Landing in the middle of the holidays, I wasn’t expecting many (if any) people for the last Writers Rendezvous of the year, but thirteen stalwarts turned up – thank you! The conversation covered new year classes, and book marketing among other topics, with some overlap between the two. A couple of people asked me for the link to my Publishers Weekly article, Seven Questions for Finding the Right Hybrid Publisher. You’re welcome. 🙂
On January 4, Jane Friedman, in partnership with Writer’s Digest, is offering a webinar entitled: Get Published: Land a Book Deal. Don’t embark on the submission process in 2024 without being fully educated about how the industry works. You’ll get advice and tools to develop strong pitch letters and proposal materials for both fiction and nonfiction, networking tips, and more. Learn more and register here. $99.
Member and multi-published author Libby Waterford is offering a one-off workshop on January 6, from 10-12ET, entitled Book Marketing for Anyone. Join in person at the Westport Writers Workshop or online for for a comprehensive overview of book marketing in 2023. She’ll cover preparing for your launch, what to put in your marketing plan, how paid advertising might fit into your plan, and how to tailor your marketing plan to your publishing goals.
Jan Kardys, of the Black Hawk Literary Agency will be hosting another Meet-Up group in Bethel, CT on Saturday, January 13. Jan and the other writers in your group will critique 10 pages of your manuscript after you read it aloud. The group will be split into two sessions (11:00 am to 2:00 and 4 to 7 pm). She will accept the first twelve writers who email her at jan.kardys@gmail.com with a commitment to come and to send ten pages in advance. $15 Full details here (on Meetup).
The 2024 Connecticut Literary Anthology is open for submissions through January 15 and will be published by Woodhall Press in October of 2024. They’re looking for unpublished fiction and nonfiction (3,500 words max), and poetry (2 poems max). Authors must reside in the state of Connecticut by January 1, 2024. Full submission details here. Email your submissions to Ctlitanthology@gmail.com.
Poets and Writers is offering a range of classes to help you achieve your writing and publishing goals, led by seasoned industry professionals and accomplished writers. Each class will provide ample opportunity to interact with the instructor and build community among peers who share your commitment to writing. Classes begin in January. Among them are How to Be a Successful Self-Published Author, beginning January 17, 24, and 31 This workshop promises to help you go from manuscript to published book. Prose Poetry starts on January 20 and 27 and Crafting the Nonfiction Book Proposal runs from March 11, 18, to 25. For prices and more classes check here.
If you’re thinking about writing romance, take a Zoom class with member Libby Waterford – seven sessions from January 22 to March 11. When you’re ready to publish, check out the list of publishers below.
Arvon, a British writing center, is offering a free, international Poetry Challenge. Sign-ups for January’s free 5-Day Poetry Writing Challenge with acclaimed poet and playwright Inua Ellams open this week. This mini writing course via email is a great way to start the year as you mean to go on: by writing! From 22-25 January, they will send you a daily prompt and task developed by Inua. The idea is that by the end of the week, you will have created a series of short works or perhaps one larger piece of writing. Sign up here.
Jane Friedman will be running a webinar entitled 10 Steps to a Nonfiction Book Proposal on January 27 in partnership with HerStry. Learn to identify and persuasively present the most marketable qualities of your project, and build a proposal that meets the requirements of the publishing industry Learn more and register here. $45
Authors Publish, has come up with a list of 47 Romance Publishers Open to Direct Submission. There are plenty of publishers who do this (clearly!) but having them listed together and reviewed can save you a huge amount of time.
AgentQuery.com has helped thousands of aspiring writers to find representation from literary agents, and to score publishing deals with major New York publishers and Amazon-operated imprints. Check out their expert advice How to Write A Query Letter! to learn all about how to get your own literary agent and publishing book deal
Looking for topics for your social media posts? If you’re a writer, Sandra Beckwith, who writes a newsletter called Build Book Buzz, provides a calendar of Literary Days for 2024. They include National Science Fiction Day. Teen Read Week. Get Caught Reading Month and 160 more. There’s bound to be something you can use to celebrate books and reading. World Book Day is on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, which is also the first anniversary of the publication of my debut novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over – so I won’t forget that one!
There’s just one update this month – I’m going to be too busy on Monday to write another… Hope you have a god holiday, and a wonderful writing year in 2024!
