Virtual Indie Con

• About and FAQ

• 2026 Guest Line Up / Schedule

What is Virtual Indie Con?
-A free, online conference dedicated to getting indie authors, readers, aspiring writers, and other related creatives like cover artists and illustrators, editors, book bloggers, etc. into an interactive space to share tips, tricks and advice. We know it’s hard to get yourself out there as an indie author or someone looking to get into indie publishing for the first time and we hope this is a good way to network and meet new people in the same spaces. Being virtual, it also offers a conference experience to people who may not be able to travel to in-person events. We want this to be a fun networking experience for everyone!When will Virtual Indie Con be held?
-September 17th-19th 2026Where will Virtual Indie Con be held?
-On an invite-only Discord server.Who can apply to present at Virtual Indie Con?
-Published Indie authors or soon-to-be-published indie authors (if you have a debut book coming out before the end of 2026)
-Independent Artists who do a lot of work in the indie author community (i.e. cover designers and illustrators)
-Editors and Formatters and Small Press Publishers (the people who help out in the publishing process)
-Book bloggers/reviewers/content creators (the readers who spread the word and help indie authors reach new heights.)What kind of presentation topics are we looking for?
-Anything related to writing, publishing, or books in general. Your topic can be as specific or broad as you want. You can talk about your preferred genre to write, character naming conventions, how to find odd and niche research resources—anything you think might be interesting or helpful to your fellow authors and the aspiring writers who will be listening.This is not a place for literary analysis (outside of examples given for topics if relevant), academic papers, or presentations with overtly political views or opinion pieces.What kind of events and activities will Virtual Indie Con have?-Interviews and Presentations:-Author Interviews: These will consist of an up to 20-minute-long interview with one of our hosts followed by an optional reading and a Q&A segment and book/bookplate signing if the author wishes.-Presentations: These will consist of a 20-to-30-minute-long presentation on a topic of the presenter’s choice. This category is open for anyone: authors, book bloggers, cover artists, etc.-Workshops: These will consist of a 45-60-minute focus class on a specific topic that is intended to be instructional for either veteran or aspiring writers or both. (i.e. ‘building historical fantasy worlds’ or ‘steps for planning a novel’) with a Q&A segment afterward. Workshops can be more instructional, going in depth about a particular aspect of writing, or more interactive with audience participation, worksheets, etc.-Panels: These will consist of 2-4 guests talking about a specific subject with a moderator (this can be for authors or anyone in the indie scene: editors, cover designers, illustrators, book bloggers, etc.) with a Q&A segment as part of the panel.All presentations will be done through either voice or video chat/screen share on discord. You must have a discord account to attend the conference as well as the ability to at least comfortably use discord voice chat for presentations.Other Activities:-Writing sprints: We will be holding multiple sessions of writing sprints daily during the conference. If you haven’t done writing sprints before, this is when a group of people get together and set a timer for a specific amount of time and see how many words they can get written. This is not intended to be a competition, but more something to help aid free writing and productivity/accountability.-Writing Critique: We will be holding a daily writing critique every afternoon where any of the conference attendees will be allowed to submit a piece of writing between 200-300 words long. Each session will have 2-3 of our guest authors as hosts who will be responsible for reading through all the submissions together or collectively and offering advice and constructive criticism.-Speed Write: Participants will write a full piece of flash fiction within a set amount of time (one hour) and post it to share on the server. The idea is to break down potential hang-ups we can all have when writing and get into the ‘just go for it’ attitude. We encourage newer writers who may not share their work as much to participate and have the opportunity to have other people read their writing.Will Authors be allowed to sell their books at the conference?
-Yes! One of the main intents of the conference is to help our attending authors reach more readers. We will have a dedicated Book Store channel where all the authors attending (presenting or otherwise) can share their purchase links, or where their stories can be found if they are posted online.In addition, we will also be opening a “Classifieds” channel where attendees who offer other services can be featured so authors looking for cover designers, editors, formatters, etc. can easily find services to utilize for themselves. One of the goals of this conference is to help promote everyone in and around the indie author community.What is the Virtual Indie Con Digital Zine?
-We are putting together a free-to-download PDF with a collection of short stories and excerpts from our attending authors. This will be available to everyone attending the conference.

