Courses

The secret to getting your writing out into the world, whether you are working toward your first publication or making the jump to writing full-time, is to find the match between your own particular gifts and the right venues for your work. When we have a community to support us, the steps toward publishing can turn from a dizzying array of options into a game where we learn to work with the rules, strategies, and—yes—the element of chance that can take us toward publication.

In this course, for writers at any level, we will survey the contemporary publishing scene for both fiction and nonfiction—including magazine, traditional large-and small-scale book publishing, and self-publishing options. Since the contemporary publishing scene changes so quickly, and everyone will have different goals and interests, students will have the chance to construct their own individual reading lists from recommended websites, articles, and books about publishing. We will also complete weekly exercises to discover each writer’s strongest material, overcome blocks and common writers’ fears, provide accountability, develop strategies for query letters that do not sound as if they were written by a robot, identify intuitive social media strategies for both introvert and extrovert writers, and come up with customized lists of publications or publishing partners. You will finish the course with a detailed action plan for playing the publishing game on your own terms.