Author to Authorpreneur Summit SPEAKERS & SCHEDULE 2023

Sessions will be approximately 30-45 minutes, starting on 12/4 at 12pm EST through 9pm EST

with a short break between sessions.

While sessions are pre-recorded they will be streamed throughout the day.

The Authorpreneur Summit team and some speakers will be engaging in the live chat.

Day One: December 4, 2023

Bryan Cohen, Founder

Best Page Forward
TOPIC: A Personal Author to Authorpreneur Journey

DF Hart, Author/Founder

Hart Publishing

TOPIC: Accounting for Authors - What You Should Know

Jay Miletsky, Founder

IAPC Printing, Children's Author
TOPIC: How I Broke $1.5M in Revenue (and counting) in 2023

Melanie Johnson, Co-Founder

Elite Online Publishing

TOPIC: Use Your Book to

10x Your Business

Ricardo Fayet , Co-Founder

Reedsy

TOPIC: Book Marketing
& Stretegy

Zenat Siman, Founder

Productivity Specialist, Firefly
TOPIC: How to Increase Productivity
and Reduce Stress / Anxiety

Melissa Addey, ALLI

Alliance of Independent Authors
TOPIC: Ethics and Excellence
in Self-Publishing

OUR SPEAKERS - DAY TWO

Melissa Ricker, Founder

Engineered to Scale

TOPIC: Marketing, Funnels &
Scaling Your Business

Laurence O'Bryan, Founder

Books Go Social

TOPIC: Book Marketing,
Amazon Ads & Ways to
Sell More Books

Valerie McTavish, Founder

Show Up & Be Seen

TOPIC: Tips for Building Confidence and Clarity

Sandy Shaw, Founder

Brandify

TOPIC: Branding & Messaging
for Your Author Business

Michelle Hughes, CPA

MHughes Tax Services

TOPIC: Business Formation, Tax, Accounting & More!

AG Billig, Book Coach I Founder of Self-Publishing Mastery

TOPIC: The Key to Creating the Perfect Launch Plan

Rick Williams, Sr., Author

Story Making with Kids

TOPIC: Tips from a 50-Year Entrepreneur
& Retired Biotech CEO

OUR SPEAKERS - DAY THREE

Dale Roberts, YouTuber

Self-Publishing with Dale

TOPIC: Using YouTube to Gain Exposure & Build Your Platform

Julie Broad, Founder

Book Launchers

TOPIC: 5 Ways to Turn
Your Book into a Business

Jeff Bodenstaub, Mentor

SCORE Volunteer

TOPIC: Get Free Consulting &
Resources for Business Owners

Laurie Wright, Marketing Strategist

Author Coach

TOPIC: Grow Your Platform,
Grow Your Business

John Egan, Marketing Strategist

Content Writer, Strategist, Marketer

TOPIC: The Stripped Down Guide to Content Marketing

Ray Brehm, Founder

PubFunnels

TOPIC: The Technology Required
to Run Your Small Business

Amber Powers, Founder

Digital Marketing

TOPIC: Digital Marketing &
Content Creation

Lisa Ferland, Consultant

Crowdfunding Assistance

TOPIC: Funding Your Book Project

OUR SPEAKERS - DAY FOUR

Dave Chesson, Founder

Kindlepreneur.com

TOPIC: Dave's Personal Authorpreneual Journey & Lessons Learned

Kim Ann, Author

Alexa Bigwarfe

Women in Publishing

TOPIC: Personal Journey & Marketing Topics

Kim Ann, Authorpreneur

Children's Book Author

TOPIC: How to Make $1,000+ a Day with Events

Alexa Bigwarfe

Brian Ramp

Business Made Simple

TOPIC: Essential Business Skills for Beginners

Rebecca Yee Peters

Adventures of Pookie

TOPIC: How to Turn Your Story Into an Animated Film

Marco Moutinho

The Urban Writers

TOPIC: Tool Review:
An Overview of Dibly Create

Lori Orlinsky, Founder

Forword Publicity

Marketing & Publicity

TOPIC: Market Like the Pros

Allyson Bourque

Forword Publicity

Marketing & Publicity

TOPIC: Market Like the Pros

OUR SPEAKERS - DAY FIVE

Mark Lesley, Author
Podcaster

TOPIC: Advice from
the Trenches

Claire McKinney, CEO

McKinney PR

TOPIC: Do You Need
a Publicist?

