Author Nation — The Largest Indie Author Conference and the Community Built Around It
Born from the legacy of 20Books Vegas, Author Nation has become the premier annual gathering for indie authors — with 1,500+ attendees, 90+ sessions, and a year-round online community focused on helping authors build sustainable careers.
Community Type: Annual Conference + Year-Round Online Community
Members / Size: 1,500+ annual conference attendees; growing online community
Platform: authornation.live / In-person Las Vegas (November annually)
Cost: Conference ticket required (check authornation.live for current pricing). Online community resources vary.
Best For: Indie authors at any stage who want high-level education, peer networking, and access to industry professionals in a conference setting.
Official Link: https://www.authornation.live
From 20Books Vegas to Author Nation
For six years, 20Books Vegas was the biggest annual gathering of indie authors in the world. Founded by Craig Martelle and Michael Anderle, the conference grew from a modest meetup to an event drawing over 2,000 authors each November to Las Vegas. It was, by any measure, a phenomenon — a conference built not by a publishing house or a media company, but by working indie authors who wanted to share what was working.
In 2023, Martelle stepped back from leadership due to health and personal priorities. The conference transitioned to a new team led by Joe Solari, Chelle Honiker, and a consortium of industry professionals. With new leadership came a new name — Author Nation — and a deliberate expansion of scope beyond the 20Books philosophy to embrace the full breadth of modern indie publishing.
The first Author Nation conference ran in November 2024 at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, drawing approximately 1,500 attendees and featuring 222 speakers across 260 sessions. By every account, it upheld the gold standard set by 20Books Vegas while adding new tracks — craft, mindset, direct sales, AI and automation, audio, and reader engagement — that reflected where indie publishing had moved since the 20Books era began.
What Happens at Author Nation
Author Nation is a five-day event held each November in Las Vegas. The 2025 conference ran November 3–7 at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, featuring nearly 1,500 live attendees, over 90 expert-led sessions, and more than 75 exhibitors in its Industry Expo.
Session Tracks
Author Nation runs simultaneous tracks covering every major dimension of the indie author career. At the 2025 conference, tracks included: Craft; Mindset & Wellness; Business & Finance; Advertising & Marketing; IP Beyond the Book; Production & Workflow; Audio & Narration; AI & Automation; Websites, Email & Direct Sales; and dedicated tracks for authors at different career stages (Pre-Published, Catalog Builders, Published Voyagers, Empire Founders).
The Industry Expo
The Expo floor connects authors directly with the tools and services they use — or should be using. Publishers, distributors, software companies, cover designers, editing services, and platform representatives all exhibit. At Author Nation 2025, exhibitors included BookFunnel, Reedsy, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, and Vinci Books.
RAVE — Reader Appreciation and Visibility Event
RAVE is one of Author Nation's signature innovations — a reader-facing event embedded within the author conference, where authors can meet and sign books for readers. It bridges the community-building purpose of a reader event with the professional development of an author conference.
Keynotes and Networking
Keynote sessions address the state of the indie industry, emerging trends, and the mindset required to sustain a long-term author career. But for many attendees, the networking is the most valuable element — the hallway conversations, the dinners, the after-hours connections between authors at similar career stages who become long-term collaborators, accountability partners, and friends.
Over 40% of 2024 Author Nation attendees secured their spots for 2025 before the conference ended. The conference has a reputation for generating immediate follow-through — authors leave with specific plans, accountability partners, and tools they begin implementing within days of returning home.
The Online Community Beyond the Conference
Author Nation is not only a conference. The team maintains year-round programming for the author community — webinars, online events, and community resources that extend the conference energy across twelve months rather than five days.
In the summer preceding the 2025 conference, Author Nation ran ten live sessions featuring the teams at BookFunnel, Reedsy, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, and Vinci Books — practical, free educational content designed to build momentum toward the in-person event and serve authors who could not attend in person.
The conference also maintains a virtual attendance option for authors who cannot travel to Las Vegas — making the session content accessible beyond the in-person community.
The Relationship to 20BooksTo50K
Author Nation is the conference successor to 20Books Vegas. The Facebook group — 20BooksTo50K — remains a separate, active community of 60,000+ members moderated by Kevin McLaughlin. The two exist as complementary rather than competing entities: the Facebook group is the year-round online conversation; Author Nation is the annual in-person summit.
Authors who participate in both report a virtuous cycle: the Facebook group prepares them with knowledge and questions, the conference delivers depth and connections, and the group provides ongoing community and accountability after they return.
Who Should Attend Author Nation
Author Nation is designed for indie authors at every career stage — but it delivers maximum value to authors who are already publishing and want to level up rather than those still in the earliest stages of learning the basics.
Best for: Authors with at least one published book who want high-level peer education and industry networking
Best for: Authors who want to make lasting connections with peers at similar career stages
Best for: Authors serious enough about the business of writing to invest in a conference
Consider waiting if: You have not yet published your first book — start with the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group first
For authors who cannot attend in person, the virtual option and the summer pre-conference online sessions make much of the value accessible without the travel cost.
How ScribeCount Connects to This Community
Author Nation gives you strategies. ScribeCount gives you the data to measure whether those strategies are working for your specific books on your specific platforms. Every session at Author Nation — whether on Amazon Ads, direct sales, email marketing, or launch strategy — produces tactical recommendations that ScribeCount's Author OS can then track in real time. After attending a session on ROAS optimization, use ScribeCount's Ads & ROAS panel to monitor the results. After a session on direct sales, watch your direct revenue percentage grow in the Sunburst Chart. The conference is where you learn. ScribeCount is where you measure.
Final Thoughts
Author Nation is the most important in-person community event in indie publishing. It inherited the 20Books Vegas DNA and expanded it to meet the broader, more complex indie publishing landscape of 2024 and beyond. The quality of the sessions, the caliber of the peers in attendance, and the practical, business-focused culture that carries over from 20Books makes it a conference that delivers genuine return on investment for authors who are serious about their careers. If you have not attended yet, make it a goal for 2026.
- Randall