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It was Saturday morning and Matthew Sharpe was late, but for a good reason. The author of Jamestown was supposed to be signing copies of his book in the autographing room of BookExpo America (BEA), but he’d just been named a finalist for a Quill Book Award, part of a program organized by NBC Universal and Reed Business Information that honors books in nineteen different categories at an awards show televised on NBC. Sharpe was busy being interviewed for MSNBC.

It’s not what most people expect from a book conference. There are no scholars huddled together discussing the latest piece of literary fiction that is keeping them up late at night; no gangs of poets arguing about who will make up the future canon of Western literature. Instead, what people found at this year’s BookExpo America, held last weekend at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, was actress Julianne Moore (really her), America’s Test Kitchen host Christopher Kimball (really him, but not quite as exciting as Moore), the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean (look-alikes, pretty good), Borat (another look-alike, not so good), and the Knight Bus from the Harry Potter series.

A successful self-published novelist talks about how he used his background in programing and knowledge of artificial intelligence to write and market his best-selling techno thriller series. Editor Jessica Page Morrell and publicist Jessica Glenn weigh in and give advice to burgeoning self-publishers.

Lucetta Zaytoun discusses the process of self-publishing her debut memoir, It’s Already Tomorrow Here. A publicist and a publishing consultant offer their advice on design, distribution, and long-term marketing strategies to the author.

Vinnie Kinsella shares the process of self-publishing an essay anthology, Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life. An editor and a publicist weigh in.

An entrepreneur self-publishes a book about the failure of his business. An editor and publicist weigh in.

A former radio executive writes about his behind-the-scenes experiences with rock stars, and puts his vast media expertise to work promoting the book. An editor and publicist weigh in.

Clayton Smith has self-published several books, including his latest novel, Apocalypticon, and used his experiences to cofound Dapper Press, a company that provides essential services like editing, design, and promotion to self-published authors. Editor Kim Bookless and publicist Lissy Peace weigh in on Smith’s process, and such self-publishing necessities.

For the first installment of our new column on self-publishing, an indie author details the route he took to self-publishing his novel, while editor Paul Dinas and publicist Corinne Liccketto weigh in with post-publication comments and suggestions.