by Raewyn S | Jan 13, 2026
Come get all your questions answered about our in person book marketing conference!
Jan. 15, 2026 – 6pm Eastern US (recorded)
Join us for a FREE Info-Session about our upcoming in-person event in Columbia, S.C.
We’ll be giving away a free ticket to one person who is live at the Q&A
WIPCON: Book Marketing Conference will boost your skills to build your platform and business growth strategies. We invite authors, publishing industry professionals, and creative entrepreneurs to join us on March 26–28, 2026.
WIPCON – WIP LIVE in person book marketing conference is March 26-28, 2026!
by Raewyn S | Oct 9, 2025
Join our WIP Team IN PERSON in Columbia, S.C., March 26–28, 2026, for a conference that will boost your skills to build your platform and business growth strategies. We invite authors, publishing industry professionals, and creative entrepreneurs.
For Authors & Publishing Pros who want to grow your business. Learn. Collaborate. Get the Work Done. Columbia, SC | March 26–28
THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE CONFERENCE.
We’re coming together to grow our book centered businesses and answer the central question: Why aren’t more people buying my book, product, or service?
It’s almost never about your talent or your offer. It’s about visibility, strategy, and knowing how to connect your story to the right audience.
At WIPCON, we’re tackling the three pillars that actually move the needle:
📖 Find Your People Through Storytelling — Share your story in a way that attracts the right readers and clients, builds authority, and makes your audience feel seen.
📱 Use Social Media to Build Trust, Not Just Post Content — Use social media as a tool to get discovered, grow the know-like-trust factor, and drive the right people to your email list and website.
💰 Grow Your Revenue Through Strategy and Collaboration — Learn the sales funnels, lead magnets, email strategies, and partnerships that turn your audience into buyers.
Implementation Tracks On Saturday, choose your track and get to work with experts beside you:
🎬 Track A | Social Media & Content Lab — Walk away with finished posts, reels, and videos ready to publish.
💰 Track B | Sales, Collaboration & Growth Lab — Build your sales funnel, content strategy, and partnership assets ready to go.
📣 Track C | Visibility, Storytelling & Speaking Lab — Craft your signature story, identify where it needs to live — podcasts, stages, social media — and build a visibility plan that puts you in front of the right people.
Most conferences follow the same formula: a speaker takes the stage, delivers their best material, and heads home. You leave with pages of notes, a head full of ideas, and the familiar question — now what?
WIPCON is built differently.
This is where the Women in Publishing community comes together in person — finally — to do more than learn. To build. Day one, you’ll hear from a powerhouse lineup of industry experts across panels designed to give you every angle on growing your author platform, your revenue, and your reach. Day two, you roll up your sleeves. You’ll break into small groups with those same experts in the room — not watching from a seat, but working side by side with you to actually create the content, strategies, and assets that move your business forward.
You won’t just leave inspired. You’ll leave with work done.
WIP LIVE: #WIPCON is the in-person gathering of the Women in Publishing community — and it’s coming to Columbia, South Carolina. If you’ve been part of our world online, you already know the warmth and caliber of this community. Now imagine that, in the same room.
Spots are limited. VIP access even more so.
Learn Friday. Discover Your Genius Friday Night. Build Together Saturday.
Three days. Three distinct experiences. All designed to work together.
Friday is your deep dive — advanced marketing, visibility, storytelling, and sales strategies delivered by a powerhouse lineup of industry experts across four sessions. That evening, you’ll discover your unique Genius: the way you naturally think, create, and lead, so Saturday’s work actually fits you.
Saturday, it all comes together. You’ll choose your implementation track, work in small groups with the same experts from Friday, and leave with real assets built — not just ideas to act on later.
What You’ll Leave With
By the time you head home, you’ll have:
✅ A visibility and marketing strategy built around your story and audience
✅ A social media approach that drives people toward your email list
✅ Sales and revenue strategies mapped out for your business
✅ Real content and assets built at the event — not a to-do list
✅ Identified collaboration and JV partners in your corner
✅ A 90-day plan and a community building alongside you
by Amy Ayres | May 1, 2024
Women in Publishing Summit and New Shelves Books present: Build Your Author Empire! Grow Your Audience, Own Your Audience, & Sell More Books! Hosted by Alexa Bigwarfe, of the Women in Publishing Summit, and Keri-Rae Barnum of New Shelves Books! Live in Charlotte, NC and scheduled for the weekend of October 4-6, 2024, the event promises to elevate book marketing strategies for attendees. The summit features keynotes from marketing experts, including Alexa Bigwarfe, Keri-Rae Barnum, Roshanda Pratt, and Jenny Proctor with more fiction marketing experts to be announced. Participants can look forward to a full day of marketing workshops, swag, professional headshots, and breakout working sessions. The event aims to provide authors with advanced tools and insights to market their books more effectively and create greater visibility.
Event Schedule
FRI, OCT 4, 2024
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Opening Session
Join Alexa Bigwarfe & Keri-Rae Barnum for an opening keynote / fireside chat about growing your author platform and creating opportunities for visibility of you and your book. To be followed by hors d’oeuvres and happy hour!
SAT, OCT 5, 2024
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Marketing Workshops
We’ll have a full day of marketing training! Schedule and speakers to be updated soon!
Already determined:
Alexa Bigwarfe: Advanced Content Marketing Strategy – What You Need to Create to Grow & Own Your Audience of Superfans
What do you need to be creating, where do you need to be posting, and HOW do you use this content to grow a fanbase and email list?
Keri-Rae Barnum: 7 Tips for Reviving a Backlist
Do you have a book that has never sold well? Or a book that used to sell well but hasn’t been bringing in as much income as it used to? Don’t give up on those books just yet. Keri Barnum is going to share 7 tips with us for reviving those backlist books so you can maximize your sales and profits on the books you already have in your catalogue.
SAT, OCT 5, 2024
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Keynote: Dominate Live Video
Be prepared to be wow’d, inspired by, encouraged, and motivated by Roshanda Pratt, the Queen of Live Video. Whether you’re using YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, virtual events, or other video tools, video can be a powerful way to grow your audience and sell more books. As a former television producer, Roshanda knows what it takes to use video like a pro!
SAT, OCT. 5, 2024
7:30 pm
VIP Dinner! SOLD OUT!***
Want to join Alexa, Keri-Rae, and some of our special guests for a more intimate dinner? Be sure to grab your VIP ticket. Only 10 available, so don’t miss out and at it at checkout! ***SOLD OUT!
SUN, OCT 6, 2024
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Implementation & Fun
Sunday – we’ll have 1:1 opportunities with Alexa & Keri-Rae, small group breakouts, training on using and creating videos, & professional headshots!
SUN, OCT 6, 2024
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Closing Keynote! Jenny Proctor
Jenny Proctor is an award-winning author of more than fifteen romantic comedies and an Amazon bestseller. She began her career in publishing in 2013; her writing has been a constant since then and is now her full-time focus, but in the past, she spent several years as the owner and managing editor of Midnight Owl Editors and as the chair of the Storymakers Conference.
Wired for relationships, Jenny loves public speaking, teaching, and building lasting connections. Jenny was born in the mountains of Western North Carolina, a place she considers one of the loveliest on earth. She loves to hike with her family and spend time outdoors, but she also adores lounging around her home, reading great books or watching great movies and, when she’s lucky, eating delicious food she doesn’t have to prepare herself.
We are so excited to have you at this event!
Get your early bird ticket today!