This blog will be of most interest to fellow aspiring and published authors out there.

The Pub Sense Summit (PSS) conference, along with membership in the “Support for Indie Authors” group on Goodreads, have been two of the most impactful resources I have encountered on my initial self-publishing journey. I felt it was worth some time to share my experiences at PSS and encourage anyone starting out in the self-publishing industry to consider attending this conference next year. Maybe I’ll see you there!

I had the great pleasure and opportunity to attend PSS in Charleston, South Carolina this past March. It is an annual three day conference of sessions and keynote speakers with content directed toward new and emerging authors. You could not have asked for a better cast of faculty. As well constructed and helpful as the conference sessions and keynote speeches were, the most valuable takeaway, for me, was the networking.

The faculty consisted of industry experts across many of the disciplines of self-publishing including editors, publishers, agents, book clubs, vendors, and others. Some notables included:
Cevin Bryerman – Vice President, Publisher’s Weekly (pronounced, Kevin)
Joanna Penn – Author/Publisher/Entrepreneur – The Creative Penn
David Symonds – General Manager, Createspace
Mark Lefebvre – Director, Kobo Writing Life

The coolest part for me was that everyone was approachable, friendly, willing to help with any questions (and I had a lot of them), and offer constructive advice. There was a real feel of camaraderie being among a large group of fellow authors, especially indie authors, who are fighting the same battles and wars, trying to get their works into the hands of interested readers. You get a sense of this interacting with other authors on social media, but it is nothing like the experience you feel sharing things face to face with your peers. Time in between sessions and community meals provided ample opportunities for networking.

Of course, as is the case with any conference there were vendors trying to sell you stuff. All the “big boys” were there: Createspace/KDP/ACX, Kobo, Nook Press, Ingram Spark, Publisher’s Weekly to name a few. There were some smaller vendors I found to be quite interesting, including:
Unbound Words – a site that will set you up to sell your eBook direct from your website.
Where Writers Win– offers a wide range of marketing and social media support for new and emerging authors.
Book Frenzy Studios – developers of high quality video for book trailers.

Here are a few samples of sessions that I attended to give you an idea of what’s offered:
Master Classes on the first day (Sunday): “Increasing Exposure”
Part 1 It’s All About the Data
Part 2 – Reviews, Giveaways, & More (2 hours/Part)
Busting into Book Clubs
Legal Matters: The Least You Should Know
The Business End of the Book Biz: Takeaways
What’s Trending?: Projections/Genres

While making many new friends and contacts at the conference, the highlight, for me, was saved for last. On the final night of the conference they featured a Dish and Dialogue Dinner where you could pick a member of the faculty to have dinner with. I had the good fortune and great pleasure, along with six others, to dine with Joanna Penn. A true leader and educator in the world of self-publishing, I found Joanna to be very down to earth and cordial. She answered questions from all at the table on a wide variety of topics, although at times I felt guilty for asking too many. She has a great gift of being able to hold anyone’s attention with her wit, and light, charming, “English” accent.

I know there are many writer’s conferences out there and PSS was the first one that I ever attended. There’s nothing for me to benchmark to, but hopefully, in the future, I will be able to attend many more of these gatherings and continue to make strategic connections in the industry.

So that’s it…just a brief synopsis that I hope gave you an idea of what the conference was all about. As always, we welcome any questions and comments you may have.

Our next blog will be a behind the scenes look at the writing and story line behind "The Budapest Experiment", now available in print on Amazon.

The eBook version will be available on May 25th through Kindle Direct.

Until next time…thanks for reading.
Maurice