NorthWrite 2026: From Traditional to Indie Publishing – A Conversation with Alison Stuart
Alison writes historical romances, historical mysteries and short fiction. Her books have been published by commercial publishers, but she also publishes independently. She has a fascinating story to tell about her journey through traditional publishing and why she publishes her own books as well. You can do both! (Or either.)
Our Northland Chair, Sherryl Clark, will be interviewing Alison in this conversation, asking all sorts of questions about how, why, when and what, but we’ll have an audience Q&A as well, so you can ask your own questions about her publishing and her books.
Find out more about Alison and her books at https://www.alisonstuart.com
Join us on Zoom – we will also record the session for those who enrol and pay but can’t make it on the night.
$NZ10.00 for NZSA members, $NZ15.00 for non-members. Open world-wide for registrations opening 9am Monday, 17 August (check your time zone) via this Trybooking link – https://www.trybooking.com/nz/BEWD
nzsanorthlandevents [at] gmail [dot] com
Past Events
In 2012, we started NorthWrite, an annual event aimed at helping writers connect with others and improve their craft. The focus of the 2012 3-day conference in Whangārei was “The Business of Writing” and included workshops, presentations and a panel discussion with our key guests — which featured award-winning members from our national literary community, including recently elected national chair of the NZ Society of Authors and children’s book author Kyle Mewburn, illustrator Fifi Colston, poet Paula Green, journalist Joe Bennet, historical novelist Deborah Challinor, novelist and short story writer David Hill, publicist and publisher Lorraine Steele and journalist and PR expert Catherine Arrow.
In 2013, we presented Northwrite 2013: Collaboration, an online festival focusing on writers working with writers and culminating in a collaborative competition.
In 2014, we held the NorthWrite 2014 Workshop Series in May and covered topics such as Editing, The Digital Process, Character, Japanese Poetry Forms, World Building and Creative Non-Fiction
In 2015, self publishing was our focus in a one day conference: NorthWrite 2015: Creating Books to be Proud of.
In 2019, a triumphant NorthWrite conference, hosting participants and presenters from throughout New Zealand, and from the United States via Zoom, was held at Barge Park in Whangārei.
2020 saw the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic and our plans were thrown into disarray. Our parent body provided online opportunities.
In 2021, NZSA introduced a series of Regional Roadshows. Again, Covid 19 restrictions caused disruptions.
In 2022, the NZSA Roadshow for Northland finally took place on 28th May 2022.
In 2023 we held an end-of-year celebration in November. This was the culmination of our Auction, held online in the preceding weeks. The auction brought in much needed funds to enable us to continue to sponsor various literary awards and prizes.
In 2024, we held the immensely successful NorthWrite 2024: Connecting Your Writing With Readers held in Kerikeri.
In 2026 we again held a successful day for writers by offering NorthWrite 2026: Pathways to Indie Publishing held in Whangārei. On the day we had USA Today best-selling authors Wendy Vella and Cheryl Phipps, as well as children’s publisher and illustrator Deborah Hinde. Experienced local authors also shared their publishing and marketing knowledge.
We also held on Zoom NorthWrite 2026: From Traditional to Indie Publishing, a Conversation With Alison Stuart.
