Event Recording
This webinar will discuss the various online platforms available to authors to publish in ebook, print, and audiobook formats; working with freelance editors, book designers, and other service providers; as well as methods of distributing and promoting your own work. We will also cover working with hybrid publishers, including how to identify reputable hybrid publishers.
October 19, 2021
In today’s marketplace, many authors with important voices and stories are reaching their readers by self-publishing (also called indie publishing) models where authors manage every aspect of publishing their books—whether by hiring experts for the myriad tasks involved or doing it all themselves. We’ll discuss the various online platforms available to authors to publish in ebook, print, and audiobook formats; working with freelance editors, book designers, and other service providers; as well as methods of distributing and promoting your own work. We will also cover working with hybrid publishers (which take on the production and distribution of a book like a traditional publisher but ask the author to share in production costs in exchange for a greater share of any profit), and how to identify reputable hybrid publishers and avoid those trying to take advantage of authors.
Tara Cremin is Director of Kobo Writing Life (KWL), Kobo’s independent publishing platform. As a subject matter expert in all aspects of indie publishing, her aim is to make KWL the greatest and most user-friendly self-publishing platform available and is always looking for ways for indies to reach a new audience of readers. Tara hosts KWL’s monthly live events with author and industry experts and you can sometimes hear her as a guest host on the Kobo Writing Life Podcast.
Darien Hsu Gee is the author of five novels published by Penguin Random House that have been translated into eleven languages. In 2021, her collection of micro essays, Allegiance, received a Bronze IPPY award. She also received a 2019 Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship award for Other Small Histories and the 2015 Hawai‘i Book Publishers’ Ka Palapala Poʻokela Award of Excellence for Writing the Hawai‘i Memoir. She is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant and a Vermont Studio Center fellowship. Darien lives with her family on the Big Island of Hawai‘i and serves as co-founder and series editor for Haliʻa Aloha, a micro memoir writing and hybrid publishing program.
Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the author of more than twenty books under his full name and the shorter pseudonym of Mark Leslie. With more than three decades of experience in writing and bookselling, Mark’s industry roles include President of the Canadian Booksellers Association and Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Rakuten Kobo, Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital, and Professional Advisor for Sheridan College’s Creativing Writing and Publishing Honours Program. An advocate for innovation, Mark is a seasoned and trusted book industry professional who embraces and celebrations both traditional and digital publishing opportunities.
L. Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author. Her novel Song of Blood & Stone was chosen as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Equally left and right-brained, she studied filmmaking and computer science in college and sometimes dreams in HTML. She hosts the My Imaginary Friends podcast and lives in Maryland with her husband and furry dependents. Visit her at: http://www.lpenelope.com.
Brooke Warner is the publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress, a TEDx speaker, a writing coach, and the author of Write On, Sisters! and Green-Light Your Book.
Jane Friedman (moderator) has nearly 25 years of experience in the publishing industry. She writes and publishes The Hot Sheet, an industry newsletter for authors, which was named 2020 Media Outlet of the Year by Digital Book World.
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Penguin Random House, and our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is pleased to make Business Bootcamps for Writers free and open to the public.
Several writers organizations have partnered with the Authors Guild Foundation to help shape these programs. Our deepest appreciation to these organizations.
Tara Cremin:
Jane Friedman:Information at my site:
My favorite resources:
Darien Hsu Gee:Helpful and Possibly Unexpected Resources for Writers:
Mark Leslie Lefebvre:
Leslye PenelopePodcasts for learning about self-publishing:
Courses:
Brooke Warner:
From Manuscript to Marketplace: The Book of Wounded Sparrows
Indie vs. Trad: Pros & Cons of the Publishing Paths
From Manuscript to Marketplace: Exposure
