48. Marketers & Coffee: Author Conferences

Welcome to the Book Marketing Show Podcast, where each week we'll show you exactly how to sell more books and have fun doing it. And now, your host, Dave Cheson. Hey guys, welcome back to the Book Marketing Show podcast. I'm Dave Chesson, and today we're doing another marketers and coffee session. This time, though, I'm bringing on a good friend of mine, Craig Martell. Now, if you don't know Craig, Craig runs...

probably one of the greatest author Facebook pages called 20 Books to 50K. This guy works tirelessly to create a legit community where authors can share ideas, learn from each other. and just grow. They do a great job of weeding out some of the negabots out there and creating a great community. So if you're not a part of the 20 Books to 50K group, you should definitely check it out. It's absolutely free.

And I am definitely a frequent person there because I'm always learning as well. And I love reading some of the stories of where authors have taken a challenge and overcome it. So be sure to check that out. But today, though, we're not talking about managing a community. Instead, we're going to talk about something that might make some of you cringe a bit, and that's going to author conferences. Now, I get it. You may be saying to yourself, there's no way I want to do that, or...

Perhaps I did it once and it was not my thing. I get it. You guys may think that I'm a super outgoing person. I mean, after all, I'm running a podcast and here I am sitting in my office. talking to nobody. Well, I mean, I'm talking to you guys, but there's like nobody in the room listening. And it's a bit crazy to do that. However, though, I am with you when it comes to author conferences. I really don't go to as many as I should, but I make it a point to go to some because I definitely learn.

through going to not only author conferences, but other conferences, there are a lot of things that go on. There are a lot of recommendations that you should definitely do and a lot of things you should definitely not do. going to bring on Craig, who's putting on the 20 Books Vegas Conference, which I was a speaker at last year and I'll be a speaker at this year. It's one of my favorite conferences and I do it because...

This one's awesome and totally worth going to. So we're going to have a marketers and coffee session, talk a bit about presentations and how authors can get more out of conferences and just see what else is out there.

All right, guys, I'm sitting down to have some virtual coffee with a good friend of mine, Craig Martell. Craig, thank you so much for coming on to the Book Marketing Show podcast. Hey, thanks for having me, Dave. I appreciate it. As a fellow vet, I appreciate your service, man. Hey, amen to that.

I don't know about you. I just had a relaxing Memorial weekend. So it's been fun. Just kind of recollect and think about all the guys that served with, and I'm sure you had a whole list too. Oh, you bet. You bet. Too many. Well, as we sit here and we have our pretend coffee.

One of the things that I really wanted to focus on was talking about conferences. Now, I don't know about you, but actually physically going to some of the conferences I've gone to, it's had a prolific change in not only the way that I write, but also the way that I kind of work with others.

I can't agree more with that. I got my start going. I went to the Smarter Artists Summit two years ago, and that was the first one I went to. And then with 20 Books to 50K, we started talking about, well, hey, we should get together because it's more powerful then. a Facebook group or something else. And authors are introverts and there's nothing like not having to suffer through small talk. We can go, we talk with our tribe about

those things that are important to us. So it's instant connection. And it is probably the safest place for an introvert to go and discuss, be happy, and just have a good time and learn. When I started this whole writing online and online marketing, I was stuck on the other side of the world. I started in Korea, still in the military at the time, and then I was in Sri Lanka.

It was almost like I had a problem of connecting with other writers because I never physically met any of them and more importantly a lot of my communications was with email and so I remember I went to I think it was my first ever physical conference. And I went to Tribe Conference here in Franklin, Tennessee with Jeff Goins. And it was like, after meeting some of the authors there and talking with them,

we actually had a much stronger bond than over the past two years of just sending communications back and forth. So not only was it an incredible learning experience, but it was also amazing because it gave me opportunities to... reach out to people more so and ask questions and find ways to help each other out. It changes the dynamic significantly. And in the military parlance, we would say it's a force multiplier.

