Stephanie Kostopoulos
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Mustard Seed Blog

An Authors Review of MJP Next Level Conference

11/20/2019

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October 17, 2018 I got the call (as I was entering Home Depot) that my book was accepted for publication by Morgan James Publishing (MJP)! I had been in contact with Karen Anderson, MJP Associate Publisher, since January about my book and the work I still needed to do. So when she called me that day, it felt like a giant leap forward in getting my book, Discovering My Scars, into the world!

Fast forward over a year later, with my book now in hand and book to be released to the public January 2020, I got an email about the MJP Next Level training event. 
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I liked the idea of going, but it was a big commitment in terms of time,  four days of training and travel, as well as the expense involved. To help me decide,  I contacted Emily Bernath, another MJP author, to get her thoughts on the event. After talking to her, I decided to attend! 
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I was pretty nervous when I headed down to the event from my hotel room. I didn’t know anyone who would be there, and what kind of training it would be.

Right away, I saw friendly faces and nice people came to sit at my table. We all introduced ourselves at the table and I felt like I was with “my people.”


As an introvert, I don’t gain energy by being around a lot of new people, and being shy, I find it challenging to just go up to people and start a conversation. So, I didn’t venture too far outside of my table, but did make some good connections and for some reason, I got the nerve to talk to someone at the sink in the bathroom!
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The Sessions.

There were 8 sessions, each about 90 minutes long. I very much appreciated the hot tea available all day to keep me going (and warm, hotel session rooms always seem to be cold)!

Overall, I took lots of notes, felt inspired, learned a lot, and felt encouraged to keep moving forward with marketing my book. I did not connect to all the speakers, and did not appreciate some of the pitches for services the speakers offered, but I did get a lot of out the training.

Most of all, I connected with many MJP authors, in person, and have begun to cultivate a network of resources in my industry. 

Would I go again?

Maybe. It was a lot of information, and I am still going through my notes to implement some of the ideas. I could see myself going once a year, or every few years for new best-practices and fresh inspiration.

Feedback.

I wish there had been an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves, especially so we could identify books that might be in the same genre as ours. 

I would have also liked a breakout session or two for the attendees to work together on ideas we learned in the sessions. 

I also think it would have been nice to have a small easel at each seat for the authors to put their book on in front of them. That way we could put a face to the book, and vice versa. 

​Lastly, I got to meet Karen Anderson in person, hand her my finished book, and thank her for being a driving force in getting my book published! 

If you are considering going to the Next Level conference and have any questions, feel free to
​email me or leave them in the comments below!

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    Mental Health Advocate. Author. Podcast Host. DIYer. Greyhound Mom.

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