Self-Publishing for a Writers' Conference

From a blank screen to a sales tool,
writers can market themselves from
within a writers' group.
Photo credit | Elizabeth Humphrey

I'm a presenter at an upcoming November conference and have started preparing. But some writers I know are going to the same conference and they've been preparing for even longer than I have!

There's this great idea that I've been on the periphery of (unfortunately, I can't claim it as my own good idea!) that you might get some mileage out of with your writers' group.

A group of women in a writers group have been polishing their prose and poetry, and passing their writing among themselves. Then they pooled their money to create a professional-looking, printed book compilation.

Because they started early enough, the group has had time to proof the PDF files and request a printed proof to check for any problems. (And have enough time to fix any problems.)

During the development stage, the ladies assigned each member of the group different duties--one collected author photos, one handled the cover designer, another was in charge of the technical specifications, and one person took care of reporting back to the book designer (in this case, me!).

Out of the dozens of self-publishing places on the Internet, the group contacted CreateSpace for printing and getting the ISBN numbers.

With the group's forward thinking, each one will have a professional sample to show an interested agent and none had to learn the technology or take on the cost solo. This way, each one can--confidently--present a professional book that shows dedication to her writing craft.

What have you done with a group that has helped market your writing?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is an editor and writer living in Wilmington, NC. She dabbles in a lot of different things, including cooking and book design.