Did Anybody Ask The Author? | 2024

LOCATION: TBC


EVENT DATES: TBC at 10.00 GMT


This is a public event, open to individuals.

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If you feel lucky to have been an author at all
If you still get excited by books
If you still get excited by writing
If your income from books is abject
If you’re a bestseller now and always have been
If you’re one of the many in between
If you know the statistics and find them depressing
If you don’t know what statistics we’re talking about
If you are bursting with indignation
If you can’t bear any more moaning, and think we should just get on with it
If your book has been made into a big movie, but you’re still broke
If your book has been made into a big movie, and you loved every frame
If you wish you could apply your creative sci-fi brain to change this world
If your accountant is unimpressed by your book awards
If you wish you understood all the fine print of the contract but have always been too shy to ask
If you wonder why people want to read you but don’t want to pay you
If you don’t know why writers talk about money so much
If you know you can’t sell a book without an agent
If you don’t have an agent and don’t want one
If you are an agent
If you would like to form an author’s cooperative and publish each other
If you have had it with self-publishing
If you think the good times are over, forever
If you don’t think there ever were ‘good times’
If you fear collaboration, and loss of control
If you are a publisher, or an agent, and you think we don’t want to hear from you
If you believe that conversations can lead to real change
If you believe technology has triggered a revolution in how authors connect to readers
If you want to “give something back”, to help the new authors coming up after you
If you are scared of leaving your usual routine even for one afternoon
If you want to turn “why?” into “how?” and “when?”
If you are looking for help
If you are looking to help

…then we want you with us.

And if the idea of being in a room with other authors fills you with dread, we need you even more. We need this to be for everyone who cares about writing and publishing.

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What is this?

Cathy Galvin and me

A few years ago, I co-ran a day-long workshop for 25 leading authors, to reinvent an industry in decline.


That’s me with the other participants, Cathy Galvin.


Several of the authors we invited were initially wary, and sceptical about the value of the exercise.


But we created a safe space for individuals to raise questions such as:


  • Should authors make their money like bands by going on tour?
  • Are online patronage and serialisation viable options?
  • If the author is networking, and closing deals, what’s an agent for?
  • How can we improve our own writing skills, when we’re supposed to be good already?
  • How could there be more diversity in publishing?
  • How do we communicate value for money, when people spend half the price of a book on a cup of coffee?
  • and many more questions that are rarely spoken aloud, for lack of a willing and interested audience.

Then we created a simple mechanism for people to discuss only the topics that truly interested them, and to write up reports.

Several of the ideas dreamed up on that day have subsequently been made real.

Additionally, individuals reported a feeling of genuine, meaningful participation that is horribly lacking from most conferences and other networking events.

***

That first event was supported by Unbound, the crowd-funding publisher – moral support, and a lot of financial support too.

Dan Keiran, the ceo, was kind enough to record this afterwards:

1 min 22 secs