Misty Black, Author

Berry Patch Press

TOPIC: The Power of
a Book Series

Claudine Wolk

Author, Strategist

TOPIC: Book Marketing Ideas

Chrissy Bernal

Branding Specialist

TOPIC: Creating a Compelling Brand Story

Michelle Hughes

Founder and CPA

TOPIC: Business Formation, Taxes & More

Chelsea Bennett

Lulu Publishing

TOPIC: Why You Should Be Selling Direct

Josh Becker, Author

Trademark Specialist

TOPIC: All About Trademarks

Summit Schedule

Day One: December 4, 2023

12pm EST - Opening Session with April Cox

Join April Cox live to chat about day one topics and get answers to your questions. April will discuss the common mistakes and struggles going from Author to Authorpreneur. She will be chatting live answering posted questions.

1pm EST - Bryan Cohen: Personal Journey from Author to Authorpreneur

Bryan Cohen is Ad Guy, Author and Blurb CEO. He is. the co-host. of the Sell More Books Show, runs an Amazon Ads challenge that helps authors sell more books.

In this session, we won't be touching on ads - instead we focus on Bryan's personal journey from Author to Business Owner / Authorpreneur and the struggles and growth experiences along the way. We will hear how he has created. a culture to serve his most important clients - his team!

2pm EST - D.F. Hart: Accounting for Authors

D.F. Hart is co-author of the book: Accounting for Authors. She shares the basics of tracking financials, deductions and best practices to make tax filing easier. This session is sure to provide a great overview with tips from an author accountant that you won't want to miss.

3pm EST - Ricardo Fayet: Book Marketing & Author Strategies

Ricardo Fayet is one of the four founders of Reedsy, a marketplace connecting authors to the world's top publishing talent--from editors to cover designers, book marketers, or literary translators. He's the author of two marketing books and a regular presenter at several prestigious writers' conferences: NINC, RWA Australia, and The Self Publishing Show Live, among others.

In this session, Ricardo shares his book marketing tips and strategies for success.

4pm EST - Jay Miletsky: How I Broke $1.5M in Revenue (and counting) in 2023

Jay Miletsky is a best-selling author of children's books, and CEO of the IAPC , helping authors to publish, fulfill and print high quality books.

Jay shares his experience on the business side of publishing and explains how he has crossed over $1.7 million dollars in revenue in 2023 and what critical things you need to know to grow your business and do the same.

5pm EST - Melanie Johnson: How to Use Your Book to 10x Your Business

Melanie Johnson is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, & #1 International Bestselling Author, Former Miss Michigan & Miss America. She has owned two radio stations and has a background in front of and behind the camera. As the founder of Elite Online Publishing, Melanie made over 100 authors #1 bestsellers.

In this session, Melanie discusses many ways authors can use their book to grow their business, creating additional revenue streams. Some you may be familiar with, and some are new ideas. Join us for this great topic and get some ideas for your own book!

6pm EST - Zeenat Siman: Practical Tips for Maximizing Your Productivity

Zeenat Siman is a professional organizer and productivity specialist, wife, mom, Chemical Engineer, and MBA. She founded FireflyBridge in 2017 with a mission to help busy professionals to simplify and organize their life.

In this session Zeenat discusses the impact of digital, physical and emotional clutter on productivity and shares tips to help authorpreneurs be more productive so they can focus on doing what they love.

7pm EST - Melissa Addey: The Alliance of Independent Authors

Melissa Addey is a full time self-published author who runs workshops for authorpreneurs. Her books have been selected for Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society and won the inaugural Novel London award. She has been the Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library, has a PhD in Creative Writing and campaigns with the Alliance of Independent Authors who focus on ethics and excellence in self-publishing.

In this session, she will discuss her work with the Alliance of Independent Authors and how they are serving the author community.

8pm EST - Closing Session with April Cox

Join April Cox live to chat about day one takeaways and post your questions. Sessions that streamed on day one will remain open through 12/10.

Day Two: December 5, 2023

12pm EST - OPENING SESSION with April Cox

This opening session will set the stage for the day's events. Join April Cox as she answers questions from day one, discusses upcoming sessions, timing and some of the bonuses available for Premium Pass members.

1pm EST - Melissa Ricker: An Engineered Approach Marketing, Funnels and Scaling Your Business

Melissa Ricker is a former Nuclear Engineer who turned entrepreneur to spend more time at home with her two boys. She is the CEO of Engineered to Scale, where she helps coaches and entrepreneurs to scale their business.

This session focuses on levelling. up your business, creating a funnel that works and essential tips for scaling your business.

2pm EST - Laurence O’Bryan: Book Marketing, Amazon Ads and More with Books Go Social

Laurence O’Bryan is the Founder of Books Go Social and has over thirty years experience in Marketing. He is a prolific author and has had three novels published by HarperCollins and translated into 11 languages. One has been optioned, twice, for the screen.

