to work, but I should be able to do more Saturday through Monday. I'll report back next week how it went.

Conventions and the Indie Writer

Normally I would be posting my WisCon schedule this time of May, but for multiple reasons, I'm not attending this year. (I could theoretically get a one-day pass for Sunday at the door, but there's only one panel that afternoon I'd want to attend, and I'd miss the Guest of Honor speeches anyway.) I'll miss seeing my friends and visiting the Farmer's Market Saturday morning, but I admit it is nice saving money on the hotel and not juggling convention plans along with a birthday party for my son.

When I first started attending WisCon twenty years ago, I wanted to break into professional publishing. I was super excited about meeting not just authors, but agents and editors. I participated in writing workshops and learned "money flows to the author." I participated in panels and Broad Universe readings to get my name out there. How useful are these activities to an indie author? Well, I feel improving my writing craft is a lifelong journey, but these days I work on it mostly by reading books on writing and working on different projects. It's always nice meeting other authors, and I may want to hire another editor at some point for developmental or copy editing, but I'm no longer interested in acquiring an agent (or letting one acquire me). I've never sold enough books at WisCon to justify the expenses, and there are local comic cons and literary festivals I can participate in for little or no cost.

WisCon's emphasis on intersectional feminism makes it unique, and I love the excuse to return to my favorite city in the springtime. Hopefully next year I'll be able to attend. (At least there won't be any Star Wars movies opening Memorial Day weekend.) In the meantime, I have a comic con at my local library to prepare for in September.

Do you go to conventions? If so, do you find them helpful for writers? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Indie Author Day

This Saturday is Indie Author Day. I'll be part of an event at the Schaumburg Township District Library along with twenty-three other authors. It's from 11:00-1:00. I'll have books for sale, free chocolate and bookmarks, and possibly a giveaway of some sort for people who sign up for my mailing list. If you're in the area, I hope you stop in. Since I'm sure most of you aren't near the Chicago suburbs, consider supporting me or another indie author with an online purchase. Happy reading!

Indie Author Survey

I belong to a self-publishing mailing list. Although the self-publishing group has a lot of romance writers, they still post tips and information useful to writers in other genres as well. One of the moderators of this group recently developed a survey for indie authors, and she requests that members encourage other indie authors to participate, even if they're not part of the group. Over 1,300 authors have already taken the survey (I filled it out last night.) If you're willing to take it, follow this link. It look me less than ten minutes. You have until November 8th, but it's better to take care of it now so you don't forget later. I'll have to post a link to the report when it becomes available.

Indie Author Day

If dogs can have their own day (which was last week), why not indie authors?

The first annual Indie Author Day is scheduled for Saturday, October 8th. Libraries across the United States will be holding a variety of events to support local indie authors. You can learn more about Indie Author Day at their own website, indieauthorday.com. This is also where authors and libraries can sign up to join the event. I think signing up puts you on the ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) mailing list, as I received an e-mail from them with an offer of a free eBook shortly after I signed up.

One caveat I would point out is that one of the sponsors of Indie Author Day is SELF-e, a service that asks indie authors to donate eBooks so SELF-e can sell them to libraries. I don't mind donating paper copies of my books to the local library or offering permafree books as a marketing strategy, but other people shouldn't profit off of my free works. Hopefully they won't pressure me to enroll with SELF-e.

My local library hasn't signed up yet to be part of Indie Author Day, so I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to do anything with them or if I'll be able to participate at another nearby library. I'll keep you updated as the time draws closer.