Self-publishing your own novel for the first time can be daunting. The self-marketing part alone offers a rushing river of options that threaten to wash the creativity right out of the unwary. In "Panning for Gold not Silicon", I'm teaching writers how to stake a claim in the rich new territory of Print on Demand and eBooks.
The class is offered through Lawson Writer's Academy and costs $30 for the month. We'll walk through the steps involved in creating your own "brand" from website to social networks. Using LWA's interactive classroom environment, you'll be able to connect up with other writers going through the same steps as well as get one-on-one suggestions from me. There will be homework assignments, all geared towards getting your book to market.
This four week session will include 3 mini-lectures each week, homework to develop and refine your own marketing strategy, and discussion with classmates and the instructor.
Topics include:
Learning to tell gold from iron pyrite
defining your writing identity
Basic geology and avoiding landslides
marketing without getting buried alive
understanding the changing nature of the industry
Making peace with the natives
building your tribe
Staking your claim
creating a marketing plan
Refining process
setting goals
evaluating their success
Digging in the dirt
basic manuscript preparation and formatting
converting for e-readers, HTML, CSS, and EPUB
Bringing in the heavy equipment
how to hire a contractor
rights and licenses
distribution and discounts
contracts and concessions
Taking your gold to the bank
dealing with the emotions of completing the process
patience required for marketing
going on to the next project
I'm excited to be teaching this class. I've spent years studying the industry as well as working in technical support fields -- teaching people to use computers and make the most out of technology. LWA's modern on-line classroom is the perfect environment for sharing this experience with the writers I see struggling on forums every day.