It’s over! The Pathways to Independent Publishing conference is a wrap for 2019. One of the writer’s groups I belong to sponsored the event and it’s been a couple of busy weeks for all of us in the group. We call ourselves Coastal Authors Network (CAN). This was our first conference to sponsor and a learning experience for all of us.

The speakers all received great evaluations from attendees as did the location where we held the event, Caravelle Resort in Myrtle Beach. I participated in one of the panels where I provided information to attendees about all the details involved in publishing your own book. I did have professional editing, but the rest I did on my own. That involved uploading my book to create space (now absorbed into Kindle Direct Publishing), creating my own book cover, modifying e-book format and print formats, uploading to Nook and a million other details.

The hardest part for me as a independent publisher is Marketing. We had a couple of speakers who covered ways to accomplish that and I have to say I learned a lot.

Although we counted it a successful conference we’ve decided to wait for two years before doing it again. Why, you ask? We need to market our group more so we can have a larger attendance. Larger attendance equates to more speakers and larger budget.