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NINC 2021 First Timers' Orientation

Location: Tarpon Key

Welcome Reception

Location: Courtyard
Join us for networking and heavy appetizers.

Sponsored by Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Formula

NINC After Dark

Linger in the courtyard after our reception to exchange ideas over a cocktail (or two)!

(formerly Night Owls and Night Club)

Location: Courtyard
Bar Open: 8:15-10pm

Meet and network with authors who write in your genre.

Thursday at a Glance

8:30 AM: NINC Coffee Cart (Bird Key)

8:30 - 9:30 AM: Registration Open

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

12:00 - 1:30 PM: Lunch

1:30 - 5:00 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

7:00 - 10:00 PM: NINC After Dark - Roundtables + Desserts + Cash Bar (Courtyard)

Charging Station

Location: Grand Palm Colonnade

Sponsored by Findaway Voices

NINC Coffee Cart

Location: Bird Key

Come caffeinate (or decaffeinate) with us!

Sponsored by Written Word Media

Stress-Free Productivity
Speakers: Sarra Cannon

Writing is a full-time job, but as modern-day authors, we are also expected to manage social media, newsletters, appearances, and promotions. As the demand on our time grows, so do our stress levels. If you’re overwhelmed and ready to create a life that feels more balanced, where you can actually get more done in less time, you won’t want to miss this talk.

Estate Planning
Speaker: Attorney Sara Wells

Join attorney Sara Wells, partner at Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP, for this informative session on protecting your work and wealth even after you're not around to take care of it. This workshop will cover basic estate planning and then dive deeper into the specifics of what published authors need to do to prepare to transfer their business to heirs and protect their intellectual property. This workshop is not a substitute for speaking with an attorney familiar with your state’s inheritance laws, but it will give you an overview of the elements that you need to anticipate when creating your estate plan.

Adaptation: How to transform your novel for the screen (big or small!)
Speaker: Ines Johnson

What Draft2Digital Built (For You) This Year
Speakers: D2D

The team from Draft2Digital discusses the new tools and strategies they built and put in place to help you reach a wider market for your book. From new marketing and merchandising resources to new and rebuilt tools, we’re covering all the ways we can help you and your books to reach more readers worldwide.

Thursday, Noon - 1:30 PM

Lunch in the Banyan Breezeway

Sponsored by D2D

Using Universal Fantasies to Sell Your Books
Speaker: Theodora Taylor

Weaving universal fantasy themes into your stories creates unputdownable books. In this workshop, Theodora Taylor will teach you how to use these fantasies to make even niche genres more appealing to a wider audience. You will also learn how to use universal fantasies to write selling synopses, compelling back cover copy, and irresistible ads to promote and sell your books both within and outside your target readership!

New Ways to Style Your Books with Vellum
Speakers: Vellum

Find out about exciting new options for creating ebooks and paperbacks. Get a first look at a major update to Vellum and see examples of beautiful new possibilities for your books. Learn about advanced settings when uploading to services like KDP and IngramSpark. At the end we’ll answer questions, including how to get early access to this coming update.

How To Create A Stunning Book Trailer Video In Just Minutes
Speakers: Kathleen Sweeney, Anthony Ricker

Video ad creation is vital to any 2021 book marketing campaign. In this workshop, the Book Brush team will lead you step by step in creating a stunning Book Trailer to help your book attract more readers. The easily repeatable instruction will come with hidden tricks to make your trailer stand out above the rest. Even the “tech challenged” author will come out of this workshop ready to tackle trailer creation for their books.

Amazon is Changing . . . Again
Speakers: Dave Chesson

If there’s one thing certain about Amazon, it’s that they’re constantly changing elements of their business. The KDP team uses analytics and key research to tweak, add and remove features. Recently, we’ve seen new programs even as some capabilities and options have gone away. So what does this mean for authors? What can we expect and where will all this lead? In this workshop, Dave Chesson will unpack his observations and insights on what’s new—and vanishing—at Amazon.

Level Up Your Author Business with Data Tracking
Speakers: Pete Fu

Most authors are used to the constant stream of data flowing from sales channels and ads platforms. The struggle, though, is how to interpret and utilize that information in order to be more be strategic and successful.

Publishwide simplifies this process so authors can focus on maintaining their competitive advantage. In this workshop, you'll learn how to understand raw data and use that knowledge to test new tactics, track performances, identify trends, and determine when to double down and when to cut losses.

NINC After Dark

Come to the courtyard to exchange ideas over a cocktail (or two)!

(formerly Night Owls and Night Club)

Location: Courtyard

Roundtables 7:30 - 9:30, Bar open 7 - 10 PM

Sponsored by Vellum

NINC After Dark DESSERTS

How about a cookie to go with that cocktail and networking?

Location: Courtyard

Sponsored by BookFunnel

Friday at a Glance

8:30 AM: NINC Coffee Cart (Bird Key)

8:30 - 9:30 AM: Registration Open

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Trade Show (Bird Key)

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

12:00 - 1:30 PM: Lunch

1:30 - 5:00 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

7:00 - 10:00 PM: NINC After Dark - Roundtables + Desserts + Cash Bar (Courtyard)

Charging Station

Location: Grand Palm Colonnade

Sponsored by Marsha Zinberg & NINC

NINC Coffee Cart

Location: Bird Key

Come caffeinate (or decaffeinate) with us!

