Until this weekend I wasn’t sure about writers conferences, plus I have discovered I am a terribly indecisive procrastinator! I’m not sure, I’m going, I’ve paid, I’ve canceled, I’ve repaid… seriously, I must have driven the organizers crazy. (Sorry Tanja!)
Before today if you had asked me about a conference I would have answered you with umm’s, maybe’s, and depends. Today, however, I can with confidence say… yes go!
I’m not looking for agents and publishers and I am a very happy indie-author, or as I found out this weekend, an authorpreneur, really like the sound of that.
So where did I go that made me swing like a pendulum, that firmly left me on scales that sunk on the ‘go-for-it’ side? The answer is, The Dublin Writers Conference run by,
Did I learn a bucket full of information from the speakers, well probably as I am so far along the line of being an authorpreneur, (sorry just really fell in love with the word) maybe not. People just starting off on their writing career would certainly have learned massive amounts of useful information though, and to others like them I say, go go go and go quickly, learn how to do it properly and don’t make the mistakes I made. If I had attended a conference like this before I self-published I would have saved myself thousands of pounds… and I’m not kidding.
However, before established indie-authors are put off, I have to rush on and say – there is much more to these conferences than the guest speakers. I met loads, and I mean loads, of lovely people and swapped business cards with numerous attendees. The indie-world of book publishing is blessed with a multitude of authors, artists, and like-minded people, who simply LOVE to help other people, now in what other business can you say that?
I learned tons from my chats with other authors, really invaluable information, and happy to say I was able to offer a couple of people bits of information they didn’t know.
Besides the great atmosphere and the constant exchange between people, we ended Saturday evening with an Irish Ditty session that I shall never forget. Oh, and Michael Neff, should you ever happen upon this post, I am still singing your ditty about authors (to the tune of ‘Would you like to swing on a star’) and I promise never to start a book with a scene in a car or someone waking up from a dream!!!
For me, the icing on the top, was being able to pitch to Ken Atchity an American producer, in what day-to-day walk of life can you ever get to do that?
The cost, €149. Money for value? One hundred percent. Go again? Oh, I hope so.
