Our Publishing Experts Will Inspire and Motivate You

Attend SPOC on May 8, 9, and 10, 2012 and learn about a wide range of book writing, publishing, and promotion topics from recognized experts in the publishing industry.

Our speakers will inspire and motivate you, while helping you get the most out of your book publishing experience. You won't want to miss this unusual opportunity to gain clarity and build your confidence in your book project, right from your home telephone or computer.

Over the years people have raved about the amazing speakers who join us at SPOC and the content-rich sessions jam packed with actionable information. But don't take our word for it! Check out some of the testimonials from the last three years to see for yourself.

This year is no exception. Check out our incredible lineup for 2012!

Confirmed Speakers for SPOC 2012

Susan Daffron & James Byrd

Your hosts and the organizers of the Self-Publishers Online Conference Susan Daffron and James Byrd own Logical Expressions, Inc which is a book and software publishing company based in Sandpoint, Idaho. They have self-published 12 books, including award-winners Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groupsand Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book that Promotes Your Expertise. Their other books include Publicity to the Rescue, Vaetra Unveiled (fiction), Vegan Success: Scrumptious, Healthy Vegan Recipes for Busy People, Web Business Success: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Web Sites That Work, Happy Hound: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Dog or Puppy, and Happy Tabby: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Cat or Kitten and 4 other books on computing topics. Thanks to the Internet, Susan and James have been able to operate their business from a remote location in Idaho since 1996. The company's Web sites have received kudos from USA Today, Tribune Media Services, and the BBC. Susan Daffron aka The Book Consultant is also the President of the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN), which offers information and resources for people working in publishing. From a log home deep in a forest, Susan and James offer book production and consulting services to clients throughout the United States. For more information, please visit: www.LogicalExpressions.com.

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes is the Premier Global Business and Sales Coach, also known as “The Traction Coach.” He’s an author, international speaker and founder of Gary Barnes International. Gary believes that anyone can lead an empowered life, no matter what their circumstances are. Married over 37 years, with adult sons, Gary is an adventurous soul, well-qualifi ed to lead you on the adventure of your life. He has completed a world class 40 foot firewalk, flown on a trapeze, driven in a destruction derby (his car was the Purple Passion); completed a 75 foot bungee jump and climbed 14,000 foot mountains. He’s a drummer and a police academy graduate. Gary loves to help people reach their personal summits. He believes that your worst day is the day that you meet the man or woman you could have been. It’s a choice.

Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith is a former national award-winning publicist who now teaches authors how to be their own book publicists. She works as a book marketing coach, publishes the free Build Book Buzz e-zine, teaches an e-course on book publicity and promotion, and offers educational products designed to help authors become more successful. Sandra is the author of three publicity how-to books: Build Book Buzz Publicity Forms & Templates; Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Exposure That Leads to Awareness, Growth, and Contributions; and Streetwise Complete Publicity Plans: How to Create Publicity That Will Spark Media Exposure and Excitement. She is also the author of the humorous WHY CAN’T A MAN BE MORE LIKE A WOMAN?  and has ghostwritten several books. Sandra is a frequent presenter at the American Society of Journalists and Authors annual conference, presented workshops at the University of Wisconsin Writer’s Institute and the Florida Writers Association annual conference, and led workshops or provided the keynote presentations at a wide range of nonprofit, small business, and women’s conferences nationwide. She is also a freelance article writer; her work has appeared in a wide range of consumer, trade, and custom publications and in corporate newsletters. She has a journalism and public relations degree from Utica College of Syracuse University. For more information, please visit www.buildbookbuzz.com.

Peter Bowerman

Peter Bowerman is a veteran freelance commercial writer, self-published author of four books in the “Well-Fed” series, and a coach, since 2002, for self-publishing and commercial freelancing start-up ventures. He’s built a strong track record helping new self-publishing authors move from “inexperienced overwhelm” to profitable mastery. He is the author of the three multiple-award-winning Well-Fed Writer titles on lucrative commercial freelancing – writing for companies, and for hourly rates of $50-125 or more (www.wellfedwriter.com.) Since May 2002, he’s published the critically acclaimed monthly companion e-newsletter to TWFW, The Well-Fed E-PUB. The Well-Fed Writer Blog, launched in March 2008, was named a Top Freelance Blog in 2010. He launched The Well-Fed Self-Publisher Blog in February 2012. He chronicled his self-publishing success (currently, 65,000 copies of his books in print and a full-time living since 2001) in the award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living (www.wellfedsp.com.) In 2010, he launched a service offering book titling and back-cover copywriting through www.titletailor.com.

Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander (@JFBookman) is an award-winning book designer, a blogger, and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish. Joel is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, California, a publishing services company where he has helped launch many self-publishers since 1994. He also writes a popular blog on book design, book marketing, and the future of the book at www.theBookDesigner.com, and he’s the creator of the new online training course, “The Self-Publishing Roadmap.”

Chris Garrett

Chris Garrett is an online marketing consultant, coach, teacher and all-round web geek. He helps bloggers, consultants, freelancers, authors, coaches and speakers to grow their business by attracting and serving engaged audiences of people who know, like and trust them. He is the co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. See his site, ChrisG.com, and follow him on Twitter, @chrisgarrett.

Kathy Goughenour

After taking the leap of faith to get out of the corporate rat race, Kathy Goughenour built three successful online businesses: A membership site for real estate agents, a training program for Virtual Assistants, and a virtual assistant business specializing in assisting self-published authors. Working as a Virtual Assistant since 2000, Kathy has helped over 100 clients achieve their goals. But she didn’t do it alone. Like other successful entrepreneurs, Kathy outsourced many of her ongoing tasks to other VAs. As a working Virtual Assistant, trainer and coach of VAs, and client of VAs, Kathy is uniquely positioned to advise self-published authors on how to find, hire and get the most from a VA. Kathy and her Expert VA Training program have been mentioned in the book The Wealthy Freelancer, the magazine Good Housekeeping and in the internet newspaper The Huffington Post. For more information visit www.expertvatraining.com

Dan Janal

Public relations strategy expert Dan Janal has more than 25 years of public relations experience and helps authors and small business owners use publicity to become thought leaders and sell more products. He gets amazing results with coaching, consulting, done-for-you publicity services and do-it-yourself marketing tools. Through his coaching and consulting services, his clients have been featured in nearly every major newspaper and magazine including the New York Times, Forbes, Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal. Dan is an in-demand speaker who has lectured everywhere from Beijing to Budapest, as well as across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Dan has written six books for John Wiley & Sons, which have been translated into six languages. His newest book is called Reporters Are Looking for You. For info on his services, please go to www.PressReleaseSender.com

Carolyn McCray

Carolyn McCray is a social media and sales consultant to writers and publishing houses alike. Her own controversial thriller, 30 Pieces of Silver hit the number one spot on the Amazon “Men’s Adventure” list, (beating out the likes of Clive Cussler), and is currently selling through at a nearly 1:1 ratio of external clicks to sales. Carolyn is also the founder of the Indie Book Collective, an organization dedicated to helping writers utilize social media to sell their books.

Roger C. Parker

Roger C. Parker is an author, book coach, designer, consultant who works with authors, marketers, and business professionals to achieve success with brand-building books and practical marketing strategy. Roger’s clients have called him “the great simplifier.” His 40 books demystify complex topics and helped a generation of entrepreneurs and business professionals master the technology needed for business and career advancement. His first book was Looking Good in Print: A Guide to Basic Design for Desktop Publishing which introduced graphic design to non-designers. The New York Times called it, “The one book to buy when you’re buying only one.” He was the creator of the Microsoft Office for Windows for Dummies series, which for three years running was Publisher’s Weekly’s number one computer applications book. His latest book is #Book Title Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Article, Book, and Event Titles.  Today, his Published & Profitable site offers tools and resources to help authors make the right decisions and prepare successful marketing materials that look great and get results. He can help turn turn any complex marketing or writing task into baby steps. Visit Roger’s blog to learn more or to ask a question.

Dan Poynter

Dan Poynter is often called a “Book Futurist” because he has been studying the industry since 1969. An author, publisher, and self-publisher, he understands the industry and knows where it is going. Dan shows people how to make a difference while making a living. The writing, publishing, and promoting of books is changing and Dan will show you where it is going. Dan is a publisher and the author of more than 100 books including Writing Nonfiction, the Self-Publishing Manual, the Skydiver's Handbook, and the Expert Witness Handbook. His seminars have been featured on CNN, his books have been pictured in the Wall Street Journal and his story has been told in the New York Times. The media comes to Dan because he is the leading authority on book writing, publishing, and promoting. He’s turned thousands of people into successful authors and is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association (now IBPA). See his Para Publishing website at http://ParaPublishing.com

Penny Sansevieri

Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative social media/Internet book marketing campaigns. She is the author of five books, including Red Hot Internet Publicity, which has been called the "leading guide to everything Internet." AME is the first book marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically harnesses social networking sites, Twitter, blogs, book videos, and relevant sites in order to push an author’s message into the online community at sites related to the book's topic and thereby position the author in his or her market. AME has had eleven recent books top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.com. 