Sponsored by Book Brush

Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Trade Show in Bird Key

Come visit with our vendors and get your questions answered.

The Myth of Intention
Speakers: Becca Syme

"Fail to Plan and You Plan to Fail" is a piece of advice that gets bandied about when we discuss success, but do we ever really question the premise? No, because the symmetrical construction slips the logic past our inner skeptic. But is it really true? What if I feel like I don't know what I'm doing? Does that mean I'm doing something wrong or I can't succeed? Join author success coach, Becca Syme, to unpack the expectations of planning, intention, and choice as it relates to our success, and answer the question: "Is setting an intention a guarantee that I will succeed?"

YouTube For Authors
Speakers: Sarra Cannon

Video content can be such a powerful tool for building community and sharing information with readers and fellow authors. Come hang out with Sarra Cannon as she discusses the strategies and tools she used to build two successful YouTube channels with over 50,000 combined subscribers and nearly 4 million views.

Books to Film and TV: What Every Author Wants to Know
Speakers: Maggie Marr

The most common question I get from clients and friends is: How can I get my book made into a film or TV show? There are a million different answers to that one question. After 20+ years in entertainment, it seems as though I've negotiated every possible type of deal. Join me as I walk through the likely scenarios of how a book transitions into film and TV, exploring how all the pieces interact in entertainment; writer, author, producer, studio, distributor, financier, streamer. We’ll talk about the most common elements of a contract and deal and which are negotiable and which are not. While the path from book to screen is often a strange trip, it's also an exciting journey.

Build Better Facebook Audiences and Reach More Readers with your Ads
Speaker: Malorie Cooper

Audience building is one of the most difficult parts of creating ads on Facebook. I’m sure everyone reading this has typed in dozens of perfect target authors only to find that they’re not available as interests on Facebook! Not only is targeting authors difficult, but many genres aren’t even available or their audience sizes are far smaller than you’d expect them to be.

Worry not! After spending the last year grappling with this issue, Mal has worked out ways to improve your existing audiences as well as take control of how to select the readers you wish to reach.

After her session, building a five-million-reader audience is going to be the work of minutes, not hours.

Friday, Noon - 1:30 PM

Lunch in the Banyan Breezeway

Constructing the Perfect Amazon Book Sales Page - Using proven data to increase conversions
Speakers: Dave Chesson

When book shoppers land on your Amazon sales page, there are key things they look at when deciding whether or not to purchase. Luckily, thanks to an extensive experiment and user-generated heatmaps, we can now decipher what those key components are. Through this workshop, you will learn the key steps to refine page structure and improve conversion on your Amazon book page, maximizing the overall effectiveness of every marketing tactic used to drive buyers to your book.

Finding Your Perfect Match: How to Hire (or be your own!) Assistant
Speakers: Traci Olsen

An author's first job is to write. However, there are plenty of tasks in publishing that aren't as fun as writing, and somebody’s gotta do them. Traci Olsen, brand manager, will outline the basics of an author's administrative needs and talk about how to have an assistant, whether you hire someone or become your own. Topics include sprints, timers, pre-writing, literary estates, and maximizing administrative efficiency so that writers can write and assistants can assist.

Tips and Tricks for Creating a Serialized Story
Speakers: Ines Johnson

Traditional episodic television writers are skilled at crafting stories that keep viewers in their seats during commercial breaks--and that leave them guessing in the seven days between each episode. Learn the tips and tricks showrunners use to hold tension and attention so that you can keep readers in their seats as you serialize your prose! Let veteran television writer Ines Johnson teach you her twelve-point method to structure each episode of your serial, as well as techniques to tease, lead, and hook readers from episode to episode.

Leverage the Power of Barnes & Noble and NOOK with B&N Press

Speakers: Julie Braunschweiger

Please join Julie Braunschweiger, B&N Press Manager, to learn about Barnes & Noble’s self-publishing platform for eBook and print-on-demand. Closely aligned with our national retail stores and NOOK digital, B&N Press is a fast, free, and easy way to publish your books to reach millions of B&N readers. This in-depth talk will present authors with best practices, new opportunities, and an overview of features designed to help you get the most out of publishing direct with B&N Press.

Author Marketing Just For You
Speakers: Becca Syme

A lot of people discuss "what worked" for them, in their marketing. But when you try to get their results and you don't get them, why does that happen? Join author success coach, Becca Syme, to understand how personality patterns can impact marketing strategies and how to customize your marketing to prioritize strategies and tactics that fit you the best.

Domestic Violence in Fiction: Write the Story Survivors Deserve
Speaker: Adriana Herrera

This workshop will teach basic concepts about trauma (specifically PTSD) and how it can impact survivors of interpersonal violence as well as impart an understanding of intimate partner violence and some inaccurate (and potentially harmful) myths about IPV for all couples. Attendees will come away with a better grasp of how to responsibly write informed, respectful survivor stories that foster hope; they will also understand how tools used by domestic violence advocates can help authors craft stories with an accurate and informed representation of a survivor’s journey.

