This Week’s Self-publishing News

Phew, the dust has settled, we are back to Friday, and there is just time to catch our collective breath. But only just, because

For every thing there is a season.

Chantacleer Authors Conference

And this is the season of the conference. Please check out our upcoming events sections for details of conferences happening near you, and if you know something we don't please share it (if you can say whether/how indies can be involved that'd be amazing) in the comments so we can add it. To get you in the mood, check out the Chanticleer Authors Conference in Bellingham, Washington (here). And do take a look over all the fabulous events that made up the Indie Author Fringe that capped off London Book Fair last week – and if that whets your appetite (you can catch up on everything here), don't worry, it's nearly time for IAF at Book Expo America on May 14th! Meanwhile, backtracking to London Book Fair itself, the main subject of debate among indies seems to be whether the new set-up for Author HQ was, as organiser Jacks Thomas saw it, a step forward in integrating authors, or a step that sent them, literally, to the back of the room. Several ALLi members had their say in this Bookseller piece.

Fair use

One thing has dominated the news this week. The US Authors Guild has finally lost its case against Google Books over the scanning of copyrighted material. The US Supreme Court upheld previous rulings that Google Books' scanning and reproduction of portions of works for searchability falls under the definition of fair use. The case, which has lasted more than 10 years, provokes incredibly strong reactions on both sides. Whichever side you come down on, this is a massive event for authors everywhere (story here).

And not so fair

Meanwhile, perennial newsmakers Amazon are making headlines this week in equally contentious surroundings as the Kindle Unlimited scamming debacle rumbles on. Self-publisher Phoenix Sullivan has this to say over on David Gaughran's blog.

Who is reading your ebook?

Moving away from controversy into the nice safe realm of data for our next two items, and we start with the Kobo survey of reading habits (details here), where if you dig below the confusing presentation of the statistics, you find that the most active readers on Kobo are by a 3:1 ratio predominantly women and by the same ratio predominately 45 and over.

Smashwords survey

A veritable plethora of data in the annual Smashwords survey's latest incarnation. The big take homes seem to be about the relative lack of use, despite usefulness, of pre orders; and the success of ebook series over standalones (a LOT more here)

And finally…

A project called Eternime wants to take the notion of self-publishing to a whole new level! Find out how here!

Upcoming conferences and events

23rd Annual Budapest International Book Festival: Apr 21 – 24 [Budapest, Hungary] Buenos Aires Book Fair: Apr 21 – May 9 [Buenos Aires, Argentina] Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival: Apr 23 {Gloucesterhire, England}
Pow Wow Festival of Writing: Apr 24 [Birmingham, UK] Abu Dhabi International Book Fair: Apr 27 – May 1 [Abu Dhabi, UAE] Geneva Book & Press Fair: Apr 27 – May 1 [Geneva, Switzerland] Las Vegas Writers Conference: Apr 28 – 30 [Las Vegas, Nevada] Chanticleer Authors Conference: Apr 29 – May 1 [Bellingham, Washington]

MAY 2016

Teheran International Book Fair: May 5 – 15 [Teheran, Iran] The Self-publishing Conference: May 7 [Leicester, UK] Creative Ink Festival: May 6-8 [Burnaby, B.C. Canada] Auckland Writers Festival: May 10 – 15 [New Zealand] Book Expo America: May 11 – 13 [Chicago, Illinois, USA] Franschhoek Literary Festival: May 13 – 15 [South Africa] Varena-Sydney Writers Festival: May 14 – 22 [New South Wales, Australia] Sydney Writers Festival: May 16 – 22 [New South Wales, Australia] Indie Author Fringe: May 14 [Online, Global] – brought to you by ALLi
Warsaw Book Fair: May 19 – 22 [Warsaw, Poland] Writecon: May 21 [Zurich, Switzerland] Kingsmead College Book Fair: May 21 [Johannesburg, SA] International Literature Festival: May 21 – 29 [Dublin, Ireland] Australian Booksellers Association Conference & Trade Exhibition: May 29 – 30 [Melbourne, Australia]

JUNE 2016

Dublin Writers Conference: June 24 – 26 [Dublin, Ireland] Seoul International Book Fair: June 15 – 19 [Seoul, Korea]

JULY 2016

Hong Kong Book Fair: July 20 – 26 [Hong Kong, China] South African Book Fair: July 29 – 31 [Johannesburg, South Africa]

(The above list may not include all the major events; please feel free to email us with any important ones we’ve missed out, or include in comments below.)