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Liz Santiago's photo

Instructor Spotlight

Liz Santiago Elizabeth is the instructor for GrubStreet's Spring Novel Generator program.

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  • Seminar
  • Online: Zoom
  • Adult (18+)

Provoking Thought: Selling and Writing Your Nonfiction Book of Ideas - Remote!

No Longer Enrolling

  • $75.00 Non-Member
  • $65.00 Member

Class Description

Do you have an idea for a book about science, medicine, parenting, psychology, architecture, culture, or technology? You're in luck: there's a booming market for these books—even in the midst of this pandemic! If you’ve always wanted to write a nonfiction book and are now stuck at home, here’s your chance to learn everything you need to know in order to develop your idea into a book proposal, get an agent, and sell your project.
Writing such a "book of ideas" requires a very different approach than writing fiction or narrative nonfiction. In this state-of-the-art seminar taught by a veteran author who has sold seven books to major publishers, we'll pay special attention to the two most important factors in selling a book of ideas: the framing and the platform. You'll learn about how the nonfiction publishing industry works and how it is changing, what agents and editors are looking for, how to find the best agent for your project, how to craft a winning proposal, and examine the differences between major publishers, small presses, and self-publishing.
We'll analyze successful and failed books of ideas published in the past few years, focusing on the disparate styles of Malcolm Gladwell (author of Outliers and Blink) and Steven Pinker (author of Blank Slate and Better Angels of Our Nature). The class consists of a structured lecture with fun slides and interactive discussions with plenty of opportunities to ask questions. By the end of the fast-moving 3-hour seminar you'll have a clear sense of what you need to do to sell and write your own project!

This class will be hosted using live Zoom meetings! You will be able to participate in class via Zoom videoconference from wherever you’re most comfortable. All you’ll need is a laptop or a phone! About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting via Zoom–no need to download anything or sign up for Zoom in advance! If you have questions about remote learning, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] for more information.

For a glimpse at how remote learning works, look no further than the deep Zoom discussion of writing and literature below:

Scholarship Information

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 more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.

Scholarships Format/Location

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.