Self-Publishing in the Age of E
It's no secret that increased access to digital distribution has dramatically changed the book publishing industry. For years anyone could be an author. Today, anyone can be a publisher. Self-publishing was once seen as a last-ditch alternative for authors who could not get a traditional deal. No longer. And the international success of the originally self-published series Fifty Shades of Grey has reinforced the notion that bestsellers may be lurking in places other than the traditional slush pile. How is this shift affecting writers? Literary agents? And how is it reshaping the way those in ancillary industries, like Hollywood, are looking for (and discovering) content?
Presenters
Erin Brown is a professional editor and has worked at several large New York publishing houses. She began her publishing career at HarperCollins Publishers, where she worked for over six years in virtually every genre, including mystery, romance, literary fiction, women’s commercial fiction, and non-fiction. She was privileged to work with numerous bestselling authors including J.A. Jance, Bruce Feiler, Elizabeth Peters, Jerrilyn Farmer, Lawrence Block, Carolyn Hart, and Mary Daheim. Most recently, she was part of the fabulous St. Martin’s Press team as an editor with the Thomas Dunne Books imprint. There, she enjoyed acquiring fabulous debut novels and editing such bestselling authors as Carole Matthews, Madeleine Wickham (a.k.a. Sophie Kinsella), Homer Hickam, Robin Pilcher, and many more. After almost a decade in New York City, Erin and her husband returned to their hometown of Austin, Texas, where Erin has begun a thriving freelance editorial business with her website www.erinedits.com. Although she often misses the chaotic hustle and bustle of Manhattan, she is now free to concentrate on what she loves the most: working directly with aspiring authors to get their work into the best shape possible before submitting to agents and houses.
Hugh Howey is the author of the award-winning Molly Fyde Saga and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling WOOL series. The WOOL OMNIBUS won Kindle Book Review's 2012 Indie Book of the Year Award -- it has been as high as #1 in the Kindle store -- and 17 countries have picked up the work for translation. Look for WOOL in hardback in 2013 from Random House UK and keep your fingers crossed that Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian will do something exciting with the film rights!
Hugh lives in Jupiter, FL with his wife Amber and their dog Bella. When he isn't writing, he's reading or taking a photograph.
Kirby Kim was an assistant at the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency before he moved on to Vigliano Associates, where he built his list while negotiating the agency's contracts. He is currently at WME where he continues to represent fiction for children and adults, memoir, pop culture, and general nonfiction. Kirby is originally from California, where he attended Pomona College in Claremont and Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He is on the board of the Asian American Writers Workshop.
Rachel Deahl is a writer and editor with over ten years of experience covering book publishing. She has worked extensively in print and online, and, as a senior news editor at Publishers Weekly (the main trade magazine of the book publishing industry), she writes about business trends, technology and rights. She also writes a weekly column about book deals (called Deals), that details the hottest projects being acquired at the major publishers. She has spoken about the publishing industry with various media sources, and at various industry conferences.
Sunday, March 10
