Daniel Francis hosts Caribbean author conference

Millennial Mind author Daniel Francis wishes he had advice when he first started his publishing process.

Three books later, Francis and his team will host its first Caribbean author conference and author village where it hopes to provide a home for authors. His third book, How to Write and Publish Your Book, will be launched then.

The event will be held at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port of Spain, from 4-10 pm on the observance of World Book and Copyright Day on April 23.

After publishing his first two books, Francis had authors reaching out to him weekly asking for information about the writing, editing and self-publishing process.

These questions reminded him of his process and so he started doing free webinars where he would collate the questions and take the participants through what was needed.

He said he did that for about a year-and-a-half to two years.

Then he began receiving requests to create marketing strategies, assist with editing as well as help create book covers.

“Basically, they were asking me if I could do different aspects of the publishing process like a publishing company and that is where the company, One Momentum Publishing would have come from,” he said.

The company was officially launched this year.

Out of the seven types of publishing houses that exist: Francis’s model is focused on vanity publishing. Vanity publishing refers to publishers who charge to produce a book.

In traditional publishing authors send their manuscripts or book proposals to publishers who select, edit, produce, market and distribute the books.

Vanity publishing differs from self-publishing as the author in the latter does all of the process from writing to editing, to marketing to distribution etc.

While Francis said in his in-person interview at Newsday that information is everywhere and people could go online and retrieve those, people needed to be met at their different stages of the publishing process.

“There are going to be people who want to do the research themselves and then publish the book themselves.

“There would be those who might want a book with all of the information in one place, so I wrote the book to help those individuals. There might be people who want to come to an event, meet other authors, learn about the process, meet different resources that can help them produce their books,” he said.

He added there were those who had the money, did not have the time and just wanted to pay for the service to get it done.

“That is where the self-publishing company comes by and he would facilitate that for them. There would be those who would pay for a course and let it guide them and know that the course has everything that they need.”

His model uses subcontractors and he has a team of editors, illustrator, book-cover designers and people specific to genres.

“It is meant that they finish their book, they come to me, we have a conversation, and we go through the list of things: we need to get the book edited, we need to get it formatted for a specific dimension, we need to get the book cover done, and we will publish it on Amazon for you.

“Here is where the company gets different: we say we need to provide you with consultation and guidance on what you should be doing marketing wise, what you can be doing sales wise, what you need to focus on as a Caribbean author; what specific information and that is where it varies.

“I try to make it affordable as I can. I give them payment plans as well,” he said.

Francis takes an entrepreneurial approach to publishing and said he is unwilling to work with people who do not devise marketing plans after publishing.

Many creative people did not think of the after-publishing process, which resulted in loss of sales, he said.

“Even if they are doing a service with me or not, I urge them to have specific goals and then a strategy that aligns to their books. Whether that is how many books they want to sell in three months, six months or a year and what are the activities that are going to help them get there…”

Francis said his service also teaches it users about their social media presence, posting to the platforms and the need for consistency in doing so.

Also an event promoter, Francis applies the lessons gained from event promotion to book sales.

It was also important to “keep it real” with his clients about the publishing process, he said.

“I know all of the myths as well. People would think it is a passive form of income; they think they just put it out there, it sells. They put it out on Amazon, it would just sell, they are an international author, but it doesn’t work that way.

“I bring them down to earth and say, ‘Yes I want you to publish this but I also want it to make sense.’”

He starts the marketing and sales process with the author’s friends and family; using the snowballing method.

“You start with the people who want you to be successful, who want the best for you and build outward. Most people do it opposite. They focus on the out there; Amazon, this space and nobody knows who they are so, obviously, it would be hard to get the sale.

“When you start with the foundation of friends and family: they read your book, buy your book, tell a friend; you slowly start to build a fan base and it is easier now to use that as a springboard to more.”

Ultimately, Francis hopes to break the literary boundaries in the region.

“We are all one Caribbean but to say that I can produce a book and then get it into another island easily, I don’t think that is an easy process.

“We very much rely on Amazon but, if we are being real, not everyone has a card to purchase on Amazon. Some people also want to purchase the way they want to purchase whether that means going into a bookstore, getting it from a market place and that is going right to them and you have to be able to meet them there.

“But to do that, there must be a frictionless process.”

Francis believes the creation of his Caribbean author village meets this challenge.

It is currently in the form of WhatsApp and Facebook groups with over 200 Caribbean authors, editors etc.

“It all comes back to what I wish I had when I first published, I wish I had a community, I wish I had the knowledge and space to promote my book,” he said.

The conference is also meant to chisel the walls between Caribbean publishing.

The conference will start with an author village from 4-7 pm, where over 40 authors, including Robert Gibson from Barbados and Nikki Ann Small, from Jamaica, will be showcasing, marketing and selling their books and then from 7-10 pm there will be panel discussions and networking, a release said.

Francis sees the economic benefits of growing publishing in the region and believes that is why people should support Caribbean authors as the content was so unique.

Francis said Bocas Lit Fest’s webinar helped him with different aspects of his book and while the festival has done a lot for authors throughout the country and region, there was still a gap to fill.

Bocas Lit Fest was focused on fiction writers, grassroots movements and was good at empowering and pointing people in the right direction, he said.

The gap he intended to fill was being the one-stop place where people could get all their publishing needs met: information, resources and community.

“I had a self-help book. They don’t really focus on self-help so it was not a pull for that. I saw that gap and said, ‘Okay, it does not matter what type of author you are, it does not matter where you are at in the process, it does not matter what you need; we are here, we are building this.

“The point is you come, get what you need and we are still going to share everything,” he said.

He had discussion with Bocas Lit Fest about being involved in the conference. The Lit Fest is from April 25-28, shortly after Francis’ conference and so its organisers would be unable to participate but have expressed interest in a future partnership, he said.

Francis never thought he would have been an author and believes many people do not have sufficient information on how to become a successful author.

At this conference he hopes to show children that a career as an author was a viable option.

Educational videos on this will be shown through a partnership with the NGO, Heroes Foundation.

“I believe there is a book in everyone and it is just to be brave enough to put it out there and to have the information and resources to do so,” he said.

For more info: 495-2964