During this session Laurence discusses his best marketing tips and how authors can utilize Books Go Social to elevate their marketing efforts.

3pm EST - Rick Williams, Sr.: Tips from a 50-Year Entrepreneur

Rick Williams is a retired bioscience executive and “Fifty-Year Entrepreneur,” with much of that time spent helping kids and families to deal with serious medical problems. He is a lifelong learner and has been immersing himself in the world of children's book writing and publishing with his grandkids.

4pm EST - Valerie McTavish: Build Confidence & Clarity

Valerie McTavish is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in television, radio, and content creation. Valerie is a trailblazer, starting her career in online content creation and crafting innovative content marketing strategies tailored specifically for entrepreneurs.

Her passion for empowering others led her to become a dedicated coach, specializing in helping female entrepreneurs overcome their fear of the camera and harness the power of video to amplify their impact. Her motto is clarity breeds the confidence you need to consistently show up for your business and reach your goals. She shares her wealth of experience in this session that is sure to provide you with ideas on how you can be more confident with more clarity on your business messaging.

5pm EST - Sandy Shaw: Branding, Messaging & Author Websites that are Built to Convert

Sandy Shaw is a brand strategist, website designer, and founder of BrandifyHQ.com. She has 15+ years of experience working in tech and designing brands and websites for global AI tech companies to high-level coaches. Currently, she is on a mission to help coaches, creatives, and online course creators to confidently play a bigger game with strategic branding and website design.

6pm EST - AG Billig: Creating Your Launch Plan

A.G. Billig is a bestselling author, public speaker, self-publishing expert, and the founder of the award winning educational center Self-Publishing Mastery. As a self-publishing expert and author coach, A.G. Billig uses her book marketing and publishing expertise to help authors become successful. Her key areas of expertise are brand building, traditional media and PR, book launch campaigns, and public appearances (including TV and radio interviews). A.G. Billig is an experienced book marketing workshop presenter and a frequent guest on writing panels and conferences.

7pm EST - Michelle Hughes - Business Formation, Taxes & More

8pm EST - CLOSING SESSION with April Cox

Join April Cox for the closing session. Chat with speakers that attend, let us know what your biggest takeaways are and what you'd like to see us do some follow-ups on. If we have enough participation we can add some networking / breakout groups as well!

Day Three, December 6, 2023

12pm EST - OPENING SESSION with April Cox

Opening session to kick off Day Three!

1pm EST - Dale Roberts:, Using YouTube to Grow Your Business and Influence

Dale Roberts is a popular YouTuber, Author and Self-Publishing Expert. His channel: Self-Publishing with Dale supports authors on their journey to improve self-publishing expertise.

Dale discusses how to utilize YouTube to expand your reach, authority and add income streams to help you sell your books, courses and programs.

2pm EST - Julie Broad: Five Ways to Turn Your Book Into a Business

Julie Broad is the founder of self-publishing services firm Book Launchers and an Amazon Overall #1 Best Selling Author. Her popular YouTube channel BookLaunchers.TV teaches nonfiction authors how to write and market books people will want to read.

An expert on writing with marketing in mind, Julie has been speaking on stages across Canada and the US since 2009, providing the best approaches to get results, make an impact, and ultimately, make more money.

3pm EST - John Egan: The Stripped Down Guide to Content Marketing

John EganContent creator and marketer, author of The Stripped-Down Guide to Content Marketing. He shares his experience and tips to make sense of content marketing and how to use it to sell more books.

4pm EST - Ray Brehm: Mastering the Technology Required to Run a Successful Business

Ray Brehm specializes in book publishing, marketing funnels and connecting with others. He loves helping aspiring entrepreneurs and authors take their next step and see what is possible.

In this session, Ray discusses the back-end tech required to run a successful business.

5pm EST - Laurie Wright: Grow Your Platform - Grow Your Business

Laurie Wright is a best-selling children's author of the Mindful Mantra series and publishing strategist. She is passionate about sharing what she knows with others so they can embrace their unique stories and share them confidently with the world.

In this session, Laurie covers all things book marketing and how to grow your platform and grow your business.

6pm EST - Amber Powers: How to Attract Your Ideal Clients and Customers

Amber Powers is both the President of Powers Digital Marketing and the Founder of Shop From Her Directory, a platform designed to connect service and product-based women-owned businesses to prospective clients and customers. She has over 20 years of marketing experience and has successfully led her firm since 2014.

7pm EST - Lisa Ferland: Crowdfunding for Your Book Project

Lisa Ferland is a Crowdfunding expert who has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Authors. She provides tips and an overview of some of the best practices and how authors are using Crowdfunding to launch new books.

