Two weekends ago, I attended the first TBR, a new day-long writing conference. This year, TBR took place in Cambridge, at Lesley University. I had the pleasure of observing some of the thought process behind its creation during walks with Whitney Scharer, one of the founders. The 300 writers in attendance, plus volunteers and panelists, means a lot of like-minded people in one place, all eager to publish books, which seems kind of crazy based on the stats. Only 2% of books published sell 5000 copies. There are now 3 to 4 million books published in the USA each year, with the majority self-published. The session I enjoyed most was led by Taryn Roeder of Abrams Books. She described the current shape-shifting media landscape and shared tips on publicizing your book. Honorable mention to Chris Ciulla, CEO of Leonardo Audio, who had limited time to speak on a topic he knows well: audio books. Some of his advice was daunting, especially since I had considered narrating my memoir myself: Chris said not to narrate unless you’re working to industry norms. You should know the trends. Cadence is apparently important. If you still want to be in charge of the production, don’t run the casting process yourself. Hire a consultant. Words for the wise!
