Indie Book Fest, Rome 2024

An Event for Independent Authors 

On Saturday 9th November I was at Palazzo Congressi in Via Cavour here in the centre of Rome for the Indie Book Fest. This was quite exciting as I'm always hearing about the awesome bookish events my book buddies get to attend in the UK, US and other countries but never usually get to go to any myself.

Rome, despite being a capital city, doesn't have many big book related events. There's the annual Più Libri, Più Liberi that I've attended multiple times in the past and a few others like the International Literature Festival.

The Indie Book Fest is the first one I've seen that covered book marketing. Other panels I've seen at other events were all either about industry trends in publishing or about writing or just promoting books with readings by the authors.

Needless to say, when I saw the Indie Book Fest advertised on Facebook I jumped at the chance to attend.

The Venue

As I said before, the event took place at Palazzo Congressi in Via Cavour which is located close to Termini (the main station here in Rome). This made it super easy to get to as I could just take the metro into the city centre.

I arrived at around 10 am and signed in. There was also a form to fill out for privacy as the event was filmed. 

There was a separate room with independently published books on display including this year's finalists for the Story Teller Award sponsored by Amazon KDP.

Next to that was the conference room. This is where the main part of the event, and the workshop panels took place.

At the front of the conference room there was a small stage upfront with three armchairs and two small tables. Behind those was a projector screen where they showed the slides during the presentations.

The Event

There was a little bit of confusion over the timing of events but in the end they kicked off with the welcome messages at 10:30 am

Amazon KDP and F.U.I.S

The F.U.I.S (a federation for authors) organises lots of events. About 60 events a year for their writers, plus awards and they have published anthologies (poetry).

How F.U.I.S helps authors

• offers legal consultation and advice
• events in person and online
• awards
• authors can suggest ideas for events to do
• gives space to authors to showcase books at events and promotion.
• Working with Amazon offers support to authors.
• Offers proofreading prepublication but need to include logo on book cover.
• All genres welcome.

Andrea from KDP France, Italy, Spain gave some great information during the panel. Here's a quick overview:

• Anyone can publish a book. Within 72 hours available online to buy worldwide. 
• Print on demand. No need for investment in advance. 
• Royalties 60% same for print but minus print costs. 
• Traditional and indie co-exist and complement each other. 
• Italy watches the UK and America to see the future of publishing here. France, Italy and Spain are slightly behind in terms of community for indie authors. Both culturally (Italians less open) and technically. 
• Out of the 100 top books 20 are indie (Italy)
• In Italy a lot of nonfiction 
• Quality is important. Amazon has no filter for quality control. The readers choose and give weight to each book. Buyers decide the success of a book. 
• If you just want to write the book you'll need a team for all the other roles needed. 
• KDP offers a lot of articles to help authors with all aspects of pre and post publication.
• Being an author can become a full-time career. 
• Unlimited makes it easier to try out an author. Book series earn more (pages read). 
• Amazon business for bookshops. Get books into bookshops. https://www.amazon.it/b?ie=UTF8&node=16914661031 

Amazon storyteller award. This year is the 5th edition in Italy. It started 12 years ago in Spain. It's open to all indie authors on KDP and free to enter. All entries need to be part of kindle unlimited.

It was created to celebrate authors that aren't given space by other awards. The winner gets €10,000 prize plus advertising package and audiobook production. 

Workshop Amazon Ads

Presenter: Pan EU account executive Leonardo Miranda

Here's a quick overview of what was discussed in the workshop:

• Devices, shopping, music and podcasts, entertainment, gaming 
• Amazon Ads. Audience based on buying stats and search. Google and Meta by interest.

1. Presence on Amazon

2. Audience 

3. Branding

Presence. Sponsored ads

Sponsored product. Target keyword or product. Brings traffic to product page. 

Sponsored brand. Top of search results. Takes up half screen. Include video. Take to brand store.

Sponsored display. On Amazon but also on other sites. Proactive without search.

4% buy straight away

6-7 days from search to buy

14 pages seen before buy

80% use Amazon to discover new brands

Brand funnel :

Awareness - impressions

Consideration - details page visits, new to brand sales, click through rate

Purchase - orders, sales, ROAS

Audience

In market.

Buyer experience in the last 30 days. Based on algorithm data.

Retargeting

Up to 365 days of purchase

Seen product not bought 

Similar books

Lifestyle

Kindle lovers, top 5% spenders, interest

Branding

DSP. Demand Side Platform

Traffic outside of Amazon (website) as well as on Amazon. Third party publishers. 

Prime video ads. Full screen. Sound on. Non skippable. Pre or mid roll 

Targeting opt. 

Launch and Promotion of book

The last workshop was by author Ester Sofia Ricci. She was amazing!

Here's a quick overview of what was discussed:

• Publishing sea.
• Important to have your own space where you have freedom to post as you wish.
• Even if not a follower might see content regularly. 
• Every author is a brand.
• A professional brand is important esp. for indie authors. Communicates quality. 
• Books don't have a use by date.

Final thoughts