writers digest novel writing COnference 2019 | presentations by kilby blades

Thanks for a great conference, Writer’s Digest folks! Below are embedded slides from both of my presentations. If you were at either workshop, I would love to know what you thought and I invite you to take this two-minute survey if you attended How to Hire the Right Editor and to take this one if you attended Marketing for the Pre-Published Author. These slides are exclusively intended for those who attended the conference. If you’re interested in using these slides for any purpose other than to personally review presented materials, please ask permission directly by emailing me at kilby@kilbyblades.com! Also, if you have a friend who you think would love this content, please let me know and I will invite them to become beta audiences for my online versions of this course.

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how to hire the right editor

Saturday, October 26, 2019 | 10:15AM-11:15AM @ Westin Pasadena

There are no great editors—only great fits between editors and authors. The most experienced editor in the world can’t work manuscript magic if skills don’t match needs, if goals aren’t set, and if expectations are misaligned. Adding difficulty to the process of choosing an editor is the fact that four different kinds of editorial passes are needed for novel writing. Between developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading, chances are you’ll have to hire more than one. This workshop will introduce each of the four kinds of editing employed in the novel writing process. It will discuss editorial timelines and what to look for as you screen editors for help with your manuscript at different phases.

marketing for the pre-published author

Sunday, October 27, 2019 | 10:15AM-11:15AM @ Westin Pasadena

Marketing on your own behalf is expected in today’s competitive environment: readers expect it; publishers expect it; and owning your own fanbase is just plain smart. And it’s not just for established authors—the same is true for debut authors and aspiring authors shopping manuscripts. Basic marketing infrastructure has become table stakes for building and retaining early fanbases and selling books.

This workshop will cover how to build an early-career fanbase, even before you’ve published a single page. It will explain why established brand assets will make you more attractive to agents and editors. It will build a case for which marketing channels should be built, and in what order (including social media) and will provide content suggestions. Finally, it will walk through setup, costs and maintenance, and explain how to transition to a different flow after you’re published.