20Books Vegas Prep
Yep, I'm going to the big conference, and I'm terrified. I'm excited, but also... It's going to be a lot.
For those of you who don’t know what it is yet, 20Booksto50k is a massive Facebook community of authors centered around ethical marketing and business practices. Their guiding star is "a rising tide lifts all ships.” The philosophy being that authors aren’t in competition with one another and lifting each other up means we all grow and gain and learn.
Every year, the group has held a massive conference in Las Vegas in November, attended by around 2,500 authors. It’s one of the biggest (if not the biggest) indie author conferences that exists in the world. I’ve been eyeing it for years, but this year is the first time I’ve been able to justify going. I’m hoping against hope that it’ll help me refocus my author career and teach me some things that I’ve been trying to learn. Also, the opportunity to network cannot be overstated. I’ll be meeting up with some amazing people I’ve been friends with, and seeing them in person will be magical.
That said, it’s also spending a week in Las Vegas solo. I don’t gamble, and casinos give me hives. They’re so loud, smoky, and full of things that just stress me. Not to mention they’re usually packed with people who are deeply unhappy. Not my jam. And going solo is going to be a lot because, frankly, I’ve never traveled alone, and I’ve never gone on a trip like this. So it’ll be a whole new experience that is going to tax me. While it’s not going to be a bad thing, it’s going to be important for me to engage in self care.
That, and this is going to be expensive as heck. Hotel, conference tickets, and airfare alone are, uh… I’m just not going to make eye contact with my bank account about that one. I’m only able to attend thanks to the profound generosity of several friends of mine who have been too kind for me to even put into words. You know who you are and what you did.
The conference is also only four weeks away, and I feel so woefully unprepared for it. Worse than for the cruise earlier this year, honestly. The cruise I didn’t need to feed for or fend for myself at all since cruises are basically an opportunity to be a lizard in a terrarium for the trip because you don’t need to do anything but show up on the right deck and you’ll find more food than you can process just waiting for you. I just needed to wake up, go to sleep, and walk into the right place at the right time. In Vegas I’m going to be entirely responsible for myself, which is going to be a challenge on top of processing talking to that many people.
That said, I’m also excited because it’s an opportunity to meet amazing people, learn so much about my industry, and invest in myself in a way I have never really done before. I went to a poetry symposium once when I was in high school and attended a number of sessions with my mother. I’ve long since forgotten most of the things about it except the guy I got twitterpated over at the conference and wrote cringy letters to. His name was Leland, and I thought he was the coolest guy I’d ever met.
High school me did not have excellent taste, and I’m not going to 20Books to bring home a new crush — I’m happily married now, thanks. However, I am hopeful that I’ll bring home some excellent new friends and give out a ton of business cards and make new friends. That’s my goal, anyway. I may have been an editor and in the industry for fifteen years now, and I may know my stuff, but I’m still an introvert who is intimidated by large events.
It doesn’t usually show when I’m at the event because when I’m on, I’m on. I’m excellent at putting up a professional façade, but I promise that most of the time I want to hide in my room and text my friends. Or read a book.
Wish me luck as I enter this time of preparation! I might miss a few posts here and there as I do, but we’ll see what happens. Also, book three went to my editor recently, so be looking for more announcements relating to that, soon!