What if the moment you’ve been waiting for—the right platform, the right following, the right version of yourself—is actually the thing keeping you from the readers who are already looking for you?

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In this keynote, Shelby Leigh takes writers back to where it all started: posting poems anonymously on the internet with no plan, no platform, and no idea it would become the foundation of a 500k+ audience, 60k+ books sold, and a career built on genuine connection. What she discovered along the way is that writers who wait until they’re “ready” to show up are waiting for something that never comes. The ones who start anyway are the ones who find their people. 

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Equal parts personal story and inspiration, this talk challenges writers to stop treating visibility as something they must earn, and begin seeing it as an extension of the voice, story, and connection they already carry. 

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By the end, writers will feel encouraged to stop waiting for the perfect moment and begin showing up with authenticity, courage, and the confidence that the people who need their words are already out there just waiting for them to begin.

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Perfect for writers at any stage who have been waiting for the right moment to show up online, share their work, and begin connecting more authentically with the people who need to hear their voice.

You spent years writing your book. You published it. And now it’s just... sitting there.
The book wasn't the problem. The strategy behind it was.

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Book Launchers founder and Amazon Overall #1 bestselling author Julie Broad breaks down the Author Empire Building framework how to transform one non-fiction book into a connected ecosystem of speaking, media, courses, and authority that compounds over time.

You’ll walk away with a clear map for building a book-led IP ecosystem, a shift in how you think about your book as a long-term asset, and a fast way to find out if your book is building your platform or working against it.

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Your book can be the foundation of something much bigger. 

Motivation comes and goes, but successful writers continue creating anyway. So what separates writers who finish their books from those who abandon them?

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Drawing from years of experience as a writing coach and founder of a daily writing community, J.L. Kauffman explores the real factors behind long-term creative success. This session examines why motivation fades, how consistency is built, and the roles accountability, community, and sustainable systems play in helping writers make progress even when inspiration disappears.

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Attendees will learn practical strategies for overcoming procrastination, creating a sustainable writing routine, and maintaining momentum through the challenges of drafting and revision. Whether you’re working on your first manuscript or your fifth, you’ll leave with actionable tools to help you build a writing practice that lasts and finally finish the stories that matter most.

What’s the difference between a book that gets clicked and one that gets ignored? Usually, it’s the cover and title, and most authors never find out until it’s too late.

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In this seminar, Booktest.io founder and 7-figure KDP publisher Dorian Maras shares a data-driven system for designing and testing book covers and titles that convert browsers into buyers on Amazon. Drawing from his experience testing more than a thousand titles and covers with real readers, Dorian will walk you through the framework he uses to consistently out-click competitors in crowded niches.

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You’ll walk away knowing:

1. Why most book covers fail before a single reader opens them and the simple design principles that fix it.

2. How to test your cover and title before you publish, so you can go live with confidence instead of hope.

3. The four variables that move the needle on click-through rate and which ones are almost never worth testing.

4. How testing changes outcomes through real case studies, including recreations of famous title tests such as Tim Ferriss’s process for naming The 4-Hour Workweek.

Whether you’re launching your first book or trying to revive a catalog that has stopped selling, you’ll leave with a clear, repeatable process you can apply immediately. Attendees will also receive free access to a simulation demo of Dorian’s book-testing tool so they can experience the process firsthand.

Most author advice ends at “write the next book.” This talk starts where that advice gives up.

Michael Evans has written 12+ sci-fi novels, built a streaming platform for authors, and worked inside one of the largest creator operations in the world. In Beyond the Book, he shares the framework he wishes he’d had: 100 ways fiction authors are turning their stories into films, memberships, merch lines, licensing deals, and transmedia empires.

You’ll leave with a map, not a motivational speech, and at least one idea you can act on before you get home.

You’ve tried the 5 a.m. starts. You’ve built the ideal routine. And then life happened. The routine fell apart, and you keep trying to force it to work.

