What distinguishes Killer Nashville from other conferences for genre authors?
I’m an educator at heart and have taught at several universities but was frustrated that a lot of that work was theoretical. I wanted an environment where everything taught was immediately applicable, and where people who actually walked the walk shared their knowledge. At Killer Nashville, there’s no hierarchy—when you show up, you’re expected to give people your email, no matter who you are, and become a mentor to the next generation. I wanted a system where everybody was giving back.
What are some trends the conference has caught onto over the years?
We were one of the first conferences to look at self-publishing. A lot of conferences really pooh-poohed it. Now, I wonder how AI is going to affect things. We try to give a realistic perspective rather than cry that the sky is falling. Writers need to get in the system and figure out how to best work it to their advantage.
Looking back, what has surprised you about the conference’s evolution?
The growth has been a complete surprise to me. The intention was just to help authors, and it turned into something much bigger than that. Now, through our learning platform, thebalancedwriter.com, people who can’t afford to attend can access all of our presentations since 2006—about 800 of them. There wasn’t streaming back then, but something in my head said that there’s got to be a way to disseminate them, and now, with tech advances, I can bring the conference to them.
