Scam and Fraud Avoidance for New (And Veteran) Authors

Track: All

This presentation will cover the most common scams that target authors and how to avoid becoming a victim. 

How to Create a Multi-Million Dollar Business from Your Business Book

Track: Inquisitive Voyagers

This presentation will explore strategies for non-fiction authors to transform their books into thriving media enterprises. While this session can work for fiction books, it is best suited for authors with business books and a business-to-business focus.

Beyond Sales: Leveraging Free Books for Business Growth and Brand Expansion

Track: All

This session will dive into when giving away your book is a smart approach to brand and business growth (and book sales!) and when it’s a waste of time, money, and energy. 

Invited speaker

Julie Broad is the founder of self-publishing services firm Book Launchers and host of the popular YouTube channel BookLaunchers.tv. Her titles include More than Cashflow, which topped Amazon print books at #1, The New Brand You, Self-Publish & Succeed, and her latest book, Self-Promote and Succeed. Julie is an expert on writing a non-fiction book with marketing in mind. Las Vegas is home now, but she was born and raised in Canada. 

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Dip by Seth Godin

Financial Planning for Authors

Track: All

This session will focus on treating your author career as a legitimate business. Attendees will learn practical financial management strategies, including how to allocate funds for future expenses and distinguish between necessary and discretionary spending.

Invited speaker

she/her

LJ Dix was raised by a lover of books of all kinds and had free access to her mother's library as soon as she could read. Her mother also loved science fiction and encouraged LJ's lifelong love of sci-fi and fantasy. LJ's first published series is based on stories she told her children during long drives to visit family in an attempt to forestall the "are we there yet" syndrome.

One of the greatest challenges she met while writing fiction again years later was making the transition from academic writing after achieving two master's degrees. LJ holds an MBA and has certification in financial planning, but her academic area of interest is global supply chains, specifically container ships. Interplanetary trade shows up in many of her sci-fi books as a fun way to bring together her two areas of interest.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

Lord of the Rings. Not necessarily because it's my favorite book, although it's in my top five, but because my first reading of that has stuck in my memory as an amazing adventure.

How to Run a Successful Viral Giveaway to Continuously Build Your Audience

Track: Emerging Storytellers, Inquisitive Voyagers

This session will cover how to leverage viral giveaways as a cost-effective marketing strategy to rapidly expand your reader base. 

Invited speaker

he/him

Russell Nohelty is a USA Today bestselling fantasy author who has written dozens of novels and graphic novels, including The Godsverse Chronicles, The Obsidian Spindle Saga, and Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter. He is the publisher of Wannabe Press, co-host of the Kickstart Your Book Sales podcast, cofounder of the Writer MBA training academy, and cofounder of The Future of Publishing Mastermind. He also co-created the Author Ecosystem archetype system to help authors thrive. You can take the quiz to find your perfect ecosystem at www.authorecosystem.com or find most of his writing on his Substack at theauthorstack.com. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and dogs.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Growing Your Writing Business: How to Create and Use a Writer’s Business Plan that Works for You

Track: All

This session will cover business plans for writers, including their purpose, importance, and practical steps for creating and implementing them.

Invited speaker

she/her

Tonya D. Price pursued an MBA from Cornell University’s Graduate Business School in Marketing and Finance because she had a dream of being a professional fiction writer and knew a writer was a small business person. When self-publishing and indie publishing grew in popularity, Tonya was ready with 20 years of small, medium, and large corporate experience across a variety of positions. She knew many authors writing craft books, but as her career progressed, Tonya decided to pay forward what she had learned by writing non-fiction books that would teach business skills to writers. Tonya is a creator, and so, when not advising writers on the business side of writing, she loves to write romantic suspense, historical, and thriller short stories, and novels. 

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

The Indie Advantage: How Authors Are Changing the Film/TV Landscape

Track: Emerging Storytellers, Inquisitive Voyagers

Drawing on the expertise of business partners Sean Platt and Niamh Arthur, this talk will explore the process of bringing your IP from books to film and TV. Attendees will learn about the increasing value of IP in the entertainment industry, strategies for adapting literary works for visual media, and how to navigate common pitfalls in the adaptation process

Invited speaker

he/him

Sean Platt has written across all types of media, from sales copy to bestselling books. He is the founder of the multi-media story studio Sterling & Stone and co-founder of the ghostwriting company Invisible Ink. Sean was co-host of The Self-Publishing Podcast for seven years and co-author of Write. Publish. Repeat.  