Two authors times two authors does not equal four if you've met and you've talked. It magnifies exponentially what you're capable of doing. 100%. And I went to the 20 Books Vegas conference, which... Absolutely love. Totally going back again. And it was incredible because you guys gave a notebook, which was seriously...

Awesome. And it's chock full of notes. And I sat there and I was scribbling and writing and I was taking all these notes. I loved the side panels so I could choose to go to certain subjects. I went into the sci-fi panel. That was awesome. And I kind of met a whole bunch of... authors that I kind of was starry-eyed and really excited to meet. And at the same time...

I was able to meet a couple of authors where we were able to develop kind of an opportunity to network. Now, as some of my readers and kindergartner know, we have an article on networking. And one of the best things that authors can do is to find ways to use each other's email. I know the word email use kind of sounds like crazy. It's like, man, you're using someone? Like what?

When we build up our email list, we don't have a book to promote every month. I mean, some of the authors out there are crushing out a book a month. Not this guy. But it's like, well, what do you do with that email address? Do you just not use it? Not send anything? So one great thing for authors to do is to promote other authors in their genre or in their niche. And in that time, they're keeping their readers fresh and finding great opportunities to read that next fix.

And as you do that, then you start to grow and grow in the other authors that you can have promote your book when it comes out. And there's no greater way to develop a strong enough relationship to try to do such an effective... tactic is through meeting them in person at conferences. I like that. It has worked well. I mean, I've done the online stuff and shared with other good people, but also I'm on video from the conferences. People have watched me speak and talk to people.

And gotten third party information about me. So they've kind of heard it from, hey, my friend went to the conference and met you and you're a straight up guy or that kind of thing. Or you write in my genre. I love that stuff. So it's an opportunity.

We don't all have the same readers. We all have different readers because we've contacted them and touched them in different ways. Establishing that relationship with a reader is almost as personal as going to a conference and talking with another author.

But it's different. It's still because you have a salesman and buyer relationship, but it can be better than that. And a lot of people share their personal details. Hey, I live here in the subarctic and I have moose come in my yard and I have a dog called Phyllis, the Arctic dog.

And I share that if I don't have anything to push. I do publish a lot just for reference. So the one book a month, well, you mean two or three books a month. That gives me one extra week where I don't have a new book out. The people at the conferences who write in my genre, you mentioned before we came live about the science fiction panel and that you loved it. And that was a great thing. And this year's science fiction panel will be.

an all-star cast. I think we're going to have six out of the top 10 science fiction authors there. Oh, man. Super cool. Yeah. Look at that. I mean, look at people like Larry Correa is close to coming. We've sent out an invite to John Ringo. He may come. We've got Lawrence Schoen, a longtime CIFIL member, a Nebula winner. And those kinds of folks are going to be there, and we're going to be talking sci-fi.

As well as a lot of the other genres. I mean, I have a tendency to fixate on science fiction because that's what I write. But just looking at the quality of the folks coming and the ability to say hi and shake hands. our av guys last year the guys who ran the audio visual for us those two i asked them after the end i'm like i'm sorry because they paid their own way they paid their own conference fee and then they still volunteered and helped out with the audio visual

And at the end, they're like, no, are you kidding me? We got to talk to every guest speaker personally. And it was exciting. And anybody in the crowd was able to do that as well. It's something that you couldn't do otherwise. And making a memorable impression, well, if you're fanboying or fangirling a little bit, maybe it's hard. But once you realize that we're all authors, we all write stories and we all publish them.

You see past that and see them as real people as a peer, P-E-E-R, and not somebody who's up on a pedestal. They're a peer. They're a fellow author. You know, another benefit that kind of struck me when I first went to one of my... first ever conferences was, it was such a soul lifting experience to see how many people have succeeded. I know we get into this world where, you know, in the online world, I mean, anybody can say they're making whatever money, right?

But when you start to get there and you see people and how they really approach it and you hear their story, I kept finding myself saying, oh my goodness, I'm at that point in your story right now. This is cool. I'm on the cusp. And it was later going to the conferences, you'll talk to that person and you just see their eyes light up when they're like, yes, this is my story. It's just really motivating and moving and...