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This hands-on workshop is for writers who are tired of feeling like they just aren’t disciplined enough and are ready to build a practice that works for them.

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Using an evolving framework developed through years of experiments, including trialing the routines of authors like Brandon Sanderson, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, V. E. Schwab, and more, we’ll work through what a sustainable writing routine actually requires, how to diagnose whether you’re depleted or avoiding writing, which can feel identical from the inside but need completely different responses, and how to design a minimum viable practice you can stick with when life gets chaotic.

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You’ll leave with a plan, ready to take on your manuscript and writing goals, and a free PDF guide to take with you.

What if writers could approach their characters the way actors do?

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Actors don't simply memorize lines. They explore motivation, objectives, obstacles, subtext, physical behavior, emotional reactions, and the things a character isn't saying. Writers can use those same performance techniques to create characters who feel more authentic, distinctive, and alive on the page.

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In this practical, interactive session, actress and author Rita Slanina shares techniques from the actor's toolkit that writers can apply to character development, dialogue, emotional scenes, and revision. Attendees will learn how to identify what a character wants in a scene, uncover the subtext beneath their dialogue, develop distinctive character voices, and use action and physical behavior to reveal emotion rather than simply telling readers what a character feels.

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Through examples and short writing exercises, participants will have the opportunity to put these techniques into practice and experience their scenes from a performer's perspective.

No acting experience is required. Writers simply need a willingness to look at their characters from a slightly different angle.

My presentation will be on the understanding, building, and executing of Coyne’s Story Grid and Plot Grids: how they’re similar, how they’re different, and how each can be utilized to self-analyze your completed first draft.

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In this pre-recorded seminar, with live Q&A hosted at the end, I will walk the attendee through:

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1. The core elements of Plot Grids and Story Grids and how you can use one as the foundation of the other

2. What the building process for these spreadsheets looks like, with step-by-step instructions to create their own

3. How to utilize charts and formulas that already exist in Google Sheets to take a step back and analyze their story

4. What filling out your own Plot and Story Grids will tell you and, more importantly, what they won’t

5. Why the developmental edit is the most important part of storytelling: letting the reader see into the heart of the writer

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This process will take any beginning author and turn them into an expert at developmental self-editing. Attendees will walk away with their own free blank copies of a Story Grid and a Plot Grid built in Google Sheets and a working knowledge of how to leverage spreadsheets to their success.

If your Google Drive looks like a graveyard of half-written novels, chaotic outlines, and “Chapter One (FINAL FINAL)” files, this workshop is for you. Whether your brain is beautifully neurospicy, delightfully distractible, or simply overflowing with too many ideas, you can finish a book and, shocking, I know, you might even have an advantage. Creative, nonlinear thinkers are often in need of a finishing system that works with their brain, not against it.

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In this high-energy, judgment-free workshop, we’ll break down why writers abandon manuscripts and how to finally complete the stories you care about. You’ll learn how to harness your idea-hopping tendencies, build momentum even when motivation crashes, and create a flexible, even ADHD-friendly, book-finishing framework that actually sticks.

We’ll explore the psychology of finishing, the science of creative focus, and the practical tools that turn “perpetual drafter” energy into “holy crap, I finished my book” energy.

As a bonus, participants will receive a downloadable Book Finisher’s Toolkit, including worksheets, checklists, and a momentum-tracking guide to support their writing long after the conference ends.

When you’re staring down 300+ pages of half-scenes and subplots that go nowhere, how do you know what, if anything, is worth keeping? Whether you never created an outline or threw the plan out the window somewhere along the way, revision tips meant for plotters won’t work for you. In this session, you’ll learn a simple 4-step process for revising the roughest of rough drafts without getting lost in the weeds or ending up with a story that still feels incomplete three drafts later, plus tips for navigating the most common pantser pitfalls. If you’ve ever stared at a messy draft with no idea what to do next, this session is for you.