Last November, I attended the 20Books Vegas Conference, and it was quite a whirlwind. This was the first writers’ conference I attended where 90% of the sessions concentrated on business and 10% discussed craft. With over 2,000 attendees, it was the largest in the world and was very humbling.
For the last ten years, I’ve been involved in writers’ conferences — moderating panels, presenting workshops, helping writers practice their agent pitches, and emceeing live lit events. I’ve published four books and will release the next book in The Devil Particle series and the 10th-anniversary edition of Carpe Diem, Illinois this year.
But in Las Vegas, I was a novice.
Authors on the success panel were ten to twenty years younger than me and had each published over one hundred books! Oh, except for Joanna Penn. The New York Times and USA Today bestseller and award-winning podcaster (I highly recommend her Creative Penn Podcast) joked that she felt like a fraud being on the panel because she’d only published forty-seven books.
Michael Anderle, founder of the 20Books to 50k Facebook group, said he wanted to write and publish thirty books in one year, but was disappointed that he only made it to twenty-nine! That’s more than two books a month! Not only did he write them, he edited them, selected the covers, formatted the interiors, marketed, and published them. When did he have time to sleep?
But are their books any good? Their readers think so. These authors are making between six and seven figures — each month!
What have I been doing with my life?
The pressure to crank out books was intense, making me wonder what the hell I’d been doing with my life. But then I reminded myself that I love the act of writing. I enjoy creating flawed characters, intriguing settings, and exciting plots. While it’s wonderful to have the published book in my hands, for me it’s the writing that’s thrilling. Sure, making millions would be nice, but I don’t want to just churn out stories as quickly as possible. There would be no joy in that.
The terrific Vendor Hall
Despite this pressure to write a crazy amount of books, I enjoyed the conference. At the Vendor Hall, I met representatives from Reedsy (where my cover designer works), Book Vault (who will distribute my books once I sell direct from my website), Book Funnel and Story Origin (for eBook, audiobook, and ARC distribution), and Bryan Cohen of Amazon Ad School (pictured with me).
Everyone was personable and professional and gladly answered all my questions.
I made wonderful connections
I also met John Truby (author of The Anatomy of Story), Joanna Penn during her private sessions with patrons, and Jonathan Maberry (who wrote Patient Zero, a favorite book of mine).
Selling direct and AI discussions
I sat in sessions about selling direct from author websites and artificial intelligence (AI)—the two hot topics of the conference. The benefits I’ll have of selling direct will be knowing exactly who is buying my books, giving me the freedom to write and publish what I want (no more writing to market), instant payment, and independence from the big retailers. Essentially, it gives self-published authors like me more control over our businesses.
The discussions about artificial intelligence surprised me. Panelists never addressed the ethics of AI, as if it wasn’t a concern. Most authors fully embraced using AI for everything from research to marketing to brainstorming story ideas. One panelist even said she couldn’t wait for the day to simply push a button to “write” a book. Her definition of a writer was decidedly different from mine.
Exploring Vegas
While I attended as many sessions as I could, I also took time to explore Vegas. I had a massage at the Venetian and squid ink pasta at Bobby Flay’s restaurant in Caesar’s Palace. With friends Celeste Anton, Valerie Biel, and Angie Stanton, I laughed during the Potted Potter comedy show at the Horseshoe (formerly Balli’s). Celeste, Val, and I watched the amazing Cirque du Soleil Beatles show at the Mirage, and Celeste and I ate incredible sushi at MGM’s Morimoto’s.
And almost every day during the noon break, I’d leave the Horseshoe Conference Center, wander the “streets of Paris,” and have a crepe for lunch.
Author Nation
This year, the conference has new management and a new name — Author Nation. There will be less emphasis on cranking out books as quickly as possible and more emphasis on the different ways authors define their success. The sessions, discussions, and connections will help authors achieve their goals. This approach appeals to me much more, so I’ll be heading back to Vegas this November!
If you’re an author and are considering going to the Author Nation Conference (Nov. 11-15, 2024), order your tickets in the next thirteen days to take advantage of the discount.
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You captured the essence of 20BooksVegas well. My main takeaway was: “To sell lots of books you have to write lots of books.”
That was my main takeaway, too. So, back to writing!
Great recap! Yes, I agree, that the conference was humbling and incredibly educational. I’ll go back in the future for sure. I appreciated the focus on the business end of publishing–book marketing very much!
Thanks, Val. Me, too! Are you planning on going this year?
While I follow the 20Books Facebook page, I have not been to the conference. This writing of a zillion books concept seems so foreign to me! I would think, however, that these books are very much written-to-genre in order to appeal to specific niches. I don’t write fiction, so much of the 20Books strategies aren’t applicable. I look forward to hearing how you make use of the information!
Hi Kate,
Many of the successful writers at the conference wrote both fiction and nonfiction and a lot of the strategies (Amazon and Facebook ads, selling direct) applied to nonfiction books as well. There may be sessions specific to nonfiction projects, but I wasn’t on the lookout for them. I’ll keep you posted on how I use what I’ve learned. I am attending this year’s conference in November which is being rebranded as Author Nation.
All the best,
Kristin