AuthorTube Writing Conference Returns Nov. 7 as a Free One-Day Event

When is the AuthorTube Writing Conference this year? Saturday, November 7. The conference site says it is a free, one-day event held on YouTube and "open to anyone who wishes to know more about the writing and publishing world." Sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, which is 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific.

The site lists no ticket price. Sessions stream on YouTube, and the schedule page links to a 2026 YouTube playlist.

The schedule

The 2026 schedule lists all times in Eastern and notes that it may still change before the conference starts. Here's how the weekend is laid out:

• Friday, November 6, 8 p.m.: A casual happy hour with the three conference chairs, Shanon (S.D. Huston), Devon Gambrell and Rita Slanina, with games and conversation to start the weekend.
• Saturday, 8:30 a.m.: Opening and welcome, including how to enter the giveaways.
• Saturday, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: A first-page critique panel. Anonymous first pages, sent in the month before, are read aloud. Judges raise a hand where they would have stopped reading, then give one "help note" and one "love note."
• Saturday, 4:30 p.m.: The keynote by Shelby Leigh of Marketing by Shelby, titled "Start Before You're Ready," about building an audience by showing up before you feel ready.
• Saturday, 8 p.m.: A closing session, where the chairs say they'll announce plans for the future of the conference.
• Monday, November 9, 5 p.m.: A wrap-up event to announce winners of the giveaways, games, challenges and awards.

Sessions for working indies

Most hours have several tracks running at once, so it pays to plan ahead. A few sessions stand out for self-published authors who are focused on sales:

• Metadata. Danica Favorite of PublishDrive covers how titles, subtitles, descriptions, keywords, categories and series details help retailers and libraries put books in front of readers.
• Covers and titles. Dorian Maras, founder of Booktest.io, shares what he has learned from testing more than a thousand titles and covers with real readers.
• Pinterest. Melissa Bourbon makes the case for Pinterest as a search engine for books and newsletters rather than another social feed.
• Translation. JD Estrada covers what translation really costs, the warning signs when hiring a translator, and why AI only gets you part of the way.
• Nonfiction as a business. Julie Broad of Book Launchers explains how one nonfiction book can feed speaking, media and courses.
• Social media. Shelby Leigh also runs a daytime session on what is working in online book marketing now and what to drop.

There's plenty of craft too. Shirley Jump has a session on emotional wounds and character arcs, and Katja Kaine is walking through how she plotted the novel that sold to Penguin Random House in a six-figure preempt. Other sessions cover outlining, revising a messy first draft and building a writing routine that holds up when life gets busy.

Plan your day

Because it's free and on YouTube, the main cost is time. Pick two or three sessions that fit what you're working on, convert the times to your time zone, and keep the 2026 schedule page open on the day, since sessions can still move. If you miss one live, check the 2026 playlist linked from the schedule page. The site also keeps earlier years' sessions in its AWC Archives.

Sources

• Authortube Writing Conference: Home
• Authortube Writing Conference: 2026 Schedule