Morning Workshop: Staying True to You in Your Author Brand: Choosing Your Path Through the AI Shift
Publishing is changing fast. AI search, shifting algorithms, and new reader discovery habits are rewriting how authors get found. But while most authors are busy debating whether AI will write fiction, a major shift has already arrived: AI is already describing your existing books to readers through Google’s AI Overviews, LLM-based search, and soon agentic shopping. Most authors are not adapting fast enough to this new discoverability shift.
When a reader asks AI, “What should I read next?” — AI fills in the blanks about your work with real information and other times with made-up algorithmic guesses. Most authors have no idea what’s being said or “marketed” on their behalf.
In this presentation, author Alicia McCalla explores the question fiction authors haven’t yet sat with: when AI is the one introducing your work to readers, who or what shapes what it says? Attendees will learn the difference between basic branding and positioned branding, why depth and emotional clarity are what make an author legible to AI in the first place, and why being findable in an AI-mediated era depends on something most branding advice doesn’t yet name: the courage to take a clear, consistent position on what your work actually offers to readers.
About Alicia McCalla
Alicia McCalla is an author, a retired school librarian, and a quiet writer rebel. You can connect with her on her Substack, where she talks about all the things in her writerly world as she navigates her journey as an eCommerce Fiction Author.
To signup for Alicia's Substack you can find her here:
https://substack.com/@aliciamccalla
Check out her story for writers, go to:
https://quietwritersrebellion.lemonsqueezy.com
Afternoon Session: Direct Sales Options
A couple of years ago the mantra was to go wide. Now you've heard authors are increasingly selling direct and depending less and less on major platforms like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo to sell their books. What routes are they using? What are the benefits? Challenges. We'll discuss options like Shopify, where you can also establish your brand, and Curios, where you can appear to sellers by categories.