My First BEA

Speaking at the KDP Booth

Amazon invited me to the BEA last week and because I told myself I would try everything at least once, I said YES and my husband and I flew to New York to see what the Book Expo of America was all about. Energy and excitement are two words that come to mind as I think back on my week. Thousands of people were walking the aisles, but I didn’t see much of that because CreateSpace and KDP kept me busy. I was lucky enough to talk on a panel at the Upublishu on Sunday with authors CS Marks (hilarious), Brittany Geragotelis (enthusiastic) and Darcie Chan (professional and kind). I was able to meet a lot of the behind-the-scenes people at Amazon and what a treat that was. So welcoming and friendly. So REFRESHING!

Speaking on a panel with Darcie Chan,
CS Marks and Brittany Geragotelis

This was my first opportunity to speak in front of a large group. I would say there were a few hundred people in the audience. It was Sunday morning after all and very early. Thank goodness. I was very shy growing up and so I was apprehensive about speaking on any panel anywhere. I had index cards just in case I froze. In the past, when I attended RWA conferences I would freeze when I came face to face with an editor. Why? Because all of my hopes and dreams felt as if they were riding on that 30 second talk. Ridiculous but true.



My first book signing

At the BEA it was a whole different ballgame. Since self-publishing in March of 2011 I have had full control of every aspect of my writing career…and guess what? I like it. I like it a lot. I have no reason to fear editors and agents or anyone else (I do realize I never had reason to fear them, but it just felt different back then because they were the decision makers, the people who held all the cards). One of the things I am enjoying most about self-publishing is that I don’t have to send queries out every week. I don’t have to open any more rejection letters. No more queries. No more waiting. No more rejections.

I am one happy writer.

Amazon has spoiled me. I tell other writers to be patient with every aspect of self-publishing, but it’s not easy to do. I want to do everything and I want to do it now! After 19 years of queries and months and months of waiting for another rejection, it’s so nice to know that when my book is ready to go, I can release it to the world and let readers decide if they like my book, or not. Not one reader, but hundreds or thousands if I’m lucky. I don’t have to wait for an agent to send my book to twelve publishers and then wait months while those individuals decide if my story meets their requirements.

Wardrobe check before video shoot

Anyhow, back to the BEA, did I mention that a limo picked me up from the airport? Surreal would be putting it mildly. I was asked to hang around the CreateSpace/KDP booth for a few days during the BEA and I’m so glad I did. I was interviewed by Mercy Pilkington at Good Ereaders. I was jet-lagged and pale and I found myself looking up at the Heavens instead of at the interviewer. It’s all a learning experience. Hopefully I’ll be invited to other events so I can practice! I spoke to the Huffington Post and Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Len at Pod Chronicles. The man from Huffington Post didn’t understand why I would sell my Lizzy Gardner Series to Thomas & Mercer when I am making so much money on my own. I told him that I wanted to try everything. I want my books on audio. I want foreign sales and the chance to have my books in a brick and mortar store somewhere in the world. Maybe in an airport someday. I want to give my books a chance to be translated into another language and T&M might be able to do all of that and more. I also told him to talk to me in a year and we’ll see if I am happy with my decision. It’s all experimental.

Talking to Andriana and my husband, Joe, on the
rooftop of Ink 48 Hotel in NY where we stayed

I was asked to give two short talks at the KDP booth and then answer questions and sign a few books. My first book signing! The icing on the cake was a three hour video shoot for Createspace/KDP (see last year’s video) on my last morning in New York: hair, makeup, sound, directors and wardrobe. The toughest question I was asked…the question that made me pause was “If not for Amazon, would you have ever been published?” That’s a tough one, but my answer was and is, “One thing for certain is that I never would have given up.”

Not only did I get to see my son, Jesse, and his girlfriend, Andriana, (they live in Brooklyn) while in New York, I met James Altucher (and his wife Claudia) author of I Was Blind But Now I See. James is a very interesting person and I wish I had had more time to speak with him. James has been on a quest to find the meaning of happiness since the age of six. He is a positive force and I am very excited to have met him (read his blog post).  Meeting Frederick G. Dillen, author of Fool, was another highlight of my trip. He was kind-hearted, super interesting and adventurous. Traveling to New York just to meet Fred would have been enough for me, but I was also lucky enough to meet Alexis Harrington, Vincent Zandri, Blake Crouch, Justin Luke Zirilli, Jim Fusilli, Dan Mayland, Greg Smith, Darcie Chan, Brittany Geragotelis, CS Marks, and many more whose names I never learned!

Getting direction from interviewer

I was invited to speak at a conference in Idaho in November and I met many wonderful people from Audible and ACX. Pam Spector and I tried to connect, but never did. We did wave from across the room. I met Jennifer Bassuk and Anthony Roberts, a really nice guy. 

I also met my editor from Thomas & Mercer, Alan Turkus. What a treat. He’s as nice in person as he is on the phone. I was lucky enough to meet Andrew Bartlett, Libby Johnson McKee, Alison Grand, John Fine, Jennifer Butler, Brittany Turner, Thom Kephart (he looks 19!), Hande Ormen, Whitney Hall, Mia Lipman, Nader Kabbani (a real slacker...Not! Nader is a pianist, a swimmer, a husband and father of four beautiful daughters, and who knows what else he does!), Atif Rafiq, David Symonds, Sean Linehan and Jacque Ben-Zekry. These are only some of the wonderful people I met from Amazon. There were many more, but I’ve only been home for a few days and this is all from memory, which isn’t what it used to be.

A great group from KDP/CreateSpace

Overall, during my time spent at the BEA, I have to say that the opportunities for independent authors, now and in the future, appear to be endless. 

uPublishU - Book Expo

I've been invited to speak on a panel with three other authors at the upcoming BEA in June! I've never been before and I can't wait! If you have attended the Book Expo before, please let me know how it went.

