why writer conferences matter

Why does going to conferences matter? Because you go to learn things from your fellow authors that's why.
​This past weekend I went to the Authors for Authors conference in Melbourne FL 
​I attended a couple workshops that were very interesting and informative. The first was given by Jaimie Engle. The title of the workshop was "How an Indie got into Barnes and Noble". Jaimie had written two great books for the middle school range. She created a fantasy story that dealt with bullying. A hot topic in schools these days. The schools bought hundreds of her books. 
​She had approached Barnes and Noble with her book in 2012 and been turned down flat.   After the schools and parents started requesting her book from Barnes and Noble the book store went to Jaimie and begged to buy her books. We all wish for that to happen to our books. It's finding the right niche and exploiting it.
​The other workshop that impressed me was given by J.R. Sharp. He is a retired Navel Officer and his book dealt with WW 11. His audience is the over 50 set. His workshop was "The Dos and Don'ts of advertising your book. He had some great suggestions on where to advertise your book. One was to  find a magazine that fits your genre or theme of your book was one he mentioned. That gave me an idea for my book Bottle Alley. It's set in my home town of Newton Ma. It's a fictional story about how the "Lake language" came about. It's mostly used by the Italians in the neighborhood but everyone knows it. I'm going to try and get an ad in an Italian magazine for the book. I might have to redo the blurb on the cover to make it more relevant but I can do that.
Writers conferences do matter if you want to improve your writing, learn about marketing tips and network with other authors trying to make a go of being an author.
​Please leave me a comment, or ask a question. I'd love to hear from you.