Dana Lynn Smith

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, training programs, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. She is the author of seven book marketing guides including How to Get Your Book Reviewed and How to Sell More Books on Amazon, as well as the acclaimed Savvy Book Marketing Newsletter. Her newest training program is the Ultimate Book Marketing Plan Workshop.Dana's 17 years of publishing experience includes 13 years overseeing book production, marketing, fulfillment, and bottom-line profitability at Hoover's Business Press, the book publishing division of Hoover's, Inc. She has a degree in marketing. You can learn more about her at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Joshua Tallent

Joshua Tallent has been an ebook developer since 2002. He is an acknowledged expert on the Kindle and ePub formats, and his book, Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide, has been praised as the most thorough explanation of the Kindle format available. Joshua founded eBook Architects, his ebook design and consulting business, in 2008, providing services to both publishers and authors, with a focus on complex projects and enhanced ebooks. He regularly teaches at conferences and workshops about building and designing ebooks, and he is a vocal advocate for accessible, well-designed ebooks. Learn more online at www.ebookarchitects.com or on Twitter @jtallent or @ebookarchitects.

Andrea Vahl

Andrea Vahl is a Social Media Consultant and Speaker who is passionate about helping small businesses understand and leverage the power of social media to actually grow their business.  Andrea is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies and is the Community Manager for Social Media Examiner, consistently ranked in the top 3 Marketing Blogs on the AdAge Power150 list.  Andrea has presented with Guy Kawasaki, Mari Smith, Mike Stelzner, John Jantsch, and other world authorities in the field of social media and marketing.  She also uses her Improv comedy skills to blog as a slightly cranky character, Grandma Mary – Social Media Edutainer on her site at www.AndreaVahl.com.

Attendees Love SPOC!

SPOC delivers the best, the brightest, and most forward-thinking innovative leaders in business and book publishing. Our 2009, 2010, and 2011 events were all amazing successes. Here's what just a few people had to say:

I liked hearing the conflicting advice from different speakers. It showed that there is not just one path, but many paths, to choose from. You need to go with what works for you.
~ Pat Dranchak

I liked how you had successful authors talking about ways to get your writing out there. There were many things mentioned that I hadn't thought of before. The thing I noticed about all the speakers that I heard is that they wanted to help people succeed. I really liked how some of the speakers were talking about what the future trends are to be expected.
~ Tara Johnson

Made me more than ever want to self-publish rather than keep waiting for traditional publishers to decide.
~ Shelly Campbell-Harley
shellycampbellharley.blogspot.com

I have a much better sense of how to write for a niche audience and market my work effectively. Most of the presenters were able to get across their own experiences self-publishing, and it gave me hope that I could do the same.
~ Miriam Ruff
www.bumbershootwriting.com

Incredible hands on advice. Great expertise. Loved the moderators. Really seemed to "get it" and redirect speakers to help new writers. Had a real sense of honesty and "good people" feel. Incredibly talented mix of presenters. Liked that material was detailed yet presented so that even a novice could understand. Absolutely wonderful. Presenters made it plain how involved process is.
Thank you so much. Loved it.
~ Pat Bratianu RN PhD

"Great Presentation and information! I am VERY pleased with all the presenters and them giving great tips, resources and content on all of the calls. AWESOME CONFERENCE!!!"
~ C. K.

"I would like to say thank you so much Susan & James for your amazing conference. You were both wonderful! I wish you both and everyone attending much happiness, success now and through the years. I look forward to keeping in touch!!"
~ K. M.

What you've put together is impressive and SO organized! You guys have really put together something unique and made it so easy to participate! Am grateful.
~ B.G.

This is my second day on the Conference....and I want to say this event has been SUPER! I have learned from every speaker, been inspired, motivated, educated and directed. Thank you for the tremendous effort and GREAT line up of speakers. Kudos to the SPOC TEAM!
~ S.P.

I have been participating in the conference and want to thank you thank you thank you for the wonderful help I am getting from this. You are wonderful for doing this. Thank you so much!!! Please send along my thanks to everyone. This feels really good. :)
~ J.W.

I learned, among other things, that the successful people actually got stuff completed, and followed a plan and gots lots of help along the way. I'm already better at strategic decision-making since SPOC, and always thinking about how I can turn any current project into a book.
~ Stephen J Barrett

This was full of very useful information and the auditory features allow me to listen while I run. Thank you.
~ Jenny Hadfield CoachJenny.com

As a wanna-be self-published author, I now feel much more confident that I can do this. I have new methods for preventing procrastination; I now know how to become a publisher and get ISBNs. I more well-rounded idea of what goes into getting a book published, as well as specific steps to take to get my book written and published.
~ Kathy Goughenour www.wemarketyouprofit.com

You can read more comments from past attendees on the SPOC 2009 page, the SPOC 2010 page, or the SPOC 2011 page.