NINC After Dark

Come to the courtyard to exchange ideas over a cocktail (or two)!

(formerly Night Owls and Night Club)

Location: Courtyard

Roundtables 7:30 - 9:30 PM, Bar open 7 - 10 PM

Sponsored by BookBub

NINC After Dark DESSERTS

How about a cookie to go with that cocktail and networking?

Location: Courtyard

Saturday at a Glance

8:30 AM: NINC Coffee Cart (Bird Key)

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

12:00 - 2:00 PM: Lunch on your own

2:00 - 4:15 PM: Workshops (Tarpon, Sawyer and Long)

7:00 - 9:00 PM: Beachside Blowout Buffet

NINC Coffee Cart

Location: Bird Key

Come caffeinate (or decaffeinate) with us!

Sponsored by Behind the Book Podcast

Using Audiobooks to Enhance Your Author Business
Speakers: Findaway Voices

Are you considering adding audiobooks to your author business? Have you wondered what it takes to turn your books into audiobooks and join the exploding audiobook market? Findaway Voices, winner of the 2021 London Book Fair Audiobook Publisher of the Year Award, takes you through the entire process from finding a narrator to promoting your new project.

Copyright & Trademark What Every Author Needs to Know
Speakers: Maggie Marr

You are an author with a growing body of work, and you've spent years developing your author voice, your backlist, your readership--building your author business and your author brand. But how do you protect all that you've built? What happens if you find chunks of your book in a book you didn't write? How does copyright and trademark protect you? What do you as an author need to do to avail yourself to the protections of copyright and trademark?

Creating the Right Launch Plan For Your Book
Speakers: Malorie Cooper

Malorie Cooper has launched over two-hundred titles using just about every strategy you can imagine.

Her biggest takeaway thus far? There’s no one-size-fits-all launch plan.

Learn how she organizes her launches and establishes her strategy, plus get access to the tools she uses to tailor each launch to its respective book and series in order to maximize its effectiveness.

Treat Your Writing Like a Business
Speakers: Joe Solari

Saturday, Noon - 2:00 PM

Lunch on Your Own

Ace Your Blurbs and Ad Copy
Speakers: Malorie Cooper

Sifting through your novel to identify the story’s most salient points is hard enough, but once you complete that task, you have to get those points across to potential readers while being both succinct and compelling.

If you’re like most authors, the prior sentence is probably enough to have you doing breathing exercises. Take a moment to calm down, because there’s still one more thing: you also need to write your blurbs to market.

Have no fear! In this class, you’ll learn a simple system that will allow you to dissect your book, nail your blurb, and write killer ad copy while still crafting awesome prose that reflects your skill as an author.

Writing The Diaspora: Create Diverse Characters with History and Depth
Speakers: Adriana Herrera

In this workshop, participants will learn to recognize their own blind spots and gain useful insights on writing characters outside of their own lived experiences. This session will also discuss what to consider when thinking of writing about immigrant communities and what steps to take to execute this with sensitivity and in a manner that is respectful of the characters they aim to bring to life in their stories.

How to Craft Better Stories with Plottr
Speakers: Plottr

Can software help you craft better stories faster?

In this hands-on session with the founders of Plottr, the popular visual book planning app, you'll discover how the program's suite of highly visual tools can accelerate your writing process. You’ll learn how the software can help you visualize your book and series arcs; identify and avoid plot holes; keep characters and settings consistent; outline with proven templates; and quickly transition to completing your manuscript.

You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions... and enjoy a sneak peek of Plottr's biggest release of the year, shown publicly for the first time.

Author Branding and Merchandising: Broaden Your Reach
Speakers: Traci Olsen

Branding and merchandising can sound very “corporate,” yet they are an extension of your writing. You create a world in your books. Traci Olsen, brand manager, will show you how to extend your world creation into your overall brand. We’ll talk about creating a look and feel to your in-person and online imagery, taglines, and social media presence (large or small!). That branding can roll into merchandise and other income streams to draw potential and returning readers into your books.

Beachside Blowout Buffet

Join us for a feast by the beach.

Sponsored by Reedsy and Kobo

Attending Industry Guests

• Adriana Herrera Publishing, LLC
• Aurora Publicity
• Barnes & Noble | NOOK
• Becoming Future You with Mel Jolly
• Bellastoria Press
• Better-Faster Academy
• Book Brush
• BookBub
• Chirp Books
• Claymore LLC
• Day Agency and Novels Alive
• Draft2Digital
• Essentially Chas
• Findaway Voices
• Flying Buttress Media

• Happy Endings Publishing
• Indie Author Magazine
• Maggie Marr Legal PC
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
• My Author Concierge
• Plottr
• Publisher Rocket and Atticus
• Publishwide
• Reedsy
• Self Publishing Formula
• SiteArcade
• The Marketing Wives
• Valentine PR & Literary Management
• Vellum
• Written Word Media
• Zory