Become a Successful Indie Author

by Craig Martelle

  Conference Check In

  Keeping this easy is critical! People should only need their name. If they aren’t on the list, your check-in crew should have a laptop and a way to check/verify that the person paid. With authors, so many have multiple names, they may not exactly know under which name they signed up. If you have a list of real names, then you must control that!

  Many authors do not want their real name associated with their pen name. Respect their privacy by controlling access to their information. Have this as a backup along with PayPal receipt info. I expect you won’t have issues, since this isn’t something that generally comes up.

  We had very nice badges printed (or a sponsor could provide) with a blank space for attendees to write whatever they wanted for their name. If you pre-print them, they look nicer, but what a logistics nightmare for check-in and re-printing. People change their minds on what they want to share. Tell them that they’ll write their own name. Have sharpies at the check-in table.

  Swag should be pre-packed. One set for each paid attendee. We went with a pen and notebook, because we do writers’ conferences. We imprinted the logo on the notebook and did a nice print and our tagline on the pen, which had a metallic barrel with the rubber-tip that could be used to tap on a touchscreen. They were about triple the cost of the cheapest pens, but cheap pens are exactly that. Show some class.

  Dress for the job you want, right?

  Health Concerns

  Make sure that you know your audience. All conference facilities should accommodate those with disabilities. But what about allergies and things like that?

  We bought the Purell wipes and included a couple in each attendee’s packet. We also put bottles of hand sanitizer on the tables—not all, but a good sampling—in addition to boxes of facial tissues.

  Make the people comfortable and they’ll have a better conference. Don’t just take their money and put on a program. Show them that you care.

  Keeping to your schedule

  Someone has to ride herd on the guest speakers. Some will talk for as long as you let them, while some will run short, but it doesn’t even out. The chances of running long are far greater than getting done early. The conference director has the ominous task of keeping the schedule on track.

  I put in long breaks to help us flex and generally only two forty-five minute sessions back to back. That makes it easier on the crowd as you don’t want people trapped in their seats for more than an hour and a half at a pop. They need to get up and reenergize.

  And the 20Books conference is about networking as much as the presentations. How can you do that if there’s no time to stand around, drink coffee, and talk?

  Be ready to flex. This is the value of an online schedule. If a guest speaker can’t make it at the last minute, that’s okay. That happens. Your guest speakers are important people with families. Have a backup in mind and ready to go. I had a presentation ready should a fill-in be required, since I was going to be in the main room at all times anyway.

  The Raffles

  We had a raffle at the beginning of each section following a break. We bought a bunch of 20Books gear (notebook holders, insulated mugs, etc) and we took donations of non-fiction books relating to self-publishing.

  Each badge had a number and we had the raffle tickets for those numbers. This way, no one lost their ticket and it encouraged people to get back on time because of the cool packages that were raffled away. Must be present to win. 

  We wanted to keep the 20Books brand (a concept, not a commercial product) front and center during the show, so we added a raffle for anyone sporting the 20Books gear, which we had made well before the show. When we spotted someone wearing the gear, we gave them a raffle ticket, putting the other half in a bucket to be drawn each day. We had three different editing packages donated, and these were the 20Books gear raffle prizes. We selected a ticket at the end of each day. (Must be present to win!)

  General Timeline

  One year to eighteen months before the show

  Determine conference purpose and general number of attendees

  Find venue location and sign contract

  Send out feelers for guest speakers

  Six to nine months out

  Build website

  Start taking signups

  Build newsletter list

  Rough out schedule

  Advertise and get people to sign up so you can solidify your numbers

  Three to six months out

  Send newsletters and share information

  Order your gear (we had over 400 signups so we ordered 500 of everything with the intent to sell the excess pens and notebooks at the show)

  One to three months out

  Don’t panic, but the pace picks up at this point

  Confirm with the hotel any details that you can’t confirm (check and recheck your paperwork)

  Keep the attendees informed – start building excitement with a countdown to the show

  Stay in touch with the guest speakers (one thing we did for the show was buy really nice gifts for the guest speakers since they paid their own way—we bought these out of our pockets, because we wanted everyone to feel that they were getting the red carpet treatment)

  First rough draft of conference table setup

  First draft of electronics package for the show

  Rally the volunteers—they will save you from getting gray hairs

  Understand the status of everything you have ordered (if you wait until one month before the show to order, you will cause yourself undue stress and risk not getting something in time)

  One to four weeks before the show

  This is the home stretch where you keep thinking that you’ve forgotten something

  Stay in touch with your volunteers, keep them motivated without overtasking them

  Stay in touch with your guest speakers—make sure you have the materials they need to share with the attendees (both digitally posted on the website as well as in printable form)

  Verify everything that will go into the packets and set it up. Print the attendee materials and stuff the folders

  Prepare the badges as much as you need to (for us, it was labeling each one with a number for the raffles)

