Ebook Self-Publishing Takes Center Stage at San Francisco Writers Conference

I just returned from an action-packed weekend at the San Francisco Writers Conference, one of the best writers conferences in the country.  On Monday, I also attended Carla King's Self-Publishing Boot Camp, which was co-sponsored by SFWC.

For the four years I've been presenting at SFWC, I've always found the organizers enthusiastic and open-minded about self-publishing, but this year's conference took that enthusiasm to a new level. Multiple self-publishing keynotes and presentations from the likes of Guy Kawasaki, Bella Andre and even presentations from yours truly (embedded below!) helped educate newbie and experienced authors alike on how to advance their writing careers.

The vibe at SFWC is always positive, a top-down attitude that emanates directly from the amazing organizers Michael and Elizabeth Pomada, as well as a team of dozens of hard-working and enthusiastic volunteers.  Speaking with organizers it was apparent that the vibe for this, the 10th Anniversay of the conference, was the most positive ever. 

The reason?  Self-publishing.  Self-publishing took front and center stage this year.  Writers left the conference confident that one way or another, their books will be published and available to readers. 

Although many of us were ringing the bell for self-publishing, SFWC did a good job of presenting self-publishing and traditional publishing as equally legitimate paths.   I think authors, publishers and agents alike are starting to realize how it can be advantageous for even traditionally published authors to dip their fingers into the self-publishing pool, because indie ebooks are incredible platform-builders.

I gave two workshops over four days and participated in two panels.  Below, I'm sharing the two presentations which are uploaded to Slideshare.net. 

The first presentation from Friday morning, titled, How the Ebook Revolution will Transform Writer Careers, examined 10 big publishing industry trends shaping your future as an author.

How the Ebook Revolution will Transform Writer Careers - 10 Big Trends that Will Shape the Future of Book Publishing from Smashwords, Inc.

The second presentation, given yesterday at Carla King's workshop, was titled, How to Reach More Readers with Smashwords, though it's really about how to reach more readers with self-published ebooks.  Even if you don't yet work with Smashwords, I trust you'll find it valuable.

How to Reach More Readers with Self-Published Ebooks from Smashwords, Inc.

Please share these presentations with your fellow writers.  You can click the "Share" link on the bottom pane of the presentation to embed these same presentations on your blog or website. Even if you don't yet work with Smashwords, I trust you and your writers friends will learn something useful.

If you're new to ebooks, here's how to publish and distribute ebooks with Smashwords.

See you next year at SFWC!