Featherstone 
Are you Publishing Your Book for Profit? Or, Would You Like To?
One of the many benefits of being a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is free online access to the recently-held 2024 ‘Publishing for Profit’ Self-Publishing Advice Conference also known as #SelfPubCon.
Each year the conference brings together some great author minds to share their insights. And I particularly love the gold that comes not just from the presentations, but from the Q&A sessions too.
Some of the highlights for me from the 2024 conference (you can join ALLi to catch replays and worksheets) included:
Evolving for Profit – Indie Authors Guide to Sustainable Success
Orna Ross challenged authors to adopt a creative approach to the business side of being an author including to: recognise resistance (for example: perfectionism, all-or-nothing thinking, artistic insistence and spending all your energy on busy work rather than profit-led work). She also motivated me with her discussion about the Creative Way of aligning our writing and publishing values as well as evolving for profit including the importance of continuous practice, generative energy, wellbeing, process over product and creative community.
Monetise Your Public Speaking Podcasts, Author Events, and Beyond
I love public speaking and author talks and am doing another one next week, so it was great to listen to Alexa Nazarro’s presentation for some reminders. It included how to identify speaking opportunities and importantly, how to pitch whether you’re a fiction or non-fiction writer. As always though, when you do an author talk, it’s not about you in the end – it needs to satisfy the audience – and Alexa gave some good tips on that.
Market Your Book without Social Media – Yes, You Can!
This session is for you if you’re finding social media a huge time suck. Penny Sansevieri delves into social media and how though it can raise awareness, it can be light on when it comes to selling books. She talks about finding your lane and owning it, and what you might do with your time if you mostly got off social media but did some other things well. She shared some great info about prioritising what you do based on the longevity of the action and gave tips on repurposing video for multiple uses, improving your website, blogging regularly, podcasting , local outreach and more.
Profiting from Print – Thinking Outside the Box
Historical fiction author Margaret Skea, children’s historical fiction author Kate Cunningham, and crossover author Matt Beighton—who writes both chapter books for children and gaming books for all ages—shared some innovative strategies for selling print beyond traditional outlets like bookshops and online platforms.
Proof is Profitable: Use Reviews, Contests, and Book Awards to Drive Reader Engagement and Sales
Edward Trayer (Wishing Shelf Book Awards) and Hannah Jacobsen (Book Award Pro), hosted this panel about the relevance of book awards to authors. Are they worth the entry fee? And the answer is…it depends which awards you enter, and what you do with the award (e.g. Shout it from your webite, hashtags, ads, newsletter, local newspaper, add to your online book pages, endorsements etc). Winning an award can have a subtle and long-lasting effect, but unless you win a massive literary award, you likely won’t see a massive spike in sales. One of the quotes from the session that spoke to me was: ‘A book award can serve you every time a buyer lands on your sale page.’ It’s all about social proof. But be careful, there are shonky book award operators out there so do your due diligence to find the right ones for you and your book.
Other super useful sessions include:
- Profitable Publishing on Amazon KDP: Expert Tactics for Maximizing Your Income
- Book Influencers: How to Find, Contact, and Work with Readers on Social Media
- From SEO to AIO: Using AI Optimization to Build Brand and Book Sales.
- The Profitable Writer: Increase Your Output, Grow Your Income
- YouTube Strategies for Better Book Sales (Dale R. Roberts)
- Scaling for Success in your Author Business: When and How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Profit & Growth
- Five Creative Ways Indie Authors Can Harness Their Fan Bases to Sell Books
- Increase Your Profits with Book Translation Sales
- Maximising Profit Through Effective Author Websites
- Publishing for Profit – Going Wide vs. Exclusive
- Pivot or Quit: Turning Setbacks into Success
- Publishing Tips for Frugal Authors
Join the Alliance of Independent Authors ALLi to get access to the conference replays as well as a host of information and community to help you in your author business.
NB: I wholeheartedly endorse ALLi, have been a member for years, am ALLi’s non-fiction advisor and host ALLi’s publishing and distribution podcast. If you join ALLi from my link (great idea!) I may receive a small contribution that supports my continued sharing of information valuable to the writing community. Thanks and enjoy the conference sessions!