Tag: #NINC2025

NINC2025 Day Four

Saturday at the #NINC2025 (Novelists, Inc.) writers’ conference consisted of Solution Sessions, which were roundtables where seasoned authors could discuss different topics. None of the sessions at the Ninc conference are recorded, but reporters attend so summaries can be written for the monthly newsletter. However, none attended the roundtables so authors could talk freely. The topics I joined were on Social Media Advertising and Audiobooks. Basically, I listened and scribbled notes. We were on our own for lunch today, so I ate my leftovers from dinner the other evening.

Badge of Attendance Ninc2025

That afternoon, I went to another Solution Session on Organic Social Media. Then there wasn’t much to do until the Beachside Buffet at 7:00 pm. We helped ourselves to the food, met some new writers at our table, and then watched the glorious sunset. Neither Janice nor I cared to go to the late night Karaoke, so we retired for the evening.

Dinner Last Night    Last night meal

Sunset on Beach  Sun kisses the horizon

We left the next morning, stopping at Parkesdale Market in Plant City off I-4 on the way home. I bought a few loaves of strawberry bread and a bunch of fresh vegetables. This is a fun place with a farmer’s market, snacks for sale, garden decorations and plants… and their famous strawberry bread.

 

Now that I’m home, I can comb through my notes from the conference, organize them by topic and then put some of the tips to use. I just need time to get caught up….

NINC2025 Day Three

Friday at NINC2025 (Novelists, Inc.) writers conference offered numerous workshops for published authors. First, I attended a talk on TikTok for Authors with Kate Hall. Kate spoke about how to approach videos for TikTok and demonstrated a live one right there. She gave suggestions for topics and suggested the book promotion be subtle. These were all good tips should I dip my toes into this social media site.

     Kate Hall

Next, I went to Finding Success with Wide & Direct Audio with Rebecca Hefner. Rebecca runs several promotional sites for audiobooks that I need to try, so it was invaluable hearing her advice. She also spoke about audio promo on other sites such as Chirp, Kobo Plus, Google Play and YouTube.

Rebecca Hefner 

Buffet Lunch today was Italian food. I stuffed myself with a good meal.

Italian Buffet at #NINC2025  Italian meal at #NINC2025  Tiramisu

Afterward, I went to Wide & Promo: How D2D’s Promo Team Increases Visibility with Mark Lefebvre. Here I learned more tips from Draft2Digital, where my books are uploaded for wide distribution.

  Talk by Draft2Digital

My last workshop of the day was Global by Design: How Kobo Powers Wide Publishing Growth with Tara Cremin. I realized I need to upload my audiobooks there directly rather than through InAudio. This was another informative discussion. Also, I’d never known “Kobo” was an anagram of “Book.”

Kobo workshop 

This evening, I went to dinner with my editor, Marsha Zinberg from The Write Touch. I was pleased to also greet my formatter, Judi Fennel from formatting4u.com who was at the conference. We had a chance to chat briefly on our way to MOSHH yesterday. Overall, my brain is overwhelmed by all the info it’s absorbing. Thankfully, I’ve been taking notes that can guide me once I’m home.

NINC2025 Day Two

Thursday at the #NINC2025 (Novelists, Inc.) writers conference began with a hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Needing to walk off the calories, my roommate, Janice Hardy, and I headed to the beach for a stroll and to collect seashells for my grandson. It was relaxing to squish our feet in the sand and to listen to the waves swishing onshore.

  Waves

Clamshells      Seashells

We cleaned up and headed to the two-hour MOSHH event in The Pavilion. This was like speed-dating with industry sponsors. We had a passport booklet to fill with stamps from each vendor and then to exchange for raffle tickets. This frenzy didn’t allow us a lot of time to speak with each person, but it was enough to learn what each site offered for authors. I learned about new programs and met relevant contacts. Specifically, I wanted to learn more from InAudio, Spotify, Chirp and Kobo regarding audiobook promotion.

MOSSH Event  MOSSH Vendors

Many more sponsors were available to discuss their sites such as ACX, Audio Sorceress, BookBub, BookFunnel, Bookvault, Curios, Draft2Digital, Dreamscape, IngramSpark, Podium, Reedsy, Tantor, Written Word Media and more. We could also make individual appointments with these reps. In my opinion, meeting these key industry personnel made the entire conference worthwhile. This was my prime purpose in coming, aside from learning the latest marketing tips and tricks from other multi-published authors.

We had to stand in place while the raffle winners were called, which would have been more tolerable with chairs. The items in the baskets were donated by the sponsors. Mimosas were complimentary along with a selection of sliced cake and wrapped candy bars. Overall, it was a fun albeit frantic event that left me exhausted.

I plopped my bag of swag in our room and then went to lunch, which was a Mexican-style buffet.

Swag

Then it was off to a series of workshops and more meetups with industry reps. I attended a session by Chirp on Maximizing Your Audiobook Revenue, met with one of the reps above, and hung out to meet people. Not familiar with Chirp? Owned by BookBub, it’s a similar concept but with Audiobooks. Sign up free for their daily newsletter and get a list of bargain audiobook titles sent to your Inbox.

Chirp Workshop 

In the networking suite off the main hall, Happy Hour every evening included a free daily drink and a selection of bagged pretzels or peanuts. An open bar was also available. This evening, Janice and I headed to dinner at Snapper’s Sea Grill. Janice had the coconut curry snapper, and I had coconut-cashew crusted mahi mahi. It was delicious but too much for me to eat. I took leftovers back to the hotel to eat for lunch on Saturday. How nice that we have a kitchen with a fridge and microwave. It’s also fully stocked with dishes and flatware. Then we went back to our room to unwind for the evening.

Salad  Mahi Mahi

NINC2025 Day One

On Day One of the Novelists, Inc. (#NINC2025) 2025 conference, my friend Janice Hardy and I checked into the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort at St. Pete Beach. I’d attended this writers’ conference many years before and remembered this resort with fondness. The Grand Colonnade main hall is still impressive and was the site for many of our workshops and networking. After registering and receiving our name badges, we mingled for a social hour and enjoyed complimentary ice cream novelties from a food cart.

Tradewinds Island Grande Resort

I greeted Neil Plakcy, a mystery writer friend whom I’ve known for many years and met some new faces. Most everyone else I encountered were romance writers. Janice and I filled out a bingo card that was a good icebreaker and then wandered off to inspect the facilities.

Sadly, many of the hotel’s amenities were damaged by hurricanes. The seaside restaurant was closed as were some other areas. But our suite more than made up for any deficits. We had a twin bedroom but also an entire other room with a fully-equipped kitchenette, table and chairs, tv and sofa, and an armchair. We’d opted for a gulf-side view and had a balcony with a broad view of the ocean. The suite couldn’t have been more perfect. This was room 7211 in the Island Grande.

  kitchenette

couch in sitting area 

We ambled toward Salty’s Tiki Hut on the beach for cocktails, sat and chilled for a while, then headed back to the room to rest.

 

Nancy and Janice 

Dinner was a buffet with barbecued chicken and ribs, baked beans and potato salad, rolls and butter, corn on the cob and salad. A choice of desserts followed. I had the warm peach cobbler. I am liking the networking opportunities that this conference provides. Everything was super well organized, thanks to the #NINC2025 conference coordinators.