Mark Leslie is a writer, editor and bookseller who lives in Southern Ontario. In 2005, Mark joined the blogging bandwagon and started posting random thoughts and musings on writing, bookselling and being a father.
I'm proud to have my work appear in a FREE Writing Survival Guide created to help inspire writers for NaNoWriMo 2019.
Writing about 2,000 words a day isn't hard.
Doing it sustainably is the hard part.
That's why a group of amazing authors got together, under the guidance of Laura Crenshaw, to create 50 pages of useful, inspirational content to help other writers as they dive into 30 days of National Novel Writing Month.
The good folks behind the Alliance of Independent Authors are hosting another virtual conference called The Self-Publishing Advice Conferencestarting tomorrow (Saturday Sept 14th)
I have been a presenter/speaker at this conference in the past and love how valuable it can be to authors to consume and enjoy at their leisure, without having to leave their home or office.
This is because, for this conference, the alliance host 24 video sessions over 24 hours,
bringing authors the latest self-publishing news and interviews, webinars
and presentations, live to authors everywhere. This year, their
conference theme is Sell More Books.
There
are going to be top authors like Brian Meeks, Michael Anderle and J.
Thorn as well as top companies like Bookbub and Findaway voices, and all
sharing their very best strategies, tactics, and techniques for selling
more books.
At The Self-Publishing Advice Conference, you’ll learn:
·How to grasp and master Bookbub’s CPM ads
·How to copy write like a pro and crack your Amazon sales page
·Why your book isn’t selling and what you can do about it
·How to sell more audiobooks
·Top tips for video marketing
·How to become an Instagram influencer
·Who can benefit from AMS ads and how to master them.
And much more.
The best part?
The Self-Publishing Advice Conference is totally FREE to attend live and for the following 48 hours.
We all know there are a lot of courses, resources, and virtual summits out there for writers, but this one is unique…
You see, The Self-Publishing Advice Conference is focused exclusively on helping you sell more books.
This conference is about making YOU a better marketer, period.
To join in, all you need is a pen, some paper, and the drive to sell more books.
These conferences are free to ALLI members, but if you aren't a member, outside the window, an ALL-ACCESS PASS can be purchased for $199 and it offers access to this conference, previous and future sessions.
Having worked in this industry since 1992, I benefit from constantly learning. I know that I'll be learning more from this wonderful 24 hour virtual conference, and I'm sure that you will too if you check it out.
In January of this week I started a weekly podcast called Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing. I have released a new episode every Friday every single week since January 5th.
Sometimes the episodes are solo ones with me harping on about something in writing and publishing.
Most times the episodes are interviews with writers, creators, industry folks and other people who inspire me or I want to learn from.
There will likely be 54 episodes by the end of this year. Mostly because I made a math error and accidentally skipped an episode number and so felt obliged to quickly fill in a mini-episode so they all added up. I'll also be posted a special 50th episode post this coming weekend - just because I like that round number.
These two extra episodes in Season One will make it 54 episodes rather than 52.
But there are a lot fewer episodes of the podcast in Video format.
I use ZOOM to record most of the interviews that aren't done in person. And for those, I will ask the person I am interviewing if it's okay to use the video feed for sharing the interview portion on YouTube.
When they are okay with it, and, maybe more critical to the process, when I find/make the time to actually produce a video version, I post the videos to my Stark Reflections Playlist on YouTube.
For the sake of those who enjoy video over audio, here are some of the video interviews from a few different episodes:
Episode 5 - Global Audiobook Opportunities for Authors with Kelly Lytle
Episode 29 - Writing with Authenticy, Humor and Passion with Terry Fallis
Episode 21 - Real Connections in a Digital World with J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon
Episode 15 - The Process of a Writer's Life with Kevin Tumlinson
Episode 35 - Lessons Learned from the Novel Intensive Workshop with Ara Grigorian, Janis Thomas and Julie Strauss
Episode 48 - Publishing Strong with Andrea Pearson
Episode 45 - Co-Authoring with the Writers Behind C.K. Wikes (Kerrie Flanagan and Chuck Harrelson)
I haven't been all that great at capturing/keeping all of the video feeds to post in this format. But I did manage to get some short clips derived from some other episodes.
Like these excerpts, often from my own little post-interview reflections....
Using Digital Reading Analytics for Strategic Planning...
Understanding the Cost of Self-Publishing an eBook
And, for a funny, here's a blooper from Episode 16 with Natasha Bajema . . .
Superstars Founding Faculty Members (F) and Guest Instructors. Left to Right: Lisa Mangum, Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson (F), Rebecca Moesta (F), James A. Owen (F), David Farland (F), Brandon Sanderson (F), Eric Flint (F)
Even though I was there to teach and share insights about Kobo and Kobo Writing Life and digital publishing, and even though it was my fifth visit to this annual conference, I still walked away with an incredible amount of knowledge. I ALWAYS do.
And that's one of the reasons I keep going back. The industry keeps changing and the learning never stops. And this conference is filled with information about both traditional publishing as well as indie and digital publishing options for writers, always focusing on the BUSINESS of being a writer. (Even though there is an intensive "craft day" now tacked on at the front of the conference)
Pic from VIP Dinner - Photo courtesy of Lauren Lang of Jacobin Photography
Apart from the presentations, panels and discussions I participated in, I also scooted around between sessions and in hallways and did a series of live Facebook videos of chats with various folks, including the founding faculty, guest instructors and other industry pros who were attending. It was part of my wanting to share, via my Stark Reflections/Stark Publishing brand, insights and tidbits of info for writers who couldn't be there.
In the third episode of the Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing podcast, Mark interviews Sinead McElhinney, PR Coordinator on the Communications team from Rakuten Kobo in Toronto, Ontario about some interesting reading data that Kobo released near the end of 2017. They discuss the analysis of reading data, understanding core eBook readers better, as well as some of Sinead’s favorite things about her role in the book industry.
Sinead and Mark at RT (Romantic Times) in Atlanta in May 2017 (May the 4th, if you catch the subtle hint from Mark's t-shirt)
During their conversation, Sinead and Mark discuss:
