Upcoming West Coast Book Publishing Events for Indie Authors

One of the staples of an author website or blog is the Calendar page. Fans can find out the next stop on your blog tour, where you might be speaking at a live event, or other notable happenings.

The problem is, in practice, these Calendar pages rarely get updated. It’s quite common to go to an author’s Calendar page and find out where they were speaking two, three, or four years ago. This makes me sad, so I’ve never put a Calendar page on my blog.

Instead, I’m listing right here the upcoming events I’ll be speaking live at, with links to the registration pages for each. These are all excellent educational opportunities being run by great organizations for writers and indie publishers.

Not only that, it gives me a chance to meet up with blog readers and indie authors, something that’s a lot of fun for me.

Here’s the lineup.

San Francisco Writer’s Conference

“Bestselling authors Lisa See (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) & Lolly Winston (Good Grief) will join legendary editor Alan Rinzler as keynote speakers at the 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference.”

San Francisco Writer’s Conference

Pre- and Post-Conference Sessions Flyer (PDF)

This conference runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday February 17 – 19, 2012 in San Francisco. In addition, there will be a “Self-Publishing Bootcamp” on Monday February 20 as well. Always well-attended, you’ll meet writers, editors, agents and others in the publishing business for sessions with over 120 presenters.

I’ll be presenting a session on blogging as well as one on book design in the Bootcamp. Check the schedule for details.

IBPA Publishing University

“Haven’t published yet?—IBPA Publishing University’s the place to learn how.
Just published?—IBPA’s Publishing University’s the place to learn what’s ‘now.’
Been publishing awhile?—IBPA’s Publishing University’s the place to learn more”

IBPA Publishing University

For the first time, the Independent Book Publisher’s Association (IBPA) will hold their Publishing University on the West coast. This is a major opportunity for writers, self-publishers and indie presses to get both basic and advanced training in the business of publishing.

March 9 – 10, 2012 in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf area. I’ll be presenting a session on book design, and another on blogging. Come by and say hello!

Redwood Writers Conference

“Our conference, themed ‘Next Step,’ offers you the opportunity to learn about the evolving publishing industry, to find new ways to promote your books and yourself, and to enhance your skills in the craft of writing. We offer four tracks—Craft, Genre, Marketing, and Publishing—and 16 breakout sessions. We wish, and you will wish, that you could take all 16.”

Redwood Writers Conference

Redwood Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club, is holding a full-day conference for writers and indie authors on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California. This is about an hour north of San Francisco.

I’ll be presenting a session on using your blog to market your books as well as participating in a panel discussion. If you come to the conference, be sure to look me up.

Ed: As usual at my presentations, I’ll have some kind of special bonus offer for attendees. But I don’t publicize these, so you’ll just have to come to get in on the good stuff.

As longtime readers know, my belief is that education is the most important part of getting ready to publish your own books. These conferences all present opportunities to take your own education in publishing to a whole new level. Added to that are the terrific opportunities to network, meet other authors, talk to vendors, and basically get a huge amount of information and education in a short period of time.

I’d love to see you at any of these events, and I hope you can make one of them if you’re in the area.

Photo: IBPA