In this one-week course, you'll learn the basics of selling yourself and your work like a pro, from social media to bio-writing and media outreach.
Your Instructor: Rob Hart, associate publisher of MysteriousPress.com, author of NEW YORKED
Where: Online — Available everywhere!
When: This class is not currently enrolling. To be notified when it is offered again, Click Here
Enrollment: 50 students
Price: $79
Class Description
In the olden days of publishing, you'd sign a book deal and your publisher would attach a publicist to your hip. That's not always the case anymore. A lot of that work now lands on the shoulders of the author.
Even the bigger publishers expect you to maintain a public face. For authors at mid-range and smaller publishers, an online presence is necessary to reach an audience. And for self-published authors, a successful online profile will make or break sales.
This being publishing, you're competing with a lot of people for attention. Do it wrong, and people will brush you off. Even something as simple as a Facebook profile offers a lot of ways to reach people--and a lot of ways to alienate your potential audience.
Rob Hart is the associate publisher at MysteriousPress.com, where he handles editorial and marketing for backlist titles by authors like James Ellroy and James M. Cain.
He'a the author of more than a dozen short stories and a self-published novella. His first novel, New Yorked, just came out, and he got coverage in publications like the Powell's book blog and The Daily Beast—and he'll be sharing his behind-the-scenes experience with all that.
He also worked for four years as a reporter, and for four years as the communications director for a politician. So he has experience not just selling books, but selling people.
And he's here to show you how to sell yourself like a pro.
What This Class Covers
Unit 1: The art of social media
It sounds easy: Set up a Facebook and Twitter account, promote your stuff, profit. Right? Nope! There's plenty of things worth knowing about the Big Two social media networks--as well as all the others available to you. From the difference between Facebook pages and profiles, to best practices for using Twitter, Rob will break down everything you need to know to get the most out of social media accounts.
Unit 2: Your online resume
If you're serious about a writing career, you need a website--think of it like an online resume. And if you have a website, you need a bio that makes you sound like a professional. We'll cover both of those things.
Unit 3: Press and newsletters
Do you know how to assemble a blast list? Write and send a press release? Make relationships with bloggers and writers? Target the right audiences for your work? We'll cover all that, as well as how to effectively use newsletters.
Unit 4: Miscellaneous
To close out the class, we'll cover things like online advertising, newsletters, author promotional services, and general tips and tricks that might come up through the course of the class.
As an added bonus, Rob will talk about publicity for New Yorked—what his publisher did, what he did, what worked, and what didn't work.
Goals Of This Class
- Gain a fuller understanding of how to make social media work for you
- Develop a professional author bio
- Take the steps toward launching (or improving) your personal website
- Learn how to handle outreach to press
- Learn how to sell yourself like a pro
