2020 Conference Speakers

Corey is the lead developer and co-founder at Book Brush. He is responsible for making the user experience exceptional, implementing new features that authors love, and making it easy for authors to create great graphics.  He has been developing websites for 10 years and enjoys the challenge of creating something that solves a user’s pain point but is also easy and fun to use. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and three kids where he enjoys golfing, listening to good podcasts, and watching his kids play softball.

Author and professor Jennifer Barnes has a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale and currently works as at the University of Oklahoma, where she is one of the world’s foremost experts on the cognitive science of fiction and the psychology of fandom. Jennifer is a Fulbright Scholar, emeritus member of the WGA, and the author of more than a dozen young adult novels, and her scientific expertise on the psychology of story has been tapped by outlets ranging from TV Guide to Time.

Eli has been an Account Executive at Amazon Advertising for over 3 years, with over half that time spent in the publishing space working with KDP authors and large publishing houses.

Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book Marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledge as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.” Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both Fiction and Nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.

Senior Manager, Author Experience

Tara is responsible for the overall author experience on Kobo Writing Life (KWL), from optimizing current features to looking for new avenues of growth. As a subject matter expert in all aspects of indie publishing, her aim is to make KWL the greatest and most user-friendly self-publishing platform available.

Sometimes featured as a guest-host on the Kobo Writing Life Podcast and regular host of KWL Live Takeover events. She loves talking to authors and using direct feedback to make improvements that benefit the whole user base.

Audrey Derobert is an Account Manager on the Partner Relations team at BookBub, which provides support, education, and guidance to author and publisher partners around how to effectively use BookBub’s suite of marketing tools. She works closely with independent authors and small publishers, helping them use BookBub to reach millions of readers and achieve their marketing goals.

For the past 5 years, Tricia has moved around Amazon’s books teams learning the business so she can share it with authors. Prior to coming to Amazon, she worked as a graphic artist, project manager, and educator. She is privileged to take her prior knowledge to help authors make the most of their publishing journey.

Founder / Creative Director

Bringing big visions to life comes naturally to founder and creative director Debra Lanning. She delivers creative solutions and fully integrated brand plans. Debra’s keen sense of the tools that developers use helps her create designs tailored to the client’s unique system. Her web-based design work now represents clients across the country.

In 2014, Debra launched a web design and online marketing business called LaLa Projects. Backed by a degree in fine arts and nearly a decade of experience in web design and project management, Debra hit the ground running. In 2015, she completed a web developer certification through NMC. Today, Debra specializes in WordPress and Advanced Custom Fields. She uses the latest project management tools and design technology, such as Sketch and Invision, to bring fresh ideas to life.

Her love for Northern Michigan lends a sense of real connection and authenticity to locally produced projects. Debra followed her entrepreneurial spirit to Traverse City back in 2004—because home is where the heart is. Small town charm and the great outdoors keep her rooted Up North where competitive sail racing, hiking, and being at the lake are always close.

Mark’s experience in publishing and bookselling spans more than three decades and includes creating Kobo Writing Life for Rakuten Kobo, Inc, running one of the world’s first Espresso Book Machine (POD) operations at McMaster University, and President of the Canadian Booksellers Association. Mark is the Director of Business Development for the world’s premier author-first indie publishing platform Draft2Digital (Ask him how NINC 2018 played a role in that). He thrives on innovation in relation to digital publishing opportunities, and loves to continue learning and sharing insights about writing and publishing via his weekly podcast Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing.

Alex Newton is the founder of K-lytics.com, a leading provider of book market research. His Genre Reports and Amazon category performance database have brought the power of “Big Data” to the indie publishing world. Alex’s research from analyzing millions of books over the last five years has helped thousands of authors to spot opportunities, sell books in attractive market niches, and optimize their book marketing.

Alex spent more than 20-years in top management consulting for Fortune 500 companies.  He lives in Switzerland with his wife and daughter and looks forward to joining us to share his latest market insights.

Learn more about genre trends, book market analytics, and Alex’s tools at: => https://k-lytics.com and https://k-lytics.com/blog

Carlyn Robertson is responsible for product marketing and education at BookBub and Chirp. She’s an expert on BookBub’s ebook and audiobook promotion tools, and works to ensure that authors and book marketers know how to use those tools to accomplish their marketing goals and sell more books.

Becca Syme has coached 2500+ authors and creatives through her Write Better-Faster and Strengths for Writers programs: six- and seven-figure authors, major award winners, midlisters, and new authors alike. She holds master’s degree in transformational leadership and has been a success coach (utilizing the CliftonStrengths® program, certified by Gallup, Inc.) for fourteen years. Becca is the co-host of the Digital-Book-World-award-nominated Smartypants Book Marketing Podcast and the host of the QuitCast YouTube channel, specializing in author success alignment. She’s also a NINC member and a fiction author, and lives with her wine-drinking cat in the mountains of Montana.

Alessandra Torre is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author and the president of Authors A.I. She’s written more than 20 romance and suspense novels. Three of her books have been optioned for film, and her books have been translated into 10 different languages in more than 26 countries. In 2019, Alessandra became president and co-founder of Authors A.I., an innovative startup that uses artificial intelligence to help authors improve their novels. You can learn more about Alessandra at authors.ai/alessandra or you can find her on social media.

Kevin Tumlinson is a bestselling and award-winning thriller author, Director of Marketing for Draft2Digital, and Host of the Wordslinger Podcast. He has worked with thousands of authors worldwide, from newcomers to seasons pros, to empower them in building and growing a successful author career.

Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance with over one million books sold. Her author business started as a five-figure struggle with long hours and a constant fear she wouldn’t make enough to pay the mortgage. Investing in marketing and advertising is what transformed her business into a seven figure business working four hours per day. It’s her goal to empower authors to sell more of the books they work so hard to write. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.

Brad West is one of the creators of Vellum, which has been used by thousands of authors to create beautiful books.