EmberKiln @ Author Nation — booth playbook

The operating plan for the Author Nation 2026 vendor booth — the flagship indie-author conversion channel (see EMBERKILN_INDIE_AUTHOR_GTM.md for the thesis, EMBERKILN_CONFERENCES.md for the shortlist this won, EMBERKILN_ROLLOUT.md for the GTM phases).

The event


What	Author Nation (ex-20BooksTo50K) — the largest indie/self-published author gathering
When	Nov 10–13, 2026 · Expo Day = Nov 10
Where	Las Vegas — Horseshoe (formerly Bally's)
Cost	$450 vendor table (registration rolling)
Who	~1,400 attendees, overwhelmingly authors (~50% already-published, ~31% pre-publish) — exactly the ICP: people with a finished manuscript and no audiobook

Why this is the right first booth: every attendee already has the input EmberKiln needs (a finished book) and is actively looking for ways to do more with it. The pitch — "you already wrote the book; hear a chapter as a finished audiobook in two minutes" — lands without education.

The conversion path (already built)

Booth conversation  →  scan/type  emberkiln.studio/an
        →  mobile signup (one screen, magic-link, no password)
        →  lead recorded, tagged source = 'author-nation-2026'
        →  creator access unlocked on magic-link return → make a sample on the spot
        →  4-step nurture drip (Day 1 / 3 / 5 / 10) for everyone who didn't finish
        →  convert to a paying creator

Booth page: /studio/author-nation — mobile-first, friction-free (email + optional name/book/target), sends a magic link that returns the author already signed in with creator access, ready to render. Leads post to /api/studio/beta-signup tagged source='author-nation-2026'.
Short URLs (this doc's PR): emberkiln.studio/an (and /authornation) → the booth page. Typeable on a table card; encoded in the QR below.
QR for signage: docs/product/assets/author-nation-qr.svg — points at https://emberkiln.studio/an. Drop it on the table card / banner / tablet lock screen. (Regenerate with the qrcode dep if the URL changes.)
Nurture drip: studio-conference-drip.ts — a 4-email sequence (Day 1/3/5/10) fired by a daily cron at author-nation-2026 leads, with one-click unsubscribe. Verify the studio_conference_drip cron is enabled at /dashboard/admin/crons before the event.
Lead triage: /dashboard/admin/studio-signups — filter to the Author Nation cohort, see book + target, one-click grant.

At the table

The 30-second demo (the whole pitch):

"What's your book?" → open /studio/new on the demo laptop.
Drop their EPUB/DOCX (or paste a paragraph if they don't have it on them).
Cast voices → render one chapter → hand them the headphones.
While it plays: "That's your book. Audiobook today; animated scenes and a screenplay from the same file. Scan this and the first one's free."

Signage / table-card copy (mirror the page so it's coherent):

Banner headline: "Your book — heard and seen."
Sub: "Drop your manuscript, hear a finished chapter in two minutes. Audiobook, scenes, screenplay, paperback — from one file."
Card CTA next to the QR: "Scan to make your book an audiobook — free sample." emberkiln.studio/an
Spine line (ties to the brand): "A story is the ember. We're the kiln."

Kit checklist:

Laptop with /studio/new open + a few sample manuscripts pre-loaded (and one great pre-rendered chapter ready, in case wifi is bad — never demo on hope)
Good over-ear headphones (the audio quality IS the product — let them hear it)
Printed table card + standing banner with the QR (author-nation-qr.svg)
A tablet showing the booth page / a looping reel of a finished show
Power strip + a phone hotspot as wifi backup
A one-line handout / sticker with emberkiln.studio/an

Before the conference — build/config checklist

Decide paid-mode posture for the cohort — flip NEXT_PUBLIC_STUDIO_PAID_MODE on (booth leads hit a paywall after the free trial) or run a deliberately capped free beta. Don't acquire 1,400 unbounded free users by accident (the worst-of-both case flagged in EMBERKILN_ROLLOUT.md).
Author Nation bonus — BUILT. Booth leads (source='author-nation-2026') get a one-time bonus credit grant on top of the standard trial/monthly allowance, applied automatically at creator-grant time (maybeGrantConferenceBonus in studio-credit-packs.ts). Idempotent + source-gated, and works in both modes (it adds to studio_extra_credits_chars, i.e. the effective limit = base + credits). Default: 30,000 chars (~a generous multi-chapter sample on top of the 20k trial → ~50k total) — tune via STUDIO_AUTHOR_NATION_BONUS_CHARS in Railway. Pick the size against COGS before Nov; add other booths to CONFERENCE_BONUS_CHARS if you run more.
Confirm the studio_conference_drip cron is enabled and the four emails render (the golden test studio-conference-drip.test.ts covers shape).
Set RESEND_FROM_EMAIL to the @emberkiln.studio sender (post domain verify) so the drip + magic links come from the brand, not hivejournal.com.
Smoke-test the full path on a phone: emberkiln.studio/an → signup → magic link → signed-in → render a chapter. (The booth lives or dies on this working.)
Pre-render 2–3 flagship sample chapters across genres for the "wifi is bad" path.

Success metrics (instrument before, read after)

The funnel to watch — the booth's whole job is to move people down it:

booth scans → signups (author-nation-2026) → magic-link sign-ins → first render started → first chapter finished → first full audiobook → paid

The emberkiln_booth_signup / emberkiln_booth_signed_in events already fire on the page; make sure activation events (first render / first finished) are captured so the finished-audiobook activation rate and CAC ($450 ÷ paying creators) are readable. That number decides whether to buy more booths in 2027.

Post-conference

Triage the cohort at /dashboard/admin/studio-signups (filter Author Nation); the drip handles broad follow-up, but hand-grant + personally email the handful with serious books — case studies are worth more than volume this phase.
Capture 5 finished audiobooks from booth leads as testimonials/case studies (the Phase-1 goal in the rollout). Those become the next channel's proof.