Great ePublishing Industry Topics

The creative process is fun, writing stories that thrill the heart or creating pictures to capture a reader's attention. But the fun ends when the business side of the work begins. There are contracts, edits, deadlines, and, of course, the Internal Revenue Service. This year our program will focus on the business side of ePublishing. Click on the Workshop tab for more details.

eFiesta!

eFiesta! will return to EPICon on Saturday, March 17, beginning with lunch, followed by a full afternoon of fun, information, booksignings, book-selling, and prizes.

Special events

• Become a detective and solve the Mystery at the Menger!
• Presentation of EPIC's eBook Awards^TM  and Ariana eBook Cover Art Awards^TM
• Chartered cruise on the beautiful San Antonio River
• Mix and meet with authors, publishers, and other industry professionals
  

Conference Schedule

eFiesta! 2012

Saturday, March 17, 2012

11:30 AM - 4:30 PM

Menger Hotel

Booklovers and Aspiring Authors!

Join EPICon's attendees in the ballroom of the historic Menger Hotel on Saturday, March 17, 2012, for lunch and a fabulous afternoon of fun, information, and mingling with authors and publishers at eFiesta! This three-hour event features a Q&A with authors, booksignings, a bookstore, and great giveaways. By registering for eFiesta! you will be entered in a drawing for neato prizes. The list of sponsors and prizes will be updated as we get more. eFiesta! can be yours for a paltry $50. You can also join us at the gala eBook Awards Banquet Saturday night for a total price of $100.

Fun

Become a detective and solve a mystery!

Prizes

eBook Readers

Free books

All kinds of swag

Meet the Authors

Meet ePublishing industry professionals

Register Now!

(Click on the link above.)

eFiesta! only - $50

eFiesta! and a ticket to the gala eBook Awards Banquet - $100

If you are arriving by air:

There are several options for getting to the hotel from the airport.

Taxis cost between $25 and $29 per cab, which may be shared by up to four passengers.

The Go Airport Shuttle will cost you $18 one-way, $32 round trip.

The City Bus service will take you to downtown for a lot less, if you have time and not too much luggage.

Choose one of the options below for more information.

Taxis cost between $25 and $29 per cab which may be shared by up to four passengers.

The Go Shuttle will cost you $18 one-way, $32 round trip.

The City Bus service will take you to downtown for a lot less, if you have time and not too much luggage.

If you are driving:

You're on your own to get to San Antonio, but once you get there:

From I-10 coming West:

1. Take exit 581 to merge onto I-410 N

2. Take exit 31 on the left to merge onto I-35 S/North Panam Expressway toward San Antonio 4.5 mi

3. Take exit 158B to merge onto I-37 S/US-281 S toward Corpus Christi 1.3 mi

4. Take exit 141A for Commerce St toward Downtown 0.2 mi

5. Turn right onto E Commerce St 0.3 mi

6. Take the 3rd right onto Alamo Plaza 374 ft

7. Take the 1st right onto E Crockett St. Destination will be on the right.

From I-10 coming East:

1. Take exit 570 on the left for I-35 N toward Austin

2. Take exit 158 on the left toward Interstate 37/U.S. 281/Corpus Christi/Johnson City 0.6 mi

3. Merge onto I-35 N 0.2 mi

4. Take exit 158 toward TX-368 Loop/Broadway 469 ft

5. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for I-37 S/US-281 S/Corpus Christi and merge onto I-37 S/US-281 S 1.1 mi

6. Take exit 141A for Commerce St toward Downtown 0.2 mi

7. Turn right onto E Commerce St 0.3 mi

8. Take the 3rd right onto Alamo Plaza 374 ft

9. Take the 1st right onto E Crockett St. Destination will be on the right

Our host venue for EPICon-2012 is the historic Menger Hotel, in downtown San Antonio.

Built in 1859, the Menger ushered in a new era of sophistication to the Texas frontier, and more than 150 years of refinements have created a masterpiece of traditional elegance and modern comforts. Menger Hotel is renowned for its beautiful architecture, a restored 19th-century wing with Victorian-style guestrooms, rare antique furniture, and paintings. The Menger offers 316 guest rooms, including 25 elegant suites. Views include The Alamo, Alamo Plaza, and the tropical courtyard garden or pool. Guests are lavished with amenities, including dining in the neoclassical elegance of the Colonial Room, enjoying cocktails and stories in the legendary Menger Bar, or relaxing in the large outdoor heated pool, in the Spanish garden, or at the Alamo Plaza Spa.

Rooms are $99 per night. This rate is good for two days before and two days after EPICon, from March 13 to March 19. Click on this link to book on-line.

You may also use one of these other alternatives:

Go to www.mengerhotel.com and click on RESERVATIONS. Then click on GROUPS, and enter ATTENDEE CODE, 031512EPIC, and the travel dates to check availability.

You may also book directly with the Menger's reservations department by calling 1-800-345-9285 and asking for the EPIC Conference rate.

Want a roommate? Indicate this on your registration form and we'll do our best to match you up.

The generous sponsors of EPICon-2012

Your Military Characters Did What?

