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Hey there word nerds!
Today, I\\u2019ll be sharing a recap of all the exciting things I discovered at Digital Book World (or DBW) last week. 2017 marks the eighth year of this industry-focused event, with a shift toward solution-focused strategies paired with insightful in-depth programming. This year was also the the first time DBW has run a segment of the conference exclusively for indie authors.
While this event is intended for the members of the publishing community\\u2014it truly is an industry event\\u2014there are a lot of things author can learn from DBW in order to thrive in today\\u2019s evolving landscape. And this doesn\\u2019t mean you need to be an indie author; even if writers planning to go the traditional route, there were a lot of important takeaways I got from digital book world this year.
While I heard a lot of fascinating statistics and gained so many new insights into publishing, there were three main themes that rose to the top.
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This last piece is extremely important. It\\u2019s only when we understand the money piece that we can develop creative new ideas for earning a sustainable living from our writing. If we don\\u2019t know what\\u2019s going on in the industry around us, then we\\u2019re operating in a vacuum.
As I go through each of these three themes from DBW, I\\u2019m also going to give you a little piece of homework\\u2014an assignment with each one\\u2014so you can implement these concepts with concrete, actionable steps.
Let\\u2019s get started!
Hands down, one of the places where I saw the most creative thinking was in platforms, and I don\\u2019t mean your author platform, but social media and other tech platforms where both authors and publishers are doing cool creative things. Trends include...
The two big areas of focus when it comes to efficiency focus creation and promotion.
\\u201cAny given Thursday, you can walk into a bar and hear people singing karaoke who are pretty decent. But as agents, we\\u2019re not looking for \\u2018pretty good,\\u2019 we\\u2019re looking for someone who can sing at the Met or who can sell out Madison Square Garden.\\u201d
\\u2014Regina Brooks, Lead Agent and President of Serendipity Literary Agency
Perhaps my favorite session was given by Peter Hildick-Smith, Codex Group founder and president. He broke down the sales process into three steps, then talked about different strategies pertaining to each one. These steps are: Discover, conversion, and sourcing.
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Starting with the only conference designed to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment, Digital Book World has evolved into a year-round platform offering educational and networking resources for consumer publishing professionals and their partners \\u2014 including agents, booksellers and technology vendors \\u2014 online and in person.
You can keep up with Digital Book World and what they\\u2019re up to by following them on Twitter.
For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/131
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