When I came back from that first one, I was energized. I was ready to tackle this and take this to the next level because I knew it could be done. And I physically met somebody who I was able to look in their eyes and see they're not BSing me. Yeah. That's it. The energy from the conferences. I hope you saw the video that Jim Meisner from Veggie Garden Films did from 20 Books Vegas in 2017.

People were so excited. And 20 Books London, people were so excited when they got done with the conference and motivated and started increasing their word counts purely because they were excited about... The possibility, maybe what we sell at the conferences, and this is not for profit, maybe what we really make the conferences all about is hope that you can do this. Maybe you can make it a full-time career, work hard at the right things.

And you learn what those right things are at the conference and right for you because you find the kindred spirits who have been there or tried to go there and failed and tried a different route and succeeded. And you see all that. And that's what motivated us to do 20 Books Edinburgh, where we're doing a writing retreat in conjunction with a conference. So people can take that energy and immediately apply it by being right there and writing.

So five days of writing and two days of conference for a seven-day Edinburgh visit. So that means six days of single malt. There you go. I like how you're thinking.

All right. So here's a personal question. Go back to when you went to your first conference. Did you make some kind of embarrassing mistake or was there some kind of thing you wish you hadn't have done? I would turn that on its head and say, is there something you wish you had done? And that is go and talk to more people. Because once I recognize people, once I saw name badges.

I was reading an awful lot, and that's when I was up on the slope. I was deployed two weeks out of every month working the oil fields as a business consultant, but I was gone from home. And I read an awful lot. I read 50 some books. I read 53 books the year before I retired and started writing full time. And one of those authors that I read every book he wrote was Josh Dalzell. And I'm standing there.

A session just finished and Josh comes up and he says, hey, I'm Josh Dalzawa. I've heard of you. And I'm like, oh, my God, you've heard of me. How interesting that that is. And he's such a good guy, good, hardworking guy. And I publish a lot. And so I don't have the readership that Josh does. Josh, I think, is two to four books a year and makes what I make because he's done a better job establishing more readers.

And that works for him. And it shows a different side of the publishing world. But it also shows he's a real guy just like me, or I'd like to think that I am. But hey, I was reading you long before I started even thinking about writing full time.

And the catalyst for that was I lit myself on fire. So it wasn't that, hey, I've been thinking about this for years and I think I have a career. No, I lit myself on fire. And then I said, well, hey, I can't be trusted doing stuff outside. So what can I do that I'm not outside? I always wanted to write, so let me write. That was the extent of my planning and my decision-making process. And the next day I started writing full-time. Nice.

So I had written before. I mean, I loved reading and I knew I could write because I'm a lawyer, but still now I'm writing full time. And here's people that I was thinking about two months ago. And never had a clue that I would be writing science fiction and being right alongside of them in the rankings. And it was really great to see Raymond well. I've had conversations with him and I've read all his books as well.

That Anderle guy, I hate to say it, I never read his books before starting to write full-time and joining 20 Books to 50K. Well, that's awesome. My embarrassing moment. was that when I went to the first conference, I decided I was going to print off these business cards because, hey, something to hand to somebody so that they can maybe reach out and connect with me. The problem is, and this is embarrassing as an author, but...

the email on the business card was misspelled. Nice. I know. I was like, man, ain't nobody contacted me. And I'm, so I'm reaching out to people and everything like that. And. I looked down and it was soul crushing when I was like, oh, you idiot. So anybody out there thinking about creating some kind of card or whatever, make sure you got the right stuff in there.

I have a checklist, actually, before I go to conferences. I know, right? First off, I make sure I bring ChapStick. Because... with all the talking you're going to do even if you're an introvert because i'm an outgoing introvert people don't know that about me but i really am

and i drink a red bull before i get on these podcasts or else otherwise i'd be like yeah you know no but i will have chapstick because by the end of it my lips are chapped and i'm just licking my lips you know man i wish i had chapstick I also make sure to bring a plastic water bottle that I carry with me because it's crazy. We hit the coffee, which is always amazing, and the cookies, which are even better. As big as your face, buddy. As big as your face.

