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