Article written by Lance Stanford,

Everyone has a story to tell, and many claim they should write a book, but who actually takes the steps to follow through on that dream? That’s a question we set out to help with at our August event, Book Publishing 101. Dozens of people came out (virtually) to start their literary journey to become a bestselling author.

Everyone was excited from the beginning. This event was unlike any of the FAN EXPO meetups before and I was a bit nervous going into it if we’re being honest. I recalled everything I had learned and did to get my book out there like, What had I done right? Wrong? What had worked and what had caused me to fall on my face? I had to find a way to sum up all these growing pains for an entire audience.

Finally, the day came and the event started-a pleasant surprise I might add- very smoothly. We all gathered together as creators and discussed our craft. I explained the dated ideas of needing an agent to be an author. We talked about the modern ease of self-publishing and why friends and family are the most important audience starting out. People asked about the balance of a writing group versus maintaining your intellectual property and the answer I gave was “a fine balance or support and selfishness”.

I watched with pride as people were scribbling down notes and even helping each other in the chat by the end of the event. We all had a great time, learned how to make that “special” idea concrete, and get it out to an audience. I can’t wait to see the books from so many creative and inspiring people on shelves soon!