This Week’s Self-publishing News

Dan Holloway, ALLi's new News Editor

I think people must have got jealous of the table I spent last week talking about and chopped it up for fire wood because my, is it just me or has it been getting a little hot in indie land this week! Anything that gets people talking about self-publishing is a good thing, but at times this week it's felt like it was 2009 all over again! Now, this isn't an opinion column, it's a news column, but when opinion hits the news like it did this week, it's worth a little bit of unpicking.

“Self-publish? No way!”

Roz Morris

Let's get it out of the way first. Mmm, the sub-editors clearly smelled clickbait at the Guardian this week,dressing Ros Barber's piece (here) on why she believes literary fiction doesn't suit self-publishing up as a provocation. There were some swift, detailed responses such as Ed Renehan's (here) and ALLi's own Roz Morris' (here) and Jane Davis (here). But before too many knives are drawn, it's worth looking back at Ros Barber's original piece (in full here), which led to the Guardian column.

Although Barber concludes against self-publishing, it's very interesting to note that the piece ends with an interesting paragraph on how crowdfunding sites such as Patreon may be the future of supporting writers.

It's time we all got a haircut!

Because Indie Author Fringe is nearly upon us. ALLi has just announced the speaker line up for the first Indie Author Fringe event of 2016, coming to an inbox near you on April 15th at 10am London Time.
Mark your diary for this unique event. 24 hours, 24 sessions, from the best self-publishing authors and advisors in the world.

Everything you could want to know about writing, producing and distributing your book, all in one place, together with access to speakers and sponsors, who are the backbone of the indie author movement. Oh, and some great prizes and giveaways too. And there's an accompanying competition for you all to get entering and voting on!

• Enter Our Competition:
  We're now accepting entries for our Opening Line Competition. It's FREE to enter and we have a Cash Prize lined up. Click here to visit our Submission Page.
• Vote in Our Competition:
  The 10 entries with the most votes at the close of the competition will be submitted to our competition sponsor to make the final decision. So make sure to check back often to cast your vote. Click here to visit our Voting Page.​​​​​​​

Contribute to the conversation on copyright

The European Commission has just launched a consultation in anticipation of a large scale overhaul of copyright laws to bring them more in line with the realities of digital publishing, and authors' opinions are being sought. As ALLi's Tim Lewis pointed out to me, one area that particularly affects indies is the panorama exemption, which allows for usage of photographs of art and architecture that was constructed to be in the public domain – anyone who uses such pictures on their covers might want to give this a look and say their piece. Full details here.

Social Media

ALLi's Laurence O'Bryan alerted me to a very interesting development: “after 24hrs with all Twitter accounts using the new Twitter timeline globally, is that our click through rates are up, measured at SmartURL across all our new SmartUrls running only 24 hrs!” One to keep an eye on, and maybe to consider when assessing social media options. Also interesting is the announcement from mailchimp (here) that they are partnering with Zapier to make it easier to use Facebook ads to increase your mail lists, with a single interstitial screen taking ad clicks direct to your list.

Virtual Reality and Indies

Mark Williams points out some very interesting possibilities on the horizon with Sky's announcement of its increased involvement in virtual reality (here). And on a similar note, news that a novel written by a robot has performed rather well in a literary competition in Japan can be found here.

Amazon in India

Very interesting to read this (here) about the increasing role of Amazon in India from an equity analyst. She summarizes the article:

– Amazon has become a major player in the world’s fastest growing major economy.
– E-commerce is growing exponentially in India due to rapid mobile Internet penetration and increasing customer spend.
– India should be Amazon’s biggest growth driver in the coming years.
– Growth, Growth, Growth.

Upcoming Author Conferences & Events

Thank you to those who sent me details of regular meetups last week. If you can send me the details I asked for, I think that'd make a great potential addition to the column.

MARCH 2016
Alexandrina International Book Fair: Mar 24 – Apr 5 [Alexandria, Egypt] Tampa Writers Conference, Mar 25 [ Tampa, FL ] Fort Lauderdale Conference for Writers: Mar 26  [Ft. Lauderdale, FL]

APRIL 2016

Newcastle Writers Festival: Apr 1 – 3 [New South Wales, Australia] Bologna Childrens Book Fair: Apr 4 – 7 [Bologna, Italy] Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: 9 – 10 Apr [Los Angeles, USA] Okanagan Valley Writers’ Festival; 8 – 10 Apr [Penticton, BC, Canada] London Book Fair: 12 – 14 Apr [London, UK] Indie Author Fringe: Apr 15 [Online, Global] – brought to you by ALLi
Pikes Peak Writers’ Conference; Apr 15 – 17 [ Colorado Springs, Colorado] Story Circle Network Women’s Writing Conference; Apr 15 – 17 [ Austin, TX] Writer’s Institute; Apr 15 – 17 [Madison, Wisconsin] Jane Austen Festival Australia: Apr 15 – 17 [Canberra, Australia] 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]

MAY 2016

Teheran International Book Fair: May 5 – 15 [Teheran, Iran] The Self-publishing Conference: May 7 [Leicester, UK] 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.)