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! Writing such a "book of ideas," however, requires a very different approach than fiction or narrative nonfiction. In this state-of-the-art seminar, you'll learn everything you need to know in order to market your book of ideas to an agent or publisher from someone who has sold more than a million dollars worth of such book proposals. It's highly recommended you take this seminar before jumping into a class on writing techniques since this will give you a broad overview of how nonfiction publishing actually works. We'll pay special attention to the single most important factor in selling your book: the framing. You'll learn about how the nonfiction publishing industry has changed in the past three years, what editors are looking for, what readers are looking for, how to find the best agent for your project, how to craft a winning proposal, and how to come up with the most effect framing for your book.
We'll analyze successful and failed books of ideas published in the past few years (especially science books), giving special attention to the different styles of Malcolm Gladwell (author of Outliers)and Steven Pinker (author of Blank Slate). In addition, we'll discuss how ebooks are changing the industry and opening new opportunities for unpublished nonfiction authors. The class will consist of lecture, fun slides, and highly interactive discussion with plenty of opportunities to ask questions during and after class. By the end of the fast-moving 3-hour seminar you'll have a clear sense of what you need to do to write and sell your book of ideas--and perhaps more importantly, what you should not do as a first-time author!
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.