LESSONS LEARNED

ORACON 2012

Last Saturday was ORACON (Ozark Romance Authors Conference) in Springfield, MO. I hadn't planned on going this year, but the contest coordinator hounded me until I figured okay--it's only three hours away.

I've touted conferences before and I'm touting this one today. This one day conference hosted Jennifer Brown (YA), Leigh Michaels (Harlequin author) , and Steven Law (Yuma Gold western). Two agents Cori Deyoe and Lucienne Diver were present for pitches.  And look at this fabulous lunch buffet. As if that wasn't enough afternoon snacks were provided. And the raffle baskets are always fabulous.

So, what was learned? 1. Competition is getting worse. You are competing with eight million other books. 2.E-books are the way to go. But you also must promote, promote, promote. Or another way of saying that is sell, sell, sell.  3. QR's (those weird little code boxes that are popping up on everything) are needed. Even you yourself do not own a smartphone, you can still obtain a QR by Googling QR generators. For those who are still trying to figure out what I'm talking about, here's an example:
When you obtain a QR code with your website or product/book, the smartphone will scan the code and directly load the webpage. An easy way to link author to product to public.

Now I've got one more thing I'm going to have to save my pennies for and learn how to do. How about you? Is all this tech stuff going too fast to keep up?