Full disclosure: I’m presenting about affordable marketing on members day and I’m on the ASJA board of directors, so it’s no surprise that I recommend this event. But really, I go every year for three reasons:

1. I always meet new and awesome writers that I stay in touch with.
2. I catch up with awesome writers I’ve met at past ASJA conferences.
3. I always get enough “Ahas!” and “Ohhhh, that’s how you do that!” to make it worth the trip.

Sessions for authors

If you’re serious about finishing that book and then telling the world about it, you will certainly appreciate the programming. I was surprised by how many sessions are dedicated to authorship this year. Here are many of them with links to their descriptions, but there are more, too:

• Take Control of Your Book’s Success: A Self Publishing Primer 

• Marketing Your Book Begins Before You Write Your Book 

• E-Books and E-Singles: The Future is Now 

• Writing About the Children We’re Raising, and Selling the Memoirs We Write 

• Path to Publish: The Story of My Book with Ralph Pezzullo and Jack El-Hai 

• The Redemptive Power of Story: Find Peace (& Book Sales) Via Your Family’s Past 

• Podium Power: How to Give Speeches to Promote Your Books and Boost Your Income 

• The Art of Publicity: Sensible, Powerful Book Promotions 

• How to Become a Ghost: Make an Excellent Living Writing Other People’s Books 

• First Person: From Essay to Book Deal 

• Meet the Masters: The Art of Biography with Neal Gabler & Karen Abbott

Just so you know . . . the content skews toward nonfiction writers. There are a few sessions dedicated to fiction, including “Writing Short Stories for Love (and Occasionally Money),” and there’s lots you can learn in the panels on book marketing that you can apply to fiction, but don’t expect a fiction-centric event.

Will I see you there? I hope so!

What’s your favorite conference for authors — and why? Please comment.