During the first online all-day... actually, soon after it started… I thought what a shame it would be if it only ran once every six months so it’s going to be a regular thing.
Most Mondays up to six self-published authors and/or self-publishing experts discuss a variety of topics ~ see the main Monday Mini-fest for the details. These will all be moderated by Morgen so the participants have the opportunity to chat fully.
New to Self-Pub Fest? See the Participate page for details and/or email Morgen for the information pack.
On Monday 6th April 2026, the panel listed below talked about beginnings:
- Historical fantasy novelist and short story author BB Elsin
- Crime fiction/non-fiction author and festival committee member Denise Beddows
- Children’s (as Esther Moonstomp) and short story author Esther Chilton
The discussion included:
- what should a beginning do and not do?
- how you start/ed writing your book/s once you had your idea
- what do you think of prologues?
- do beginnings differ depending on the genre/format (i.e. novels vs short stories, non-fiction, poetry if you write it)?
- your favourite openings
- anything else we could think of…
These are free events but we’re raising money for local book-related charities and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.