In recent years, the possibility of having your work published has expanded dramatically. Not only can you just print your own creations, short memoirs for your family or books for your children, you can do much better than that. There are many options to explore if you have either been unable to obtain agent representation or if you’d like to Do It Yourself (DIY).

I have many successful author friends who proceeded with Amazon Kindle e-books, some are best sellers in their genres (Kathy Dunnehoff and Deborah Epperson- both on Amazon). I also published Eyes of a Pedophile: Detecting Child Predators on Kindle and then on CreateSpace print-on-demand,  through Amazon. We have had very positive experiences dealing with both entities.

However, Smashwords is another very viable option for printing and broad marketing support. Mark Coker, the founder and CEO of Smashwords is keynote speaker at the Flathead River Writers Conference on October 6 and 7 in Kalispell, MT. For more information on the conference: www.AuthorsOfTheFlathead.org

This is a small conference providing top speakers at a low cost. $150 for both days, $85 for one (this includes lunch and breakfast). We have agents, successful authors and a skilled marketer presenting. This is a great opportunity to not only have accurate information from those knowledgeable about today’s market. It is an opportunity to mingle with other writers, boost your enthusiasm and see Montana during a beautiful time with trees in fall foliage.

You may also be interested in a blog with a ton of helpful information: From Joel Friedlander: www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/09/self-publishing-carnival-of-the-indies-issue-24/

Hope to see you at the conference!