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 10:30 a.m. (Room A)

LTC David A. McBlain, USA (Ret)

This workshop will discuss the ranks (they change regularly) for the US armed forces, the schooling required and protocols between ranks. What kinds of schools are involved, what are the ranks that participate in various assignments, from individual training to administrative and operational duties? What kinds of jargon or acronyms are used during a given time period. If you are going to have military personnel in your story, you should have the correct rank, education, assignment and career path.

LTC McBlain was born and raised in Iowa. He graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, earned a BA degree from Grinnell College, Iowa and an MA degree from the University of Iowa, Iowa. He received his commission (2LT, Military Intelligence) through Infantry Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia and retired from the Army Reserve in 1995. Following his time in the Army, he returned to academia at Austin College, Texas. In 1979, he joined Planning Research Corporation in Bellevue, Nebraska, working on contracts that supported the Strategic Air Command at Offutt, AFB. His company was eventually bought out by Northrop Grumman Corporation, from which he retired in December 2011, after more than 32 years. LTC McBlain is a military historian by avocation, owning an extensive library on the subject.

The Business Side of Publishing: Taxes

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 10:30 a.m. (Room B)

Ellen Spain, Ph.D.

Martha Eskuchen

The EPICon-2012 tax workshop will be presented by two EPIC Officers: Ellen Spain, Ph.D., a retired Federal Investigator turned novelist & editor (www.EllenSpain.com) and Martha Eskuchen, Esq., a Florida attorney, Income Tax Consultant, author, educator, and CEO of eTreasures Publishing, LLC. The workshop encompasses the preparation of the IRS's required Schedule C for authors.

Virtual Blog Tours – Pitfalls, Problems & Solutions

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 1:30 p.m. (Room A)

Marilyn Meredith

If planning your own blog tour, how do you find appropriate host blogs? What are you going to put on each of these blogs that is original? What do you need to do to get people to visit and comment? What are your ongoing chores during a blog tour? If you want to plan a group tour, how are you going to pick the other authors? What is the responsibility of each of the authors?

from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novels are No Bells and Angel Lost, the third and forth from Oak Tree Press. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com/ and her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

The Publishing Process: Getting from "The End" to The Dotted Line

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 1:30 p.m. (Room B)

Cyrus Keith

Author Cyrus Keith discusses the various publishing options available to today's writers. Topics include:

• Self Publishing vs. the "Traditional Route"
• Vanity presses and how to keep from getting scammed
• Copyrights: To register, or not to register?

Born and raised in Northern Indiana, Cyrus Keith grew up learning how to camp and fish with his scoutmaster dad who instilled in him a love for the outdoors and nature. A U.S. Air Force veteran trained in electronics repair and battlefield aid, Cyrus has worked a wild variety of jobs. In addition, he played bass with the best rock-punk band that never launched a record, invented the best board game that never sold a copy, and with a friend, developed a role-playing game that, to this day, gathers dust in a Rhode Island closet. Currently, he makes a living as an avionics technician for corporate jets. He lives in Michigan with his wife, four kids, and all the deer that eat his raspberries.

Mythology and Modern Storytelling

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 3:00 p.m. (Room A)

Ann Gimpel, Ph.D.

Myths were some of the first stories. In this workshop, we will look at myths from three different cultures: Sumerian, Greco-Roman and Celtic. Then, we will hunt for parallels to the myths' tales in modern story-telling, with an emphasis on the timelessness of the human experience.

Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist with a Jungian bent who practices in a very isolated area high in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography, and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Eight of her short stories and two of her novels have been published. One of those novels, Psyche's Prophecy, is a finalist for this year's EPIC awards.

Creating a Simple Business Plan

Friday, March 16, 2012 @ 3:00 p.m. (Room B)

Debra Dixon, BelleBooks / Bell Bridge Books

Authors often shy away from a formal assessment of career, but business plans are simple tools which can help writers create an action plan critical to understanding and advancing a career. Join Debra as she takes the "big and scary" out of business plans and leads writers through the process of owning a personal action plan that is so simple you'll wonder why you ever avoided putting pen to paper career-wise.

Debra Dixon is Publisher and CEO for BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books, which has had an author on Oprah, authors topping the full paid Kindle list, routinely sold books into foreign markets and had titles picked up by major New York publishers in sub rights deals for mass market paperback, book club, audio and large print. Although her time is spent on the "publisher" side of the fence these days, Debra is a multi-published author with Big 6 publishers and the author of what many call the "writer's bible," GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict.

Queries & Submissions: Guidelines from the Acquisition Editor's POV

Saturday, March 17, 2012 @ 9:00 a.m. (Room A)

Denise Bartlett, Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Have you always wondered why editors and publishers ask for the things they do? Want an inside track to creating great queries and putting your best page forward. Come on over!

Native Texan Denise Bartlett is Acquisitions Editor, Chief Editor, CFO and co-owner of Gypsy Shadow Publishing Company. Her dedication to communication leads her to put her best words forward to assist writers with their manuscripts. Since she can't remember a time when she wasn't making up a story or two and has always loved reading, editing is a dream job for her.

