At this time, I teach three classes through WOW! Women on Writing. They are Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work, Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults and Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. See below for information on each.
Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work
Whether you write essays, short stories or novels, sending your work to an agent, editor or publisher is a daunting task. This course will teach you to assemble submission basics including a pitch and a query letter. These tools will enable you to get your work in front of industry professionals. We will also discuss how to find markets and how to manage rejection.
Lessons Include:
Week One: Finding Your Markets
Before you can submit your work, you have to find a list of markets for what it is your write. In addition to finding markets, you will rank them based on your own goals.
Week Two: Pitches
A pitch is a brief summary used to hook an editor or agent. Learn to create an elevator pitch and Twitter pitch and how to make the best possible impression.
Week Three: Query Letters
In one page, a query letter introduces a piece of work to a publishing professional. Unwritten magazine length nonfiction is often pitched through a query. Learn what to include and what to avoid.
Week Four: Bouncing Back from Rejection
None of us sells everything we write. Rejection is a big part of the writing process. This lesson is about how to prepare for rejection and what to do when it hits you hard.
Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
Nonfiction for children and teens lines the bookshelves of libraries and bookstores, fills magazines and e-zines and is used in classrooms around the world. The first step in taking your place in this market is learning to do the research. That may sound relatively simple, but done right it includes researching markets and possible topics as well as locating accurate source materials. This course will help you develop the skills you need to take on these tasks with confidence.
Lessons include:
Week One: Topics and Slants
How to research what has been written as well as how to slant your work to fit into the current market. Slanting can also help you create multiple salable pieces on one topic.
Week Two: To Market
Learning how to research and evaluate markets. This will teach you how to select the one that is right for your voice and your interests.
Week Three: Starting Your Research
This week students will learn the vital difference between primary and secondary sources and how to evaluate accuracy and source bias.
Week Four: Primary Sources
This week stresses the importance of primary data, where to find it, and how interviews can fill in the gaps in what you find.
Find out more or sign up here.
Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
Biographies, science, history, how-to, and more. Nonfiction is published in book form, online and in both magazines and e-zines. Not only do teachers and school librarians seek nonfiction for their students, children and teens read it for fun. In this course, you will learn how to organize your material, write and revise not only the manuscript you workshop in class but future projects as well.
Lessons include:
Week One: Starting with a Plan
Whether you are interested in writing history, STEAM, or crafts, it is important to start with a plan whether it is an outline or a graphic organizer.
Week Two: Drafting Your Manuscript
This lesson will discuss why to keep the age of your reader in mind as you write, how to create scenes, and how to overcome writers block.
Week Three: Rewriting and Revising
Writing is nothing without rewriting. This lesson focuses on how to evaluate your draft and how to hone your work, including where to cut excess words from the manuscript.
Week Four: The Extras that Can Help Make a Sale
In addition to submitting a polished manuscript, sidebars, activities, marketing strategies, teacher’s guides, and more can help make your work appealing to editors.
Find out more or sign up here.
One Writer's Journey 