I recently attended Michael Drew’s Book Publishing 2.0 conference in Calgary, AB
The 3 day course covered how to get started writing and marketing a book (the material was directly transferable to a blog)
Overall, it put me in a good direction – I got a lot out of it and some of the energy directed into this blog is a result of it.
Program Highlights
- Walk through outlining and actual design and partial writing of a book (or a blog)
- Great introduction of writing and test writing to various persona types (I personally took the most out of this section)
- Good overview of starting a blog and Search Engine Optimization (I already have some background in this and for me personally was a bit elementary, however many people who were not technical took a lot from this session)
Speaker Experience
I was impressed at the experience of the speakers at the event – they weren’t only “author intense” resources and came from a diverse background that helped in areas that included marketing and technology.
They included:
Michael Drew – Book Promoter with a record of 59 out of 59 books on the best seller lists. Runs Promote a Book and Beneath the Cover
Dave Young – Author of Branding Blog, and Small Business Coach
Chris Maddock – Writer and Writing Coach. Can’t find his actual website, but his feedback and insight on writing were awesome.
Rich Christiansen – Serial Entrepreneur and SEO Expert. Author of Bootstrap Business
Mark Effinger – Serial Entrepreneur and Social Media Expert. Current Author of RichContent.com
Start Writing Your Book
One of the things that I thought was fantastic about this conference was that the initial construction and writing of a book or a blog takes place within the course.
This is a highly valuable experience – I found that it allows most of the learning takes place around the idea that you’re working on.
It also motivates you to move your book idea forward and put it into action.
Start Marketing Your Book
For people looking to understand the basics of pre-marketing a book (or a blog), they will see immense value in this course.
I won’t duplicate the material, but there are ways of building a base of potential readers before your book is even launched – this course will cover a good portion of the “why” and “how” questions with this topic.
Start Understanding Your Audience
Writing or marketing any material is about understanding the people you’re communicating with.
The better you understand them, the easier it will be to put together your material and communicate with them.
The better you can communicate, the better you’ll connect.
I personally took the most out this part of the course.
The “Tough” news
There’s a few things to note about this course:
- It won’t write your book or blog for you
- To get the most out of it, it involves some work in the after-hours
- You may get honest feedback about how you’re marketing your ideas (and that feedback is worth its weight in gold)
- If you’re not a “technical” person, be ready for a small learning curve on technology (although you’ll need in the near future anyways)
My Personal Advice for Those Participating
- It helps to be prepared with an overall book or blog idea – this doesn’t have to be the one idea that you follow through with and actually write a book, however it helps you progress more smoothly through the course material
- Be prepared for a bit of homework after each day – it will multiply the results you get out of the course
- Come with an open mind and be willing to pay full attention for the duration of the program
- It helps to have a very very basic level of understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Blogs (reading through Wikipedia on these entries should be enough to get up to speed to properly understand the material)
- If you’re looking for amazing feedback on any book idea you’re working on, there is the opportunity to get great feedback from the group – completely free. If you’re willing to get up in front of people, this feedback is worth far more than any price of admission you could possibly pay at the event.
Small Bits of Feedback for the Book Publishing 2.0 People
I thought that overall the course was well run, thank you for putting it on – it was a pleasure to be there.
Some things that I think would improve your course have mostly been said in the “personal advice for those participating” area of this article.
As well, a bit of a bigger screen (some things were a little blurry from the back of the room) or smaller graphics / dual screens would have been helpful.
Action Action Action
If you’re someone who believes that your book won’t write itself, then this is a great place to start.
I personally got motivation from this event as it set me on the path of getting started, and showed me what needs to be done to get to where I want to be in the future with this blog.
This course in no way actually writes a book, blog, or any material for me, but for this project has put me on the right track by going through similar motions (when you think about it, writing a blog and writing a book are two very similar actions).
The ability to meet and connect with various people who are on the same path was invaluable as well.
What I Got Out of the Event
I personally got some great direction on how to start this blog.
While the event was called “book publishing 2.0″, everything involved in the course was directly transferable to the blogging world (valuable to me
For More Information
And the next event