Self-Publishing 101

Saturday, March 17, 2012 @ 9:00 a.m. (Room B)

Valerie Mann and Kate Richards, Wizards in Publishing

Whether you've just gotten your rights back on an existing story or would like to take a shiny new tale and get your feet wet in the lucrative world of self-publishing, this workshop is for you.

We will cover topics like:

• Why self-pub? (AKA Tell me again why I'm sharing royalties?)
• I have critique partners...Who needs an editor? (Let us count the ways...)
• Who needs marketing? (Trust us—you do!)
• And what will all this cost? (It's cheaper than you think!)

Valerie Mann is a transplanted Yankee living in the southeast United States. She started writing stories as soon as she was taught to read and remains convinced her first grade teacher, Mrs. Duckworth, only did so to get Valerie to shut up and sit quietly. It worked. Fast forward to present and you will find her married to a studly husband, raising five kids, two cats and three chickens. And still writing stories, but with the added bonus of editing fabulous fiction by other authors. She knows a little about a lot of things and is happy to share all of it!

Kate Richards is a Los Angeles native who still can't believe she gets to work in the world of books. She is a multi-published author with several self-published books under two pen names as well. Her first great work, Misty Morning Meadows, written in seventh grade, is tucked away in a box, but her current books have left landscapes pieces behind, supplanted by her obsession with how people can come together and change one another's lives for the better. She helped a number of people to get their own books through the self-publishing process before starting Wizards in Publishing with Valerie Mann.

Publisher's Panel

Saturday, March 17, 2012 @ 10:30 a.m. (Rooms A & B)

Wild Rose Press (Diana Carlile)

Gypsy Shadow Publishing (Denise Bartlett)

Belle Books (Debra Dixon)

Lyrical Press (Abby Rose)

Wild Child Publishing (Marci Braun)

Champagne Books (J Ellen Smith)

We'll start EPICon-2012 off with a mixer on Thursday, March 15. There will be a cash bar and an abundance of tortilla chips, salsa, and queso, to get you in the Texas mood.

Friday and Saturday begin with a complimentary continental breakfast of pastries, juices, coffee, and tea.

For luncheon on Friday, you'll enjoy a deli buffet of soup, salads, a selection of lean meats and cheeses. Finish up with a choice of desserts, and coffee, tea, or lemonade to wash it all down.

After a busy afternoon of workshops on Friday, an Oreo and a glass of cold milk will hit the spot. Lactose-intolerant? No worry, you can choose coffee, tea, or a soft drink.

On Saturday, lunch will give you a taste of Tex-Mex. The eFiesta Buffet includes salsa and chips, black bean and jicama salad, cheese enchiladas, beef and chicken fajitas, beans, rice. Of course, no Tex-Mex feast would be complete without pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream. Fresh, hot flour tortillas make the perfect wrapper for your delicious fajita creation.

EPICon's Awards Banquet on Satuday night begins with a hor d'oeuvres and a cash bar. The banquet features a choice of Filet Mignon or Grilled Chicken with Lemon Caper Sauce. Salad, roasted potatoes, and seasonal vegetables round out the meal. It's all topped off with the chef's dessert selection.

Authors! Join our booksigning!

The booksigning will take place on Saturday, March 17, as part of eFiesta! Both eBooks and print books will be offered to our eFiesta! attendees.

To participate, you must be registered for the conference or eFiesta! attendance.

Each author is limited to three (3) titles. Books must be available in the B&N system and print books must be returnable. If you are unsure if your book(s) are available, please check with your publisher(s).

Buyers purchasing eBooks will need a Barnes & Noble account. If they don't have one, they can create one for free at the event. When they access the account, their eBook purchases will be waiting for them to download.

To request any of your print books from Barnes & Noble for the eFiesta! book store, please copy and paste the following form into an email:

Name: (that you used to register for the conference)

Author name: (if different)

email:

Books requested: (include title and ISBN for each)

eMail to: Caren Creech Berlanga  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Include "EPICon-2012 booksigning" in the subject line.

Deadline: February 6, 2012

Getting ready for the signing

Naturally, you'll sign the print books as normal. For eBook sales, you should have a stock of cards which could have anything on them that you'd like, such as the cover(s) of the books you are signing, upcoming titles, your website url, etc. They should be large enough for your signature.

There are nice quality cards available from Vistaprint or other on-line printing companies, or you can get blank cards and print them yourself. You should bring at least 25.

Want to place an ad in the EPICon-2012 program book?

We are now taking placement of ads. Click here to see the relative ad sizes and specific prices.

Each page is 7 X 8.5 inches

Interior ads - Black and White

Quarter column - $15

Double quarter column - $30

Triple quarter column - $45

3-quarter column - $30

Half-page - $70

Back cover - Color

Half cover - $80 (2 places)

Full cover - $125 (1 place)

All camera ready ads must be in one of the following formats: PDF, JPEG, or TIF. For back cover ad, color design should be in CMYK with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Please note: Graphics taken from a web site are normally not in a high enough resolution for print.

Ad space is limited. Contact us now to reserve your space: send an email with the subject "EPICon ad reservation" to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Placement is dependent on providing suitable content and payment by February 15, 2012.

Payment for ads should be made in USD via PayPal to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it after your reservation is confirmed.