Comments on: Self-Publishing Expo in New York City Saturday November 7 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/self-publishing-expo-in-new-york-city-saturday-november-7/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:05:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Max Conti http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/self-publishing-expo-in-new-york-city-saturday-november-7/comment-page-1/#comment-1148762 Max Conti Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:33:15 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=31329#comment-1148762 This event was a disaster for the authors who signed up. I was visiting NY from LA and had timed my visit to meet my good friend to had come from out of town to promote her book. The expo advertised to authors that the media, the publishing industry and the general public would be there. My friend, who lives 1,000 miles away did what many did: she printed books, she paid to ship them to NY, paid for the event, hotel, meals, and the exhibitor fee of $325 for the event. Oh, and she paid for AIRFARE! She did not have extremely high expectations but she took the event planners at their word. The people who ran this event weren't promoting it the general public as authors were led to believe. They were promoting this event to would-be self-published authors. The authors were a lure for the wannabes but there was nothing in it for the authors. My friend and all of the authors around her sat for seven hours and didn't make one sale. There was absolutely no traffic. Nobody even looked at the books. The only other people who came were those who wanted to sell TO authors: a lady with a self-publishing bookstore, stock photo houses, printing companies, designers & publicists. For writers who wanted to meet even a few readers, they didn't exist. The only media that we saw were two college students and a blogger. We heard of one person in attendance from the publishing industry. The fact that this event was held on a Saturday did not bode well, either. I suppose for someone who was thinking of publishing a book, this event might have been helpful to them. But the people who ran it (who I heard were very rude to some of the people) used the authors badly. True, it was each author's decision to choose whether or not to spend all of the money it took to fly or travel to NY for this event. But from the authors I met and my friend's experience, it was a horrible experience. It was virtually empty. I would never trust these event promoters. I spoke to some of the other authors and everyone was very distressed and felt they had been duped. This event was a disaster for the authors who signed up. I was visiting NY from LA and had timed my visit to meet my good friend to had come from out of town to promote her book. The expo advertised to authors that the media, the publishing industry and the general public would be there. My friend, who lives 1,000 miles away did what many did: she printed books, she paid to ship them to NY, paid for the event, hotel, meals, and the exhibitor fee of $325 for the event. Oh, and she paid for AIRFARE! She did not have extremely high expectations but she took the event planners at their word.

The people who ran this event weren’t promoting it the general public as authors were led to believe. They were promoting this event to would-be self-published authors. The authors were a lure for the wannabes but there was nothing in it for the authors. My friend and all of the authors around her sat for seven hours and didn’t make one sale. There was absolutely no traffic. Nobody even looked at the books.

The only other people who came were those who wanted to sell TO authors: a lady with a self-publishing bookstore, stock photo houses, printing companies, designers & publicists. For writers who wanted to meet even a few readers, they didn’t exist.

The only media that we saw were two college students and a blogger. We heard of one person in attendance from the publishing industry. The fact that this event was held on a Saturday did not bode well, either.

I suppose for someone who was thinking of publishing a book, this event might have been helpful to them. But the people who ran it (who I heard were very rude to some of the people) used the authors badly. True, it was each author’s decision to choose whether or not to spend all of the money it took to fly or travel to NY for this event. But from the authors I met and my friend’s experience, it was a horrible experience. It was virtually empty. I would never trust these event promoters. I spoke to some of the other authors and everyone was very distressed and felt they had been duped.

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