20Books Vegas Conference Overview

Sam’s Town, Las Vegas
November 12-15 2019

Welcome to 20Books Vegas! Some of self-publishing’s best will be there in addition to many who have yet to publish their first book and all people in between.

From witches to werewolves, and the people who love them. Eyes watching from the dark. A checklist how-to. A boat floating on the open ocean. A young woman with unknown power. A man, frail in his old age. An alien, who’s not alien at all.

We tell stories. We offer advice. We are the indies, and 20Books is about indies supporting indies with the belief that a rising tide floats all boats.

Everyone is at a different place in their journey up the mountain. The mountain of success where we all have different definitions. Whether it’s money or fame or self-actualization, we are all here for one reason and that’s to do a little better than we did yesterday.

Our personal struggles, whether medical issues, family, money, or personal strife – those issues don’t define us. Our stories and our books are what the rest of the world will know about each and every one of us. What does your story tell them?

We publish, baring our souls before the world, in the hopes that we can make a few nickels, bank some cash to help us keep writing. We want to tell stories that the readers love, that the readers are willing to pay for.

We’re here together, to learn from each other, reach a hand down, and help the next person up. No matter where you are on your journey, there’s always another level.

Recently, I saw an ad for the ebook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Even JK Rowling thinks there is another level of sales when we think she is already standing at the top. Even a billion dollars in book sales isn’t the top. JK Rowling taught us that you can keep climbing.

Your world starts with the first sentence of your book, then the next and the next until one day the story is told. You write, ‘The End,’ and then you go back through it until you’re ready to puke, then you hand it off to an editor, almost throwing it at her like an unwanted pastrami on rye. She comes back with platitudes and recommendations. You fix it and then what? You look at your cover, your blurb, a marketing campaign. What happens if it’s successful? What happens if it’s not?

We’re authors, and we’ll keep writing. My first book sold 56 copies. That is its lifetime sales number. But I learned and moved on because I kept writing. Better words, better stories, better marketing.

Every one of you has it in you to make more money tomorrow than you did today in your author business, but if you start today, the fruits of your labors will show up in two or three months, just like planting your garden, success is nurtured, planted now to bear fruit later.

Many of you expressed concern about being in a setting like this, so many people, so many strangers. Don’t look at the differences, but look at what we have in common. When someone asks you how many books you’ve sold, there is only one answer. Not enough. Whether you write short stories for anthologies, have free reader magnets, sell everything at full price, write a book a month, or a book a year, there are all kinds of ways up the mountain. But understand, there is only a single universal when it comes to the business of being an indie.

People have to be willing to pay for what you write.

Storytelling, branding, marketing. There a million different ways, and no one person has your answer. That’s up to you to discover and put into practice. What we’re trying to do over the next three days is provide a smorgasbord of ideas, techniques, hacks, and information for you to build a better you, a better authorpreneur.

You are a small business, and Uncle Sam thanks you for your success! As a self-published author, you and you alone are responsible for everything you do and don’t do. It is an awesome responsibility.

Being an author is a lonely business. It comes down to you and your computer, memorializing your words and then putting them in print, casting them upon the digital waves of the universe. It is lonely, but you don’t have to be alone. 20Booksto50k shows that we are in this together, and our goal is that you take what you learn here and climb to the next level in your author journey.

Thank you for believing in the premise of 20Books, believing in yourselves, and joining us in Vegas for what is going to be a great show. Get out your pens and notebooks, it’s time.

Welcome to 20Books Vegas.

Schedule & Guest Speakers

Schedule Highlights:

20books Vegas is being held at Sam’s Town, a casino north of the famous (infamous?) Vegas Strip. We had a blast at Sam’s Town last year, and this year, we start smarter, building on what we learned. Here is the floor plan of Sam’s Town! Sam’s Town Live is on the first floor between the Firelight Buffet and the Century 18 Movie Complex. It is in a darkened area, but there are signs everywhere pointing you toward it. We’ll also have breakout rooms.

Click here for a map of the ground floor.

Click here for a map of the second floor.

Click here for a map of the seating arrangements.

The General Schedule (all sessions in the main conference room will be live-streamed and then posted to YouTube for later viewing)

Nov 11 4PM – we will have a breakout room available for an informal meet and greet and possibly for early check-in
Nov 12 – registration opens at 8AM, show starts at 9AM ends at 5:30PM
Nov 13 – Early bird session at 6AM, others start at 8 or 9AM, ends at 5:30PM
Nov 14 – Starts at 8AM, ends at 4 PM.
Nov 15 – there may be a fan event on this day that will be sponsored by Michael Anderle. If you made hotel reservations to check out on the 15th, you’re fine. We’ll do the author meet & greet in the morning.

Parking
It’s free and there are all kinds of options. If I were parking this year, I’d stay in Garage 2, level 3 with direct access to the 2nd floor overlooking the atrium, then take the escalator and casually stroll through the atrium on the way to Sam’s Town Live. Parking Garage 3 is closest.

Set your GPS for 5111 Boulder Hwy, Las Vegas, NV 89122.

Click here for a map of parking options.

 

Guest Speaker Biographies

Craig Martelle

Craig is your host for the show. Retired Marine, lawyer, and recluse Alaskan who breaks free from his sub-Arctic shell to come to Vegas! Craig writes science fiction, mostly with a post-apocalyptic slant. Craig hit the $50k mark with his 19th book, without a single breakout title, although he’s had a number of books wear Amazon’s bestseller tag, albeit briefly. He calls himself the blue collar author and claims that quantity has a quality all its own. Craig has an extensive back list and a growing group of fans. At least that’s what he tells himself. The most important thing we can do as authors is give back in some way, whether through social lessons in our prose or helping others reach the next level in their journey as professional authors.