Thursday September 17th(all times listed are in ET: please check the table below for your timezone)Morning:Sprints 8:45 (45 Minutes)Welcome and Event Information: 9:45 (Hazel West)
Session One: 10:00 – Presentation “Disability in Historical Fiction” (K. Orme)
Session Two: 11:15 – Interview (K J Wagner)
Session Three: 12:30 – Interview (Alexandra Wendt)Sprints: 2:00 (1 hour)
Critique: 3:00 (Hazel West, Mara Tran)
Sprints: 6:00 (1 hour)Evening:Session One: 8:00 – Interview (Cheyenne van Langevelde)
Session Two: 9:15 – Interview (K. Orme)
10:30–Live Author Signing (K. Orme and Hazel West)Sprints: 11:45 (1 hour)Friday September 18thMorning:Sprints 9:00 (1 hour)Session One: 10:00 – Presentation “How to Write Retellings” (Sarah Pennington)
Session Two: 11:15 – Interview (Mara Tran)
Session Three: 12:30 – Interview (Allison Tebo)Sprints: 2:00 (1 hour)
Critique: 3:00 (K. Orme)
Sprints: 6:00 (1 hour)Evening:Session One: 8:00 – Panel “Behind the Scenes: Editing, Formatting, and Publication” (Brianna De Man, Hazel West)
Session Two: 9:15 – Author Reading (K. Orme, Mara Tran)Speed Write: 10:00Saturday September 19thMorning:Sprints 9:00 (1 hour)Session One: 10:00 – Presentation “Subtle World Building in Your Fantasy and Sci-Fi” (Hazel West)
Session Two: 11:15 – Presentation “Best Practices for Working with an Editor” (Brianna De Man)
Session Three: 12:30 – Panel “Fantastical Writing: Exploring Fantasy Genres and Alternate History” (Mara Tran, KJ Wagner, Sarah Pennington, Alexandra Wendt)
Author Reading (1:45-2:30)Sprints: 2:00 (1 hour)
Critique: 3:00 (Brianna De Man)
Sprints: 6:00 (1 hour)Evening:Session One: 8:00 – Panel “Tips for New Writers: How to Build Community, Spot Red Flags, and Find What Works Best for You” (Hazel West, Deborah O’Carroll, Mara Tran)
Session Two: 9:15 – Presentation “Writing a Victorian Domestic Mystery” (Mara Tran)Sprints: 10:00 (1 hour)~~~~~~~
Time Zone Converter
Morning:Sprints (9am ET | 8am CT | 7am MT | 6am PT) (30-45 minutes)Session One (10am ET | 9am CT | 8am MT | 7am PT)
(15 min break)
Session Two (11:15am ET | 10:15am CT | 9:15am MT | 8:15am PT)
(15 min break)
Session Three (12:30pm ET | 11:30am CT | 10:30am MT | 9:30am PT)Afternoon Activities:Sprints (2pm ET | 1pm CT | 12pm MT | 11am PT) (1 hour)
Critique (3pm ET | 2pm CT | 1pm MT | 12pm PT) (2 hours)
Sprints (6pm ET | 5pm CT | 4pm MT | 3pm PT) (1 hour)Evening:Session One (8pm ET | 7pm CT | 6pm MT | 5pm PT)
(15 min break)
Session Two (9:15pm ET | 8:15pm CT | 7:15pm MT | 6:15pm PT)
(15 min break)
Session Three (10:30pm ET |9:30pm CT | 8:30pm MT | 7:30pm PT)Sprints (11:45pm ET | 10:45pm CT | 9:45pm CT | 8:45pm PT)