The Artisan Author ... On Ice!

... is a more exciting way to say "I'll be talking about author stuff live in Vegas and you could come see me do so if you want to, or if you're just looking for an excuse to gamble in November."

Sean Platt will also be at Author Nation, presenting a session of his own! (I know you thought that was Ray Romano or Zach Braff next to me, but it’s actually Sean.)

I don’t talk much about author education anymore. I already did enough of that earlier in my career. I was a host of The Self Publishing Podcast, an author of Write. Publish. Repeat, and a founder of The Smarter Artist Summit authors’ conference. If you’ve known me for a while, you’ve heard me blab about “author stuff” enough for a lifetime.

That said, I’ve talked a bit recently about my new “Artisan Author” mindset and approach to writing — most notably here and here on Substack — and as such will be giving two presentations at the Author Nation conference in November along those lines. But let’s be clear: I’m not back to being an author educator. Like the Jail space in Monopoly, I’m actually just visiting.

However, because a lot of my Substack readers are authors who may be attending Author Nation (and many of you already read my above-linked posts about the Artisan Author thing and seemed to like it), it’d be dumb of me to not let you know about my Author Nation sessions, including where to show up to see me live. And I mean … I sure as hell don’t want to be alone in a room because nobody showed up. (So, you know — please show up.)

In addition, I’ll be signing books and generally doing the author thing at RAVE, which is a clever and enthusiastic acronym that stands for the Reader Author Vegas Event. Think “book fair” and you’re basically on the money. That’s Friday of the conference (technically just after it ends, but hey). I’ll have a booth and books and stuff. Come say Hi.

Anyway, here’s what I’m up to that second week of November, for those who are going to Author Nation or would like to grab a digital ticket to enjoy it afterward:

SESSION 1: The Orienteering Approach to Finding Your 1000 True Fans

Wednesday, November 13th at 11am
Event Center (the big-ass room I can brag about being in later on)

Program description: Join Johnny B. Truant and Joe Solari as they dissect Johnny’s ‘orienteering retention system.’ Crafted to transform his reacquired books into a mini-empire, this system offers insights from marketing legend André Chaperon.

If you know André, “legend” is the right word here. We had him onstage at the first Smarter Artist Summit in 2016 and he’s a good friend. André kindly agreed to use me as a guinea pig to adapt his “Tiny Worlds” approach to community building and customer-centric business to the author world, which is something he’s always been interested in.

The idea of Tiny Worlds is to undo the “shove an aggressive marketing system down your customer’s (or reader’s) throat” scheme that’s unfortunately common today, and instead replace it with a kinder, gentler, and ultimately more effective way of doing business — one that lets readers (or, again, any kind of customer) find their own way through your “world as an author” in ways that tend to make readers love you forever. They don’t need you pulling them around by a leash. They’re smart; they’ll come to like you — if they’re going to like you — just fine on their own.

In this session, Author Nation founder Joe Solari and I will talk through my own diagrammed “Tiny World” onstage. Joe’s the perfect match for me on this one, as he’s already a big believer in letting customers take their time, trusting them to do their own thing in terms of enjoying, sharing, and buying more of your work without you having to force-feed it to them.

SESSION 2: The Artisan Author: Low-Stress, High-Quality, Fan-Focused Approach to Escaping the Publishing Rat Race

Wednesday, November 13th at 2pm
Bronze 2 room

Program description: A paradigmatic shift is transforming Johnny B. Truant’s decade-long career from a focus on rapid-release, beat-the-algorithms approach to one in which quality and fan connection are everything. Learn why and, more importantly, how he's doing this.

This session is just two hours after my first session ends and is a very natural follow-up. This session is also just me. I made a fancy slide deck and everything.

Whereas my first session, with Joe, is focused on the mechanics of marketing yourself in a way that doesn’t make you feel like a shitbag, this session drills down into how to actually make “Artisan Authordom” work. I’ll explain the best ways to succeed in a lower-stress, higher-quality way of authoring than the new, aggressive breed of “rapid release” that I see killing some of my good friends. (There’s no judgment in that, by the way. Rapid release is right for some people. It’s just not remotely right for me.)

If it’s not right for you either — if you’d rather take your time, make the best books you can, create better and more genuine reader connections and build True Fans who will love you forever (and who don’t mind spending a lot more money on you and your stuff) — you should absolutely attend this session.

RAVE: Wherein for the first time ever, I stand around and hope people maybe buy my books so I don’t look like a fool

Two days later, at the RAVE book fair, I’ll set up my booth and try to look non-pathetic. I’ve thus-far tried to avoid that phenomenon wherein some sad author is sitting alone at a table at Barnes & Noble and everyone avoids eye contact because it’s better than going over and talking to them. Hopefully in a true book fair environment, that kind of thing won’t happen. Much.

If you’re an author who will already be at RAVE signing books, come over from your own table and say hello! If you’ll be in Vegas and want to attend but aren’t an author who’ll already be in the room, you can check out the deets (and possibly order some books) here.

I’m excited. I hope I’ll see some of you this November in Las Vegas!