Michael Anderle

With zero experience in indie publishing (and practically zero experience writing a novel) Michael has surprised himself, his readers and the pundits that wish he would shut the hell up about his opinions. Basically, because he chose to do things differently and those audacious ideas worked.

Now, a year and a half later, Michael is spending a lot of time on the Amazon’s top 100 Authors list for total sales. Most of his books and many he’s has collaborated on open to top 100 or and/or bestselling status in many competitive genres, including Science Fiction: Apocalyptic & Dystopian, Science Fiction: Space Opera, Science Fiction: Genetics, Paranormal: Vampires/Werewolves, YA: Fantasy and Horror.

Soon, he’ll be releasing books in new genres, testing the truth of more rules we’ve all accepted to be true, and seeing if he can create an additional universes.  In the near future, expect to see him breaking rules and expectations in even more genres, testing the truths of more rules we’ve been taught to cling to.

Conference Sign Up

20Books Vegas 2019
Nov 12-14, 2019
Sam’s Town Live
Cost: Somewhere between $134.99 and $149.99. I need to look at this year’s costs, then gauge what it will take for an expanded show next year. I see an increase in our overhead costs of about $25k to put full A/V and drinks/food in two large breakout rooms in addition to the main room. It’ll be the lowest price I can make it to cover costs.

For next year, you can fill out this form to be notified when registration opens on March 29th.

If you were an attendee for 20Books Vegas 2018, then you are already on the registration notification email listing, you don’t need to fill this out. Registration for 20Books Vegas 2019 will open on March 29, 2019 for the show to take place November 12-14.

https://craigmartelle.wufoo.com/forms/20books-vegas-2019-registration-notification/

Room Reservations 

The hotel is already taking reservations and we’ve reserved 10% of our room block already, but at only $42/night (until the end of Feb.

On March 1, the group rate will be $49/night) during the show. It’s a crazy low price, but that’s what you get with the clout of a big group in an off-week in November.

Call them to lock in your room (and it is fully refundable in case life happens and you can’t attend, or your are lost in a forest at the end of March and can’t get to the internet).

GROUP NAME: 20 Books to 50K
GROUP CODE: A9BTC11
TOLL FREE NUMBER: 877-593-5993

Side Notes 

– No perfume at the show (we have a number of people who are deathly allergic)
– There were will be 850 authors at the show. Plan accordingly

 

Sam’s Town, Las Vegas
November 12-15 2019

Welcome to 20Books Vegas! Some of self-publishing’s best will be there in addition to many who have yet to publish their first book and all people in between.

From witches to werewolves, and the people who love them. Eyes watching from the dark. A checklist how-to. A boat floating on the open ocean. A young woman with unknown power. A man, frail in his old age. An alien, who’s not alien at all.

We tell stories. We offer advice. We are the indies, and 20Books is about indies supporting indies with the belief that a rising tide floats all boats.

Everyone is at a different place in their journey up the mountain. The mountain of success where we all have different definitions. Whether it’s money or fame or self-actualization, we are all here for one reason and that’s to do a little better than we did yesterday.

Our personal struggles, whether medical issues, family, money, or personal strife – those issues don’t define us. Our stories and our books are what the rest of the world will know about each and every one of us. What does your story tell them?

We publish, baring our souls before the world, in the hopes that we can make a few nickels, bank some cash to help us keep writing. We want to tell stories that the readers love, that the readers are willing to pay for.

We’re here together, to learn from each other, reach a hand down, and help the next person up. No matter where you are on your journey, there’s always another level.

Recently, I saw an ad for the ebook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Even JK Rowling thinks there is another level of sales when we think she is already standing at the top. Even a billion dollars in book sales isn’t the top. JK Rowling taught us that you can keep climbing.

Your world starts with the first sentence of your book, then the next and the next until one day the story is told. You write, ‘The End,’ and then you go back through it until you’re ready to puke, then you hand it off to an editor, almost throwing it at her like an unwanted pastrami on rye. She comes back with platitudes and recommendations. You fix it and then what? You look at your cover, your blurb, a marketing campaign. What happens if it’s successful? What happens if it’s not?

We’re authors, and we’ll keep writing. My first book sold 56 copies. That is its lifetime sales number. But I learned and moved on because I kept writing. Better words, better stories, better marketing.

Every one of you has it in you to make more money tomorrow than you did today in your author business, but if you start today, the fruits of your labors will show up in two or three months, just like planting your garden, success is nurtured, planted now to bear fruit later.

Many of you expressed concern about being in a setting like this, so many people, so many strangers. Don’t look at the differences, but look at what we have in common. When someone asks you how many books you’ve sold, there is only one answer. Not enough. Whether you write short stories for anthologies, have free reader magnets, sell everything at full price, write a book a month, or a book a year, there are all kinds of ways up the mountain. But understand, there is only a single universal when it comes to the business of being an indie.

People have to be willing to pay for what you write.

Storytelling, branding, marketing. There a million different ways, and no one person has your answer. That’s up to you to discover and put into practice. What we’re trying to do over the next three days is provide a smorgasbord of ideas, techniques, hacks, and information for you to build a better you, a better authorpreneur.

You are a small business, and Uncle Sam thanks you for your success! As a self-published author, you and you alone are responsible for everything you do and don’t do. It is an awesome responsibility.

Being an author is a lonely business. It comes down to you and your computer, memorializing your words and then putting them in print, casting them upon the digital waves of the universe. It is lonely, but you don’t have to be alone. 20Booksto50k shows that we are in this together, and our goal is that you take what you learn here and climb to the next level in your author journey.

Thank you for believing in the premise of 20Books, believing in yourselves, and joining us in Vegas for what is going to be a great show. Get out your pens and notebooks, it’s time.

Welcome to 20Books Vegas.