  Confirm final catering numbers with the venue

  Confirm final electronics package with the venue

  Confirm conference room setup with the venue

  Keep the excitement going with the attendees—maybe send an NL a week with a countdown

  Firm up schedule details and share with the attendees (as well as wait to the last minute to print this one, just in case)

  One week up to C-Day

  The director needs to show up early, meet with the venue, show them some love, maybe bring gifts (I’m from Alaska so brought some Alaskana for my POCs that had been so helpful in the buildup to the show)

  Meet with volunteers they day before or the morning that you need them in order to shake hands—they need to be comfortable with you and you with them

  Delineate tasks and do a walkabout. All need to know the venue so they don’t get lost and can answer questions from late arrivals

  Verify that the conference room setup meets your needs as early as possible, so there’s time to fix things

  Time is your greatest friend—validate all conference elements as early as possible. Our room was supposed to be set up the night before, so that’s when I checked on it, just to be sure.

  Show up early and dress for success. You are the person that everyone will know. Be confident, know your details, and answer questions patiently if you can’t turn someone over to a volunteer (my general assistant because he saved me from getting quagmired in long conversations when stuff needed to be done)

  Check-in desk must run smoothly—one person in charge of the sheet to check off people as they check-in, and then to give out the badges, lanyards, packages, and swag. Control these or you’ll run out before everyone checks in.

  Verify catering and any p
rovided meals

  Put contact numbers into your speed dial so you can call and resolve issues like room temperature or electronics failure during the show

  Ensure the electronics work (IT volunteer) and that you have all cables, connectors, and dongles, as well as chargers or extra batteries for the cordless microphones

  Give a great welcome aboard speech

  Postscript

  If you liked this book, please give it a little love and leave a review. I’m not big on non-fiction. My wheelhouse is Science Fiction! So, you don’t need to join my newsletter as I’m not going to promote non-fiction there. But if you like Science Fiction…

  You can join my mailing list by dropping by my website www.craigmartelle.com or if you have any comments, shoot me a note at craig@craigmartelle.com. I am always happy to hear from people who’ve read my work. I try to answer every email I receive.

  You can also follow me on the various social media pages that I frequent.

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle

  Facebook – www.faceBook.com/authorcraigmartelle

  My web page – www.craigmartelle.com

  Twitter – www.twitter.com/rick_banik

  Other Books by Craig Martelle

  The Terry Henry Walton Chronicles, a Kurtherian Gambit Series, co-written with Michael Anderle

  World’s Worst Day Ever (a short prequel of sorts)

  Book 1 – Nomad Found (also available on audiobook)

  Book 2 – Nomad Redeemed (also available on audiobook)

  Book 3 - Nomad Unleashed (also available on audiobook)

  Book 4 - Nomad Supreme (also available on audiobook)

  Book 5 – Nomad’s Fury (also available on audiobook)

  Book 6 – Nomad’s Justice (also available on audiobook)

  Book 7 – Nomad Avenged (also available on audiobook)

  Book 8 – Nomad Mortis (also available on audiobook)

  Book 9 – Nomad’s Force (also available on audiobook)

  Book 10 – Nomad’s Galaxy (also available on audiobook)

  Nomad’s Journal – A collection of Terry Henry Walton Short Stories

  The Bad Company – with Michael Anderle

  Book 0 –Gateway to the Universe (with Justin Sloan)

  Book 1 – The Bad Company

  Book 2 – Blockade

  Book 3 – Price of Freedom

  Book 4 – Liberation

  And more coming

  Superdreadnought – with Michael Anderle

  Book 1 – Alone & Unafraid

  Book 2 – something else

  The Kurtherian Barrister

  Book 1

  Free Trader Series

  Book 1 – The Free Trader of Warren Deep

  Book 2 – The Free Trader of Planet Vii

  Book 3 – Adventures on RV Traveler

  Book 4 – Battle for the Amazon

  Book 5 – Free the North!

  Book 6 – Free Trader on the High Seas

  Book 7 – Southern Discontent

  Book 8 – The Great ‘Cat Rebellion (2018)

  Book 9 – Return to the Traveler (2018)

  Outpost of the Ancients – a Free Trader short story published in the Apocalyptic Space Collection, Volume 1

  Cygnus Space Opera – set in the Free Trader Universe

  Book 1 – Cygnus Rising

  Book 2 – Cygnus Expanding

  Book 3 – Cygnus Arrives

  Cygnus Omnibus – Books 1 to 3 under one cover and also as an audiobook

  Darklanding – a serial space western (Firefly meets Tombstone) co-written with Scott Moon

  Book 1 – Assignment: Darklanding

  Book 2 – Ike Shot the Sheriff

  Book 3 – Outlaws

  Darklanding Omni 1 (contains books 1-3, also on audio)

