Lori Devoti, paranormal romance and urban fantasy author

Yesterday was the first day of the regular conference. I attended sessions until the lunch break then scooted out with Ann Christopher for some sight seeing, came back to pick people up for dinner, then back again for two night owl sessions.

The morning was excellent. There was lots of talk of digital publishing and where it is right now and how as it continues to grow it may change publishing. First right now numbers of what percent digital is of the total were varied from 2 to 4%. And everyone agreed predicting when this number would become big enough to have a real impact on the market depends mainly on what happens with readers and format–readers going down in price and formats becoming more standard. But even with the small percentage digital represents of the business right now, there was a lot of talk of what this will/could mean to both publishers and authors.

One thing mentioned was once digital is used by more people, the need for a publisher will or could go down. Publishers offer authors distribution (with digital this won’t necessarily have to go through a publisher), production (again something with digital authors could do on their own), marketing (lots of jokes about how publishers don’t really do this anyway) and editing. Editing seemed to be the thing some saw as what publishers could still offer. Personally, I think it is going to be more about marketing/vetting. With the wild wild west of self-publishing (once digital is widespread) people are going to be looking for some assurance of quality before they buy. The easiest way to get that is going to be knowing if you buy from a certain publisher (or other group) you will be assured some level of quality and a fair representation of what the book is before you buy.

There was also talk of how much more important a platform is becoming for a fiction writer. Platforms have always been important for non-fiction writers, but now and into the future when people have to search out your books online rather than stumble over them in a brick and mortar store this will be even more important. The problem is, it is much harder to build a platform as a fiction writer. Many authors do this by offering writing advice–but if you do that, who is in your platform? Other writers and not necessarily people interested in reading your fiction. I have my own ideas on how fiction writers can do this though, and honestly, I think it involves giving away some fiction. (This can be a hot topic with authors, but I’m on the give away side.) I have plans to do something with this idea in the near future…

Honestly, there was so much more, but I’ll move on to the afternoon.

Ann and I went up into the Arch. If you haven’t done this and are ever in St. Louis, you really should. The arch was completed in 1965 and the futuristic feel of the transport system feels like that. It is kind of wild. At the top you have a great view and yes, you can feel the arch moving.

After the arch we headed to Anheuser Busch. This is not what you may expect if you aren’t from St. Louis. The tour is at the original buildings where they still make/bottle/can beer today. The buildings and ground are gorgeous. It is kept up like Disney. The arts and crafts tile in the Bevo building are amazing. The Clydesdale stables are wild. I have pictures which I will post when I get back home. Oh, and at the end you get two free glasses of beer. I had the American Ale–a darker beer with a more bitter taste. It was excellent.

Dinner was at the Broadway Oyster Bar in Soulard. It’s a fun kind of place built to look a bit like a shack.

Then back to the night owls. Brenda Hiatt lead the discussion on market trends we see coming. Again talk of digital. Someone else mentioned cougar stories–which brought on a lot of groans. There was also a lot of chatter about what is happening in the Inspirational market. Sounds like that is a genre in transition. After that Kay Hooper lead a session on Feng Shui. It was interesting and while I am not a total believer I do agree that how you have your space set up can really effect your energy.

And then BED!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend planned. More sessions for me today, lunch at Charlie Gittos, more sessions, group dinner….etc.

I’ll probably check in again tomorrow!