That's right. But sometimes I'm in and I love those cookies, by the way. But anyways, and I'll get into a conversation. I'll miss lunch because like, oh, we're just having too good a conversation with a group of people and we totally forgot. And the next session starts. It's like, oh, what happened?

And I started to realize I get dehydrated a lot at these events. And also when there's open bar too, I get even more dehydrated. No, just kidding. But I always make sure to have water with me. It's great to have a notebook. You can't believe how many times I'm just like, oh, that's a good nugget. I need to write this down.

And the other thing that's really important is I like to have some way to quickly hand somebody my contact information. Now, I still use business cards just because it's quick to say, yeah, reach out to me. Let's talk about that even more.

And more importantly, I will collect their business cards and I will make sure to have an organized way of remembering who they were. I'll write notes on it. But I saw some really cool people. They actually use some like little buttons. They put their stuff on a button. I mean, how?

How cool was that to stick out? And anybody who's thinking about doing that, there's this website called StickerMule.com that does really cool, cheap buttons as well as stickers. And that can be kind of a neat way to stand out. when you're trying to get people to remember you. So I got my little checklist. Make sure I'm not going to be that guy again. Superb. Superb. I have spreadsheets.

I have laundry lists of stuff for 20 Books Vegas because I have to carry whatever there. I have to ship ahead of time. I mean, running the conferences, it's a full-time job. Oh, I can imagine. All right, so...

Say we have some listeners listening. Again, we're pretending we're having coffee. What would be something you would recommend to anybody out there that's going to be going to their first conference? Listen more than you speak. It's important. When you go there, just to get the flavor of it and see how it goes. Because if you go in balls to the wall and try to be overwhelming, especially if that's not you.

If you try to become what you're not, an extrovert as opposed to an introvert, then you will have a painful experience because that's not you. The most important thing is to be yourself. Listen, find those opportunities. People will come up to you and say hi. One of the things you can do is on your badge, put your genre. Hey, I write romance. Hey, I write science fiction. I write post-apocalyptic horror with clowns. Oh, wow. I thought there was only one of me.

Those kinds of things just connect because this is your tribe if you're an author, especially if you're a stay-at-home and you write. Then you have very limited opportunity for social interaction besides the internet, which… Let's not count that real interaction as you look somebody in the eye. And like you said earlier, I can tell this will be a good person to exchange newsletters with. Nice.

That's a really good point. One of the things I loved at the beginning of our conversation, you talked about introverts and it almost feels like a conference is... the place for extroverts. But I just wanted to echo what you said about that and also just add to it is that, especially at the author conferences, there's a very large percentage of introverts that are actually there. I mean, we're writers. That's kind of how we roll, right?

The key is that you'll find the people who are loud and outspoken. They'll be there. But there are going to be a lot of people that aren't that are there. And I love how you said put the genre on the badge because that is such a great way to start a conversation.

And one thing I love too is asking the question of, so tell me about your writing. There ain't no other author out there that doesn't want to talk about their books, right? They'll go into the writing style and such like that. And it's a great starter. Think about that. Don't be scared if you are an introvert and you're going into what feels like an extrovert world. And like you said, don't pretend to be something you're not. Yeah, especially self-published authors.

It is an introvert's world. So understand that. You're not going to be overwhelmed. I would say there was 20 Books Vegas. We had 400 people there. I wouldn't say there was anyone who came across as gregarious, loud, overwhelming. I know sometimes it got loud just because there were a lot of conversations going on, but this is a home for introverts. It really is someplace to...

Be comfortable. Like I said, no small talk. We didn't talk about the damn weather. It's Vegas. I mean, you can flip a coin and you got the weather. What we talked about is writing. And some people had icons that they put on their badges showing that. Hey, I love unicorns too. And you could have those conversations. We gave lanyards. So buttons are a great thing. I have an I love you, Ursula button that I got at the CIPWA conference because Ursula K. Le Guin passed away within the last year.