8pm EST - CLOSING SESSION with April Cox

Closing Session - share your takeaways from the day and follow-on activities you'd like to see for the group to expand on your learnings. You get to help shape what comes next. Don't miss out on that. If we have enough attendees we will do breakout sessions and networking as well.

Day Four, December 7, 2023

12pm EST - Opening Session with April Cox

The last day of the event kicks off with April Cox. Learn what this day brings and join us to say hello and let us know how things have been going so far!

1pm EST - Dave Chesson: A Personal Journey & Marketing Tips for Selling More Books

Dave Chesson is the Founder of Kindlepreneur.com and creator of Author Tools like Publisher Rocket and Atticus that help make authors jobs easier.

Dave discusses his own journey from Author to Authorpreneur, expanding into software creation and tips that all authors can use to help sell more books.

2pm EST - Alexa Bigwarfe: Personal Journey from Grief to Growth

Alexa coaches authors through the publishing and marketing process in her company Write|Publish|Sell (writepublishsell.co). She also owns the small hybrid-publishing company Kat Biggie Press (katbiggiepress.com), dedicated to sharing women’s works of inspiration and self-help, Purple Butterfly Press, a children's hybrid press, and Chrysalis Press, a small traditional press. She hosts the Women in Publishing Summit (womeninpublishingsummit.com) annually to help provide education, resources, and encouragement to women across the spectrum of writing, publishing, and selling books.

Alexa Bigwarfe is also a devoted advocate, blogger, author, and publisher.

4pm EST - Kim Ann: Connections & Collaboration That Can Grow Your Business & Sales Exponentially

Kim Ann is a bestselling author whose award-winning books help children develop a love of reading. She has published 16 picture books and 10 other titles, including translations and affirmation books, selling more than 100,000 books and e-books worldwide.

Kim is known for taking her work on the road - engaging in numerous local events, visiting schools and libraries, and cultivating opportunities at national Expos. Always looking for new ways to market and grow her brand, Kim looks forward to continuing to bring tales of adventure to many more young readers.

3pm EST. - Brian Rump: Essential Business Skills for Beginners

Profit Coach Brian Rump has built a career working with hundreds of business owners, securing loans as a commercial banker, getting government grants as a consultant, and solving cash flow problems and growing businesses as a coach. Being committed to support the local community, Brian has been on a mission to find simple, clear and essential strategies and systems that create profitable businesses that fund dreams.

Brian shares the frameworks and playbooks he uses as a Business Made Simple Certified Coach and StoryBrand Guide.These simple business basics will help aspiring authorpreneurs and new business owners.

5pm EST - Marco Moutinho, Dibly Create Demo: An Author Tool with AI Integration

Marco Moutinho is the CEO of Dibbly Inc, operating The Urban Writers, and has been the driving force behind its success. Transforming The Urban Writers into a multi-million dollar enterprise, Marco's background in Software Engineering has enabled him to spearhead cutting-edge technological innovations within the company. As a forward-thinking leader, he is deeply passionate about the potential of technology and its role in shaping the future.Currently, Marco is revolutionizing Dibbly Inc by integrating AI advancements into its core operations, with a focus on combining the power of human creativity and cutting-edge AI technology, positioning the company to disrupt the content creation industry and redefine its landscape. His enthusiasm for sharing knowledge and empowering fellow entrepreneurs has made him a valuable resource within the tech community.

6pm EST - Rebecca Yee-Peters: From Printed Children's Book to Animated Show

Rebecca Yee-Peters is an Author/Illustrator and Animator who has turned her best-selling children's books into animated movies.

In this session we discuss Rebecca's journey from children's book to animated story, the challenges and advice for those interested in creating something beyond the book.

7pm EST - Alysson Bourque and Lori Orlinsky: Market Like the Pros

Created by multi-award winning, bestselling authors Alysson Bourque and Lori Orlinsky, Foreword Publicity is a book marketing service that specializes in custom book PR campaigns with combined strategies in marketing, sales, and branding. Using the latest trends in social media, technology, and applications, Foreword Publicity’s mission is to build a platform for an author to succeed and maintain their success as a writer.

8pm EST - CLOSING Session with April Cox

The last day of the event kicks off with April Cox. Learn what this day brings and join us to say hello and let us know how things have been going so far!

Day Five, December 8, 2023

12pm EST - OPENING Session for our final day.

Opening session - join me for our final opening session. We will have speakers joining and have networking opportunities as well.

1pm EST - Mark Leslie Lefebvre: Advice from the Trenches

Mark Leslie is a Writer, \Author Coach and Book Nerd. He is a strong advocate of expanding to multiple platforms to reduce reliance on any particular retailer.

