Class Description
These days, authors--no matter how they are published--are frequently on their own when it comes to marketing and promoting their books. Traditional publishers now expect their authors to be active partners in the marketing process, cultivating their audience with all the new tools available to them via social media and innovative marketing. The Launch Lab equips writers with the knowledge and tools they need to be effective in their marketing efforts while also facilitating friendships and community so that they remain inspired, connected, and engaged in the process.
When you participate in The Launch Lab, you will:
- Be guided by PR and social media experts and by published authors
- Receive on-going personalized coaching to achieve your campaign goals
- Gain access to a motivated community of authors who will pool information and resources to help you individualize your marketing plan
- Participate in a day of media training in preparation for television appearances, readings and/or live radio interviews
- Dissect your book and find the most effective angles for pitching media
- Figure out how to connect with appropriate reading communities, especially online
- Discover how to leverage Amazon and utilize industry analytics
- Understand how to evaluate “paid-for” services
- Have the opportunity to do readings with other Launch Labbers, most notably at the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, MA
- Hear from published authors who have learned key lessons from their own launch experiences
- Be introduced to the “Logic Model” --a strategic way to think about your book and your career
We welcome applications outside the Boston area. Partial scholarships are available. Open to sixteen serious writers of fiction and nonfiction, applicants must have books coming out within a year. The application reading period is June 16th-August 15th, 2014.
Learn more about the program details and submission guidelines, and apply here by August 15th, 2014.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.