So I've got those kinds of things and it'll be on my lanyard and sport your pride and come out and talk with your people. The thing with introverts is. You don't like making small talk. You don't like senseless conversations. You need time to think. But when people come to your territory, it's so much easier to carry on a real conversation, one that's in-depth, that's meaningful to you.

So that's how I published an indie conference, especially the biggest indie conference in the world, which is what 20 books has grown into in just its second year, which is crazy. That's the place to be. Nice. I love it.

For 20 Books 2019, we're reserving a place that will hold 1,200 to 1,500 people. Nice. All self-published, all indies. Well, actually. We have a bunch of TradPub authors coming to 20 Books Vegas because they're looking at it saying, hmm, especially as TradPub is pulling back on the royalty advances and re-signing authors.

not making it as lucrative as it used to be. So people are looking at other ways, especially already established people who have a good name and a reasonable following. There's no reason to donate so much of your royalties to somebody else. No, especially if you've done all the work yourself already. That's right. That's right. And that's what we're all about. Put on your business hat and show you that it's not overwhelming. The mountain is not too high. I love it.

Well, hey, Craig, thank you so much for being on the Bookmarking Show and having this virtual coffee with me. Indeed, indeed. I'm actually having a health food shake. I've been on the road for two weeks, and two weeks of restaurant food I have to detox. Well, may the detox force be with you. Thanks, man. You have a great day, Dave.

All right, guys, after that conversation, I hope that you can see that there are a lot of great opportunities that come from going to an author conference. It's not just about learning from what the speakers have to say, but also it's an opportunity to network with other authors. Like we said on this podcast and on Kindlepreneur.com, it is super important to realize that other authors in your genre or niche are not direct competitors. Instead, they're an opportunity to develop a...

network and to develop a platform and develop a relationship where you can expand and reach more readers. So be sure to go there and meet with other authors. One great tip that you can use is that On your name tag, write your genre.

or write your niche. That way, if you happen to be talking to another author that is in your genre, they can see that and bring up the conversation and that gives you an opportunity. Now, another thing that comes from networking is that make sure that you get some way of communicating with them.

after the conference. That could be from a phone number or from an email address. Now, a lot of authors come with business cards. That way they can hand it out and that the person has a email address to be able to use. That's cool, but do remember that there are a lot of business cards that get handed out. So either make yours look really cool or unique, or think of some other ways to get people to remember you.

One thing that I love is I saw someone at a conference who was handing out pins. And it was kind of cool. I immediately put it on and I ended up wearing their pin for the entire day. And I still had it in my backpack when I got back from the conference. So you can definitely do that. One of the places I love to either create stickers or pins or really cool, unique swag.

is StickerMule.com. You can go there and quickly make them. I've got some Kindlepreneur stickers and KDP Rocket stickers and even a coaster, which has been really fun. So you can create something unique using that, and that gives you an ability to kind of stand out in the crowd.

And finally, when you do go to a conference, do make sure to keep mind of your health. I had become very dehydrated because I forgot to drink a lot of water while I was there. Slugging coffee made me think I was hydrated, but not so much. So be sure to bring a water bottle that you're chugging on some water so that you stay hydrated. Also, chapstick's a great thing too. If you're a talker like me, it's great to keep your lips not chapped. So a couple of things.

And as you do this more, you'll find some of your own personal items that you want to bring with you to help make it a better experience. But the key thing is, is that author conferences are a wonderful opportunity for you to learn, grow, and network. Three very important things that we should keep in mind. And hey, by the way, if you do end up going to 20 Books Vegas or Tribe Conference, two conferences that have already got set for the next six months.

be sure to come up and say hi. Let me know that you're there. That would be wonderful. I love meeting you guys. And at the same time, too, tell me about your book. I would love to hear about that. But if not, well, keep it in mind. These are great conferences, and you can definitely check out those two conferences in the show notes. And with that, I'm Dave Chesson of the Book Marketing Show podcast, signing off.