Presenter Name: Melanie Bonner Thomas
As an author-publisher, Melanie discusses her personal discoveries and the pitfalls encountered when deciding to self-publish after first trying traditional publishing options. This session addresses challenges for nonfiction writers, but the self-publishing experience applies to all genres. Melanie will share what motivated her decision to write her book and why she chose to self-publish. She will share the self-publishing options she researched, how the process worked, and the pros and cons of her decision. A checklist of self-publishing steps will be provided.
A western Kansas native, Melanie Bonner Thomas is the youngest child of paleontologist Marion Bonner, the subject of her scientific biography / family memoir Old Man of the Fossil Beds, published in October 2025. Thomas spent most of her career as an editor and writer in Austin, Texas, and currently lives on the Texas coast. She has written biographies of famous people for young readers, as well as magazine articles on paleontology, archeology, and history for Texas Monthly and Hispanic magazines. A companion book, Fossils of the Rock Chalk, an introduction to Kansas paleontology, was published in April 2026.
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