Penned & Published – Self-Published Authors & Stories of Success!

Moderator

PJ Campbell, Director of Events for a major global trade publisher

Speakers/Participants

Darcie Chan, Self-Published Author of The Mill River Recluse

Brittany Geragotelis, Self-Published Author of Life's a Witch

C.S. Marks, Self-Published Author of the Elfhunter trilogy

Theresa Ragan, Self-Published Author, Author of Return of the Rose

Description

Combine your talent and business sense and take your writing dreams to the next level by penning and publishing your own work of literary art! Join celebrated authors and publishing professionals for this inspirational and engaging session where they describe what it takes to become a best-selling author. Long-time Publishing Veteran and author, PJ Campbell, will share her experiences of publishing and talk with authors who have made the leap to publish. Meet this dynamic group of writing professionals and learn exactly what tips and techniques are needed and applied to create a successful book campaign. This exciting session includes an expert panel of successful authors who will share their thrilling self-publishing stories! These courageous writers will share their experiences and insights on their own best practices and how they turned their trials into triumphs! From pen to published author, this session will prove that You can Publish You! 

Bios

PJ Campbell is the Director of Events for a major, global trade publisher and an authority in the creation of successful book campaigns through author appearances. She has more than 17 years’experience in formulating, marketing and publicizing author appearances through webinars, blog tours, online chats, Skype, bookstores, conventions, conferences, seminars, workshops, galas, and launch parties. Including her background as a former bookstore General Manager and Director of Events, she has an all-inclusive perspective of the business of writing. As an author, PJ has written articles and essays on a variety of adult topics including the business of events, women’s issues, motivation, sports, health and art. Her writing has been published in national and international newspapers, magazines and websites. Her 2009 published book, 101 AUTHOR TIPS: Creating A Successful Book Campaign was an award finalist in Best Books USA Book News and Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year. PJ’s newest book will be published as an e-book, entitled, Authors’ Online Bestseller Resource: Sales, Publicity, Promotion, E-Publishing. PJ is a member of the following professional writing associations: National Association of Women Writers, International Women Writers Guild, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Western Writers of America, Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Contact PJ Campbell at http://pjcampbellwriter.com,

Darcie Chan is the author of The Mill River Recluse, a self-published debut novel that has become a word-of-mouth e-book sensation. With over 570,000 copies sold, The Mill River Recluse appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists for more than 24 weeks and became a heartwarming favorite of readers across the country. Darcie was born in Wisconsin and grew up in the small towns of Brandon, Wisconsin, La Junta and Cheraw, Colorado, and Paoli, Indiana. Thanks to loving and supportive parents who are both educators, she learned to read and write at an early age. She has two younger sisters, with whom she is very close. Currently, Darcie lives just north of New York City with her husband and son. She writes during every moment she isn’t working as a lawyer or spending time with her family. She gets very little sleep, especially now that she is hard at work on a second novel set in Mill River, Vermont.

An Olympic-bound gymnast during her teen years, Brittany Geragotelis always thought she'd see her name in print one day. That dream came true first as a magazine editor, where she had the chance to interview celebrities like Dakota Fanning, Miley Cyrus and Jamie Foxx, and then more recently in news outlets like Publisher's Weekly, Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Though she's now a full-time writer, she also pens the blog Brittany the Book Slayer (www.thebookslayer.com) as well as produces and stars in author videos for her YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/thebookslayer). After publishing her first book, Life's a Witch, on the community writing site Wattpad (www.wattpad.com/BrittTheBookSlayer) and receiving nearly 18 million reads of the paranormal action romance, she landed a 3-book, 6-figure deal with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. The prequel to Life's A Witch, titled What the Spell? Will be published as an e-book in three parts beginning in September 2012 and in paperback in December. The re-release of Life's a Witch and the sequel will follow one per year. A self-professed pop-culture junkie, Brittany currently lives in NYC with her boyfriend and two cats, Murray and Cohen.

C.S. Marks has often been described as a ‘Renaissance woman’.The child of an English professor, Chris has always loved classic literature as well as epic fantasy, and decided to try her hand at writing and illustrating an epic series. The result: The very successful Elfhunter trilogy, which has sold over 40,000 copies both in print and e-book form. This epic trilogy has garnered awards (Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy, Best Series) and nearly 200 reviews. She is now hard at work on an exciting new Alterran series, the Undiscovered Realms. A former field biologist and avid horsewoman, Chris holds a PhD in Biology, and has competed both nationally and internationally in the sport of endurance riding. She is a full professor of equine science at a small liberal arts college in the midwest. She is in demand as a lecturer and presenter at conventions, academic fairs, and publishing workshops. In 2011, Chris signed a three book deal with Sea Lion Books, including comic book and graphic novel adaptations of the Elfhunter trilogy as well as hard covers and paperbacks. While she has enjoyed an ample measure of success as an independent author, she is now looking forward to a long and productive relationship with Sea Lion Books, bringing her wonderful Tales of Alterra to an ever-widening group of appreciative readers of all ages.

Theresa Ragan has been writing for nineteen years and has garnered six Golden Heart nominations in Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Competition for her work. She lives with her husband, Joe, and the youngest of her four children in Sacramento, California. Theresa writes medieval time travels, romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and thrillers under the name T.R. Ragan. In her first year as an indie author, Theresa sold 250,000 ebooks. Books by Theresa include: Return of the Rose, A Knight in Central Park, Taming Mad Max, Finding Kate Huntley. Also look for Abducted and Dead Weight, romantic thrillers under the name T.R. Ragan. Many of her titles are top sellers in their category!