FAPACON 23

Last weekend I was in Orlando for FAPACON 23. FAPA stands for Florida Authors and Publishers Association.  It is one of the dozen or so organizations all over the country that comes under the umbrella of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).  FAPACON is the annual conference at a Hilton near Disney World. It is the big event of the year for FAPA, ending in the President’s Book Awards ceremony, where everyone gets dressed up to the nines to receive bronze, silver, and gold awards for their books in about 30 categories.

I went last year as well. It is one of my duties as a board member (secretary) of the organization. And why would I refuse two nights in the Hilton and free food? Not to mention the camaraderie of other writers. I remember a few glitches last year, but this year the event went off without a hitch….and I won a raffle prize!

We started on Friday morning with a short board meeting at the Hilton, followed by registration and check-in. At one of the board member’s suggestions, this year we tried a Speed Dating with the Pros event, which was very well received. There were eight tables, and participants spent about 8 minutes at each table listening to, and asking questions of, the pro at the table. The topics included selling your book on Amazon, unconventional types of promotion, artificial intelligence, effective use of social media, book formatting, getting your book into libraries, and choosing a cover designer. 

Pros were available for additional conversation after the speed dating. The day culminated in a networking reception with a cash bar and “heavy oer d’oeuvres,” in other words, dinner.

There were four talks/workshops on Saturday, one at a time so everyone could attend all of them. 

• How to Create an Amazon Bestseller. Judith Briles gave us all sorts of links and ideas, many of which were new to me. It was a very useful hour.
• The Power of Connection: Connecting to make connections, not to sell books.

Lunch! salads, tomato soup (excellent), macaroni and cheese, huge pieces of chicken, and a whole lot more including some really pretty desserts. (I heard they were good!)

• Copyright and Intellectual Property 
• Audiobook Production

Following the four sessions was “quick change” time. The ballroom tables were changed from workshop desks to tablecloth-dressed, and the check-in desk was replaced by the cash bar. And everyone went to their rooms to change into fancy clothes, appropriate for accepting awards.

The buffet: bruschetta, pizza, egg rolls, beef and peppers on sticks, fancy desserts, spiced cauliflower.

The awards ceremony is always lovely. I won an award in 2020 — the Covid year when the ceremony was held on Zoom, so I missed out. And we were Zoom-bombed by white nationalists, so the ceremony had to be stopped.

Following the awards was a reception for more networking and conversation.

It was a fun time, but I was glad to get home to my dog! And I had been away visiting friends the weekend before. 

Oh, and I won a raffle basket that I wanted so badly, I put all my tickets into one basket — so now I cannot say I never win anything.

Mostly I take notes and type them up and distribute them as secretary, but many other board members put in so much time and effort to make FAPACON a success. Lots of photos were taken, but I am not in very many of them – introvert. I was planning to donate some of my books for a raffle basket, but the time went, and I didn’t send the books. I was going to place an ad in the program or maybe even be an exhibitor — but I didn’t get around to that either. Next year!