The Self Publishing Show Live 2022 – My Experience

I’ve just returned home after a week in London, where I attended the second edition of the Self Publishing Show Live, the biggest event for indie authors in Europe (I missed the first one because I didn’t even know about it two years ago, and Covid restrictions had already begun). The conference was organized by Mark Dawson &co and I must admit it exceeded my expectations. I returned home with plenty of motivation, a lot of useful information, and a completely new mindset – so much so that I’m currently reworking my entire strategy as an author.

For me, the highlight of the event was Joanna Penn’s panel on the creator economy. She is my favourite person in the independent publishing landscape, and I was super happy to be able to attend her session live. She brought mind-opening insights upon the future of indie publishing and the plethora of exciting possibilities for indie authors in the upcoming digital landscape, where AI and automation will play an essential role. She also talked about the importance of selling direct and how much of a game-changer it can be for authors – long story short, if you have a website, you should use it to sell your books directly to your customers and rely less on the big platforms.

Another panel I truly enjoyed (and perhaps the most inspirational one for beginner authors) was Marc Reklau’s. His story was a fascinating account about failure, changing strategies, working hard, and ultimately achieving success. I loved his session and the positive vibes it left me with.

I was looking forward to Nick Stephenson’s panel about mailing lists, but, unfortunately, some issues prevented him from attending the event. As I understand, a recording of his panel will be available when the digital version of the event will be released.

What I loved about the conference was that it had something for everyone and tried to tackle as many topics as possible, from an author’s journey, and up to advertising on Amazon and cover design. The speakers were mostly well-known figures in the indie publishing world (Joanna Penn – who always has something mind-blowing to say, Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – who sold 5 million books, Janet Margot – THE expert on AMS Ads, and many others), and they so kindly shared their stories, tips and tricks, and valuable advice. I left the conference with a lot of know-how and I’m looking forward to the digital version so that I can rewatch the sessions (it will be available within a week or so for those who attended the event live, and for those who purchased digital tickets). To those who are interested but could not attend, I strongly recommend purchasing a digital ticket and watch the panels. I noticed that digital tickets are still available for purchase on the event’s website.

After hearing so many success stories and important advice, I decided to revisit my strategy and I’ve already started working on that. On another note, I’ve almost finished the detailed outline for the last book of my steampunk trilogy The Cerulean Airship (which counts as a rough first draft, given its granularity), but more details about that and my future series in my newsletter (which I’m currently working on). Am I going to the next year’s edition of SPS Live? Definitely yes. Do I recommend it? Absolutely. The atmosphere, the speakers, and the exchange of ideas are a huge motivational push for every indie author, regardless the stage of their career.