A Practical Guide to Protecting Your Author Legacy

GUEST SPEAKER: Neil Plakcy

What Happens to Your Books When You Die?

You’ve spent years writing books, building a readership, signing contracts, creating websites and newsletters, and collecting royalties. But what happens to all of it when you’re no longer around to manage it?

Will your heirs know which publishers owe you money? When your audiobook rights revert? How to access your KDP account? Which books are under contract—and which rights could be sold again? What about unpublished manuscripts, pen names, websites, social media accounts, and that secret shifter-erotica series your family doesn’t know exists?

Author Neil S. Plakcy offers a practical—and occasionally irreverent—guide to getting your writing business ready to survive you. We’ll cover choosing a literary executor, creating an Author Business Binder and master title inventory, tracking contracts and royalty streams, managing passwords and digital accounts, leaving instructions for unpublished work, and making sure your will addresses your intellectual property.

You don’t have to solve everything at once. But you do need to leave behind enough information so that the person who inherits your work knows what you own, where the money comes from, and what you want done with it.

Because your books may have a much longer life than you do.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Neil is a multi-genre author best known for his dog-centered mysteries, gay fiction, and character-driven romance. A retired college professor, he speaks with libraries and book clubs and offers Zoom classes for writers on craft, publishing, and the ethical use of AI.

Mindmapping for the Plotter, Pantser and Plantser

GUEST SPEAKER: Misty Simon

Mindmapping – An interactive story building session

Learn the ropes on this great tool to help with story ideas and execution for Plotters, Pantsers and Plantsers. We’ll create a story during class to show you how it works. Bring your ideas, your creativity, and your burn to learn as we bubble our way into a map to guide you in writing your next awesome story!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Misty Simon is an author who always wanted to be a storyteller…preferably behind a Muppet. Animal was number one, followed closely by Sherlock Hemlock… Since that dream didn’t come true, she began writing stories to share her world with readers, one laugh at a time.

In 2004 she used her first Mindmap to help her sort out the details of Poison Ivy, and she’s been crafting with that wonderful story tool ever since. After writing and publishing 76 books with this method, she’s refined the who, what, where, when, why, and how of writing her mysteries, along with thinking up red herrings, clues, and settings that keep you hooked all the way to the big reveal. Come write a story with her as she’d love to share the fun and art of working with mindmapping!