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

Stephen King's It

Invited speaker

she/her

Niamh Arthur (pronounced Neeve) is the COO and Genre Trends Specialist at Sterling & Stone. An avid reader from the start, her library card was her best friend growing up. At 18, she moved to Ireland to attend the renowned Drama and Theatre Studies program at Trinity College Dublin, where she focused on film studies and wrote a senior dissertation on how cultural ideologies are expressed in modern Hollywood films. She went on to study marketing with a focus on audience response, psychology, and brand bonding. 

After over fifteen years of running a successful business and teaching entrepreneurs how to use stories to connect with an audience, Niamh realized she was missing her favorite part of storytelling: fiction. She leaped at the chance to join Sterling & Stone as COO and as Sean’s writing partner. She uses her deep understanding of emotional triggers, audience response, genre, and commercial trends to ensure stories hit the mark and create long-lasting impact on the audience.

After twenty years in Ireland, she moved to the US in early 2022 and now lives in Colorado with her husband and two children.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Westing Game

Addressing Concerns Around AI: How to Survive in an AI-Saturated World 

Track: All

AI raises numerous concerns. This session will tackle a few including: Is it copyright infringement? Can I file for copyright on AI work? Is AI creative? Can authors be compensated? Will AI make the book market oversaturated? Can AI write original content? Will Amazon ban your account if you use AI?

Invited speaker

he/him

Jason Hamilton is a mythic fantasy author, former content manager at Kindlepreneur, and the man behind the Nerdy Novelist YouTube channel, where he works with tech-positive authors to learn how to work practically with AI and other tools. He loves mythology, history, and geek culture. When he's not writing books (see his work at MythHQ.com), his favorite hobbies include hiking, spending time with his wife and daughter, and traveling.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Reinventing the Author Entrepreneur: How AI Will Impact Authors in 2025

Track: All

Invited speaker

she/her

Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers, dark fantasy, and memoirs as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. 

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Stand by Stephen King

Direct Sales in 2024

Track: Inquisitive Voyagers

Bestselling author Katie Cross shares her direct sales journey, detailing how she developed a unique, website-focused business strategy without relying on external retailers or paid advertising. Gain insights into the direct sales business model and learn practical applications of direct sales methods.

Invited speaker

she/her

Dragons are Katie Cross's thing—but unfortunately, we don't see a lot of them here. Until that day comes, she likes to hang out in fantasy worlds of her own making. She hikes every day in the Montana mountains, chases her kiddos around their forest home, and tries not to get too swept up in all the words.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Little House on the Prairie series

Unleash Your Author Business Acumen: Hands-On Financials Workshop

Track: Pre-Published Explorers, Emerging Storytellers

This interactive workshop will cover essential financial skills, including calculating cost-per-click and cost-per-sale, mastering read-through and sell-through metrics, and determining break-even points and return on investment. Learn how to define risk tolerance and capacity and understand how these factors affect their business decisions.

Invited speaker

DeAnna Hart is an accounting veteran with over twenty-seven years’ experience and a deep background in multiple industries including manufacturing, wholesale distribution, commercial construction, higher education, rotorcraft services, and industrial equipment sales and rental. She’s done it all, from full cycle Accounts Payable all the way up to preparing monthly financial statements and everything in between.

DeAnna holds a Master's in Business Administration with an Accounting concentration. She’s also a fellow indie author! Her pen name is D.F. Hart, and with nineteen titles and counting under her belt – including Accounting for Authors – she understands the nuances and challenges specific to self-publishing that indie authors face.

Estate Planning for Authors: Prepping Your Heirs Now for Tomorrow

Track: Inquisitive Voyagers

This session will cover how authors can prepare their wills, legal documents, and intellectual property to ensure their heirs will continue earning from their books for decades. Attendees will learn how to manage their IP, organize their finances, educate their heirs, and create a comprehensive action plan. 

Invited speaker

he/him

Bestselling author M.L. Buchman started the first of over 70 novels and 100 short stories (along with an ever-growing pile of audiobooks narrated by the author) while flying from South Korea to ride across the Australian Outback as part of an around-the-world bicycle trip (a mid-life-crisis-on-wheels) that ultimately launched his writing career. His true loves are military romantic suspense and political technothrillers, with contemporary romance, fantasy, and SF all vying for third place. M.L. has designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of airplanes, and consulted for the Fortune 100. He is constantly amazed at what can be done with a degree in geophysics.

If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?

The Call of the Wild