Taking a Breather from the Bots: A Little Personal Privilege
On Magic, Alchemy, and Why Conferences Are Worth the People-ing
Alright, friends, this week we’re setting aside our beloved automations (just for a hot minute) and getting a little personal. Consider this a small detour from our usual programming: a “me-time” moment in the middle of our tech adventures. (Because hey, even the bots need a coffee break, right?)
Author Nation was FANTASTIC this year, so I promise I’m not trying to trigger any ROMO—regret of missing out—because let’s face it, nobody needs that. But I do want to take a second to chat about what I’ve always called the Magic and Alchemy of conferences.
Magic gets you there. It’s overcoming 1000 little things like the funding, plane delays, hatred of hotel smoke in Vegas, PEOPLING, trying to find coffee, the general unease of being away from home, trying to write words with the literally cacophony of noise hitting you from all sides, and thinking you might end up eating lunch alone.
Alchemy is what happens when you are there. It’s the ingredients coming together to make the potion. You hear something inspiring. You learn new things. You find new friends. You start a magazine. You become the programming director for the largest indie author conference in the world. <== maybe not those last two for you, maybe it’s something even cooler. But let me tell you a quick story.
My very first author-led conference was back in 2018— Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt’s Smarter Artist Summit in Austin. Full disclosure: I didn’t even buy my own ticket. A friend did, purely to guilt me into showing up. (It worked.)
I walked into that conference not knowing a damn thing, and somehow walked out having met about a hundred people who would go on to become the names you know today. Craig Martelle was there and that was his catalyst for the 20Books conferences.
So were dozens of others who are now crushing it in indie publishing.
And here’s the thing—I’m not trying to namedrop. I’m telling you this because back then we were all starry-eyed and trying to figure things out. Every single one of us. Nobody had it all figured out yet. We were all just... trying.
What blew me away—and still does—is how generous these humans were. These were people who went on to have million-dollar careers, and they still took my calls. They answered my emails. They shared what they were learning in real-time, mistakes and all.
You can’t automate that kind of generosity.
Fast forward to 20Books Edinburgh.
That’s where I met my fabulous Indie Author Magazine co-founder Alice Briggs and the merry band of 22 writers who kicked off this whole adventure with us, including Merri Maywether, who I met at Smarter Artist.
Which was started after the 2020 Self Publishing Formula conference in London. I fled to Northern Ireland and quarantined there for four months, and started to Zoom daily with my new conference friends I’d met in Austin, Edinburgh, and London.
Because it literally changed the trajectory of my career and life, Edinburgh remains my conference gold standard. There, I also met Bradley Charbonneau. I’ve now visited Bradley twice in Amsterdam, and he’s stepped up with me on the programming committee at Author Nation to coach and teach speakers how to kill it on stage. His son Liam is moving to Austin, making me Liam’s Austin Mom when Bradley returns to Amsterdam.
An online Clubhouse conference is where I met Joe Solari, starting the conversation for me to join the planning team as programming director.
Conferences are like stepping into a time warp where big decisions and lightbulb moments happen at lightning speed.
Another case in point: just before leaving for Author Nation, I got a personal note from my friend Erin Wright about stepping down from Wide for the Win. Fast forward a couple of days, and there I was, having dinner with Bradley (who’s on the WFTW board) and tossing around ideas. Next thing you know, we’re having a quick impromptu huddle with the board (yep, Bradley literally grabbed me from my booth) and boom—Indie Author Magazine and I stepped up as the new stewards of Wide for the Win. We announced it right there at the WFTW meetup. All of this unfolded in about 48 hours.
The never would have happened without the magic and alchemy of a conference.
Now, as a card-carrying introvert and someone who totally understands the dance with anxiety, I can tell you there’s nothing quite like having your circle of friends around you at these events. Suddenly, all that nervous energy turns into something powerful. It’s like having a little shield of support that lets you do mighty, mighty things. I’m beyond thrilled that I could tap into the people who keep me sane, safe, and a little braver throughout these conferences—the ones who pep me up, console me, and remind me why I’m here and why I do what I do.
Here’s the truth: those generous humans who took my calls back in 2018 didn’t have to do that. They were busy writing bestsellers and building million-dollar careers. They could have ignored the newbie emails and screened the random calls. But they didn’t. They showed up for me, and it changed everything.
So now I get to pay that forward. Through Indie Author Magazine, giving authors unbiased information they can trust. Through Wide for the Win, tapping into the power of peer-to-peer conversations. Through Indie Author Training, connecting you with the smartest subject matter experts in the world. Through Author Automations (hi! you’re here!) making the tech less scary and more accessible. Through Direct2Readers, connecting readers with incredible indie books. And yes, through Author Nation itself, creating spaces where everyone can potentially meet their future business partners and lifelong friends.
That’s the real magic and alchemy. Someone showed up for me when I needed it, so now I show up for you. However you pay that forward—through your stories, your reader community, your own generosity—that’s how the cycle continues.
I get to wake up every day and play with my friends and call it a job.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need approximately 17 hours of sleep and maybe some food that isn’t conference center coffee and protein bars. This newsletter was literally written between naps. It was all I could do to string coherent sentences together, so if there are typos, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Next week, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming: automations, workflows, and teaching the bots to do our bidding. I’m scheduling new webinars and walkthroughs.
And to all you new subscribers who joined us this week—welcome to the chaos! You’re now part of a community built on that same generosity I experienced starting back in Austin. We’re here to help each other figure this stuff out, one automation at a time.
Until next time, rest up and automate on.
—Chelle
Loved our lunch together and stealing this awesome pic. Sorry Sky Princess wandered out of frame!