As I last wrote, my journey began with the Historical Novel Society Conference in Portland... it ended with the Romance Writers of America Conference in Orlando, Florida (26-29 July). As my travelling companion said... the rest was just filling in time!
My observation is that this year there was nothing on blogging or, indeed, the nuts and bolts, how to of indie publishing. In fact Indie Publishing now warranted a whole stream of its own (how that worm has turned!). The shift seemed to be toward marketing and promotion - something all authors, traditionally published or otherwise, now need to do.
In terms of 'What Next?' for the industry, it seems that the emphasis is on writing series, rather than single, stand alone stories.
So with that being my mindset, I attended several sessions that spoke to me, articulating precisely the questions that had been going around in my mind, namely: Can I reinvent myself and yet still remain true to the sort of story that I like to write. Thank you, Suzanne Brockmann, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jayne-Anne Krantz and Virginia Kantro. Your sessions have convinced me that ... yes, I can! (This decision entailed a great deal of 'thinking' by the pool with a Margerita in hand...)
And as if a cry went out to the universe, the answer was waiting in my Inbox on my return. At the risk of doing a thing I loathe...'vaguebooking'... I will have to leave it at that but watch this space for some exciting news in the near future!