Mark shares his own personal journey to help authors avoid pitfalls and grow their author business in a sustainable way.

2pm EST - Claire McKinney: Creating the Perfect Press Kit (Insider Tips)

Claire McKinney (Publicist/CEO) has been working in public relations for over 25 years. She is the founder of McKinney Media Group, which includes her book marketing, publishing, and digital marketing divisions. She has appeared on the Today show and CSPAN as an expert on publishing and she travels regularly to speak to audiences about Digital and Traditional PR. She started her work in publishing at Hyperion Books for Children where she launched their imprint featuring African-American authors and books. Her career has included senior level positions in NYC at Putnam, Bloomsbury (USA), Little, Brown, Miramax, and Henry Holt and Company. She received her M.S. in Digital Marketing in May 2022 from Rutgers Business School. She is building a learning platform for authors and she recently released the updated version of Do You Know What A Book Publicist Does 3.0: A NEW Guide To Creating Your Own Campaign.

3pm EST - Claudine Wolk: Book Marketing Fundamentals

Claudine Wolk is an author, columnist, podcast host and speaker. Her books, podcast, and essays provide fun, easy-to-understand information and entertainment for readers and listeners. She shares insights from her book: Get Your Book Seen and Sold.

Claudine provides book marketing ideas to level-up your marketing knowledge.

4pm EST - Misty Black: 26 Books & Counting

Misty is an entrepreneur, marketing strategist, and course creator. Her degree in business, coupled with her mad Monopoly skills, have helped her sell over 100,000 copies of her books in 3 years. She is an international best-selling author of dozens of children's books.

5pm EST - Chelsea Bennett: New Features from Lulu and Why You Should Consider Focusing on Direct Sales

Chelsea Bennett is the Education & Community Manager and the face of Lulu University on YouTube. She's appeared on dozens of videos and writers conferences, making Lulu stand at the forefront of most self-publishing companies.

5:30pm EST Jeffrey Bodenstaub: Free Consulting & Business Resources for Small Businesses

Jeff is a retired businessman and volunteer for SCORE. He discusses the many free services available to small businesses.

6pm EST - Chrissy Bernal: Creating a Compelling Brand Story

Chrissy Bernal is a Brand Acceleration & PR Consultant/Coach. She believes women should embrace their worth and feel confident in achieving the success they desire, so she uses proven frameworks & PR to help women grow their brands with intention and less stress.

In this session, Chrissy shares tips about branding, messaging and creating a compelling brand story. She also shares tips and tricks for getting PR to elevate your business.

7pm EST - Josh Becker: All About Trademarks

Josh Becker is a trademark attorney and an author himself with his Annabelle & Aiden series of children's books. He joins us to discuss the topic of trademarks. If you have been wondering about whether you need a trademark for your business, series, or need to protect your intellectual property, you won't want to miss this session.

8pm EST - FINAL CLOSING SESSION & NETWORKING

Our event comes to a close. Take advantage of this networking and discuss what additional things you'd like to see next for the Authorpreneur Alliance (tm). Exciting things to tell you about!

Networking & Live Sessions

12pm EST Opening Sessions & Networking

April is our host for the Summit, CEO of Little Labradoodle Publishing and Sponsor of the event.

April will open sessions each day with a highlight of the day's sessions, network opportunities and allow networking live on Zoom with breakout rooms where you can connect with others and chat live as a group.

8pm EST Daily Closing Session & Networking

We geared the summit for authors of all levels and genres! The only requirement is a desire to learn more about the business of publishing.

Author to Authorpreneur : Facebook Group

Join us in the Author to Authorpreneur Facebook Group. Network with other Summit attendees and stay connected during and after the Summit.

Join Us and Chat Live During the Summit!

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Meet April M. Cox,
Your Host & Sponsor

Best-Selling Author & Advocate for Independent Authors

April is not just a best-selling award-winning author of children's books; she's the driving force behind Little Labradoodle Publishing.

She has successfully guided over 1,500 authors from manuscript to a high-quality, self-published book through her 90-day signature program, Self-Publishing Made Simple.

April is a passionate teacher and speaker on publishing topics and has personally launched over 400 books. Catch her insights on YouTube and her free Facebook group.

Why the Author to Authorpreneur Summit?

April recognized the hurdles authors faced in their journey.
This summit is her response to the growing pains in her business and the challenges her fellow authorpreneurs encountered. "We have summits for writing, publishing, and marketing, but we need to focus on the journey from author to entrepreneur. So here we are!"

Dive deeper into April's world, her programs, and her coaching methods. Visit SelfPubMadeSimple.com.