Hello, friends! I must apologize for the late update this weekend. When I learned there was a panel on self-publishing at the Dragonsteel Convention I decided to get a badge to attend the whole conference. It was a wonderful two days, geeking out, attending some enlightening panels, and connecting with friends. Here’s a few highlights!

Writing Romance

This was the first panel I attended, and near the top of my list of must-see panels largely because I wanted some extra tools in my belt while writing Mariynne’s and Bearheart’s story in Grand Odyssey. An action item I took out of this panel was to be more conscious of having these two characters together in as many scenes as possible. Not necessarily the majority of scenes—the romantic sub-plot needs to remain “sub”—but I look forward to delving more into their relationship in draft 1.

Building a Fanbase

The single biggest relief coming out of this entire convention? A single sentence in this panel—”Authors do not need social media.”

I hate social media. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize it’s effectiveness as a tool, and I will try to use it to keep you all up to date. I also recognize that some fun things can be done through social media. But it takes a weight off of my shoulders to learn of other methods for advertising and marketing, because the less time spent on social media platforms, the better, as far as I am concerned.

Thankfully, I can dislike the platforms but love the communities. I want to leave a huge “THANK YOU!” right here for everyone that has reached out to me with support. You are amazing! You help keep me going.

Self-Publishing

This panel made me laugh! The two panelists, Sandra Tayler and Darci Cole, basically started everything off by saying (and this is a paraphrase), “There’s no such thing as a right or typical way to get into self-publishing. Good luck!”

That was followed up by, “But here’s how we did it…” They did have some interesting stories that gave me ideas for what I could do.

This seems to be a common thread of advice I get from a lot of self-publishers. The field changes so frequently, drastically, and unpredictably that it’s impossible to know what will work for you. Keep an ear to the ground, learn about every opportunity available to you, and be adaptable.

An unexpected benefit coming from this panel was a meeting with a fellow author named Colton who, in addition to writing, runs a YouTube channel where he interviews other authors. We exchanged information. Hopefully, before too long, I can share a link with you all to the interview.

Other Things

As a fan of Brandon’s books and the community he as built, as well as an ardent admirer of the business he has built, it was extremely motivating to see what an author can accomplish with the right convergence of hard work, talent, luck, and amazing partners. Brandon is an exception in the industry—I’m not sure it’s possible for many people to have his type of success. But I think there’s a lot to learn from it.

I also got to meet with Kristy Gilbert again, the executive editor at Looseleaf Editing and Publishing (and an editor with Dragonsteel, but I forget her exact position there—she’s working on Brandon’s Secret Projects). She is an amazing person and editor and a lot of fun to reconnect with. She’s doing the manuscript review for Inner Demons right now, and her team is overseeing the late-stage editing of The Failed Technomancer. For fantasy and science fiction, I cannot recommend a better editing team than the one Kristy has cultivated. You can find them at LooseLeafEP.com. Fun fact—I originally met Kristy at BYU. She was my teacher. The class? Freelancing, naturally.

It was also enjoyable to have quick conversations with other authors, be they long-time, debut, or aspiring to be published. For example, it was fun to talk to Charlie Holmberg (Paper Mages) just briefly about Idaho (we both were raised there)—I learned a lot in her panels about the self-publishing opportunities available through Amazon. I also briefly met Ben, one of Sanderson’s friends. I was originally introduced to his face in an episode of the Intentionally Blank podcast, then at the conference spent five minutes staring at him (probably looking like a creeper) trying to figure out where I knew him from. Apparently that episode has made him a bit of a minor celebrity in Brandon’s community, as when I mentioned where I had seen him he said something along the lines of, “Boy, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that today!”

Finally, progress continues chugging along with each of my projects. As mentioned, The Failed Technomancer (Robot Cannibal Apocalypse series) and Inner Demons (Third Realm family of books) are with the editor. Writing has begun again with Grand Odyssey (Third Realm family of books), but it took me longer to review and revise the first third of the book than I expected last week. That, combined with the conference this week, means I haven’t worked on it as much as I would have liked. I’ve also written my way through most of chapter three in Third Realm RPG, a tabletop role-playing game set in The Third Realm universe. That’s a side project that takes backseat to the main books, but consider this a teaser of an eventual treat to come.

And that is all the news I have for you this week! I hope yours finishes spectacularly.