  Book 4 – Runaway

  Book 5 – An Unglok Murder

  Book 6 – SAGCON (coming Mar 16)

  Book 7 – Race to the Finish (coming Apr 2)

  Book 8 – Boomtown (coming April Apr 20)

  Book 9 – A Warrior’s Home (coming May 8)

  Book 10 – TBD

  Book 11 – TBD

  Book 12 – TBD

  End Times Alaska Series, a Permuted Press publication

  Book 1: Endure (also available on audiobook)

  Book 2: Run (also available on audiobook)

  Book 3: Return (also available on audiobook)

  Book 4: Fury (also available on audiobook)

  Rick Banik Thrillers

  People Raged and the Sky Was on Fire (also available on audiobook)

  The Heart Raged (coming)

  Paranoid in Paradise – a short story within the Close to Bones Anthology

  The Human Experiment – a novel, co-written with Kevin McLaughlin

  Short Stories (and where you can find them)

  The Misadventures of Jacob Wild McKilljoy (with Michael-Scott Earle) (Always FREE)

  Just One More Fight (published as a novella standalone)

  Wisdom’s Journey (published as a novella standalone)

  Fear Peace (published as a short story standalone)

  Paranoid in Paradise (a Rick Banik Thriller in the Close to the Bones Anthology)

  The Trenches of Centauri Prime

  The Outcast (Through the Never Anthology, nominated for consideration for a Nebula Award)

  Defense of the Deep Space Denali (in The Expanding Universe Vol 2)

  A Language Barrier (in The Expanding Universe Vol 3, also nominated for Nebula consideration)

  Mystically Engineered (in Tales from the Void, a Chris Fox Anthology)

  Cruiseliner Hades 7, a Lost 77 Worlds Tale (written at GaryCon X)

  Box Sets & Anthologies

  Trader, Cygnus, & People Raged – Martelle Starter Library

  Close to the Bones, a Thriller Anthology (edited by Martha Carr)

  The Expanding Universe, Volume 1 (edited by Craig Martelle)

  The Expanding Universe, Volume 2 (edited by Craig Martelle)

  The Expanding Universe, Volume 3 (edited by Craig Martelle)

  Earth Prime Anthology, Volume 1 (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)

  Apocalyptic Space Short Story Collection (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)

  Lunar Resorts Anthology, Volume 2 (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)

  Rise of Juneau, a Blasted Earth Game Module (Stephen Lee & James M. Ward)

  Metamorphosis Alpha – Chronicles from the Warden Vol 1 (with James M. Ward, edited by Craig Martelle)

  Metamorphosis Alpha – Chronicles from the Warden Vol 2 (with James M. Ward, edited by Craig Martelle)

  Author Notes

  I am the blue collar author. I have a law degree, but that doesn’t matter, not when it comes to writing. What matters is the willingness to work hard at this thing called self-publishing. I’ve worked harder, not smarter, on a number of things. I’ve been fairly successful, but I have so much more to learn.

  Part of what helps me to learn is trying to help others. That’s what this book is all about. I am sharing what I’ve done, and I’ve made many mistakes, some more costly than others. I want to help you avoid those mistakes while also telling you that you aren’t alone.

  Shout out to my friend, Joe Solari, who provided some good input regarding the business section. Check out his business books. He knows what he’s talking about.

  Some of the other authors I reference are friends and that is the strangest of things. Three years ago, I was freezing my ass off on the North Slope of Alaska working as a business consultant. Now, I have friends who are household names in the huge industry of self-publishing. I know people who are at the tops of their genre lists. And sometimes, the book up there is the one I wrote. It’s crazy how things can happen when you realize what you were meant to do.

  But I wouldn’t be me without all of the stuff in between. I don’t think I could write compelling combat scenes without having been in war. I couldn’t have written how that affects people without having witnessed it firs
thand. It’s all fun and games until you get issued grenades.

  And the lawyer in me says that I should help people who are less inclined to enjoy reading statements from the IRS or your state’s department of trade and business.

  So, here I am, trying to share what I’ve learned. Although writing is a lonely profession, you don’t have to be alone, just like I wasn’t in writing this book.

  Shout out to Kim Faulks, who helped me with the writing motivation section. Being creative is a very personal endeavor—it’s not like getting in your car and driving to work. When you sit down at your computer and look at a blank screen, that can be daunting. But it starts with the first word, the first stick figure, then you add flesh, background, and color. You add other characters and you’re off and running. Thanks, Kim, for helping me make that section a little more robust.

  Shout out to the review crew! What a great bunch of people.

  Andy McWain

  Drew A. Avera

  Ellie Keating

  Ira Heinichen

  J. Clifton Slater

  John R. Monteith

  Kelly Bowerman

  Scott Sakatch

  Thank you all. You helped make this book better and more helpful through your valuable input.