Class Description
Go on a six-week journey with literary agent Joanne Wyckoff of the Carol Mann Agency to find your book. Perhaps you have a number of essays that you want to turn into a book. Or you’ve written half of a memoir or other nonfiction narrative. Through class discussion and sharing of manuscript material, students will explore and refine their book concepts or storylines to make sure they’re workable in a book format. The goals of the class are to aid students in finding their book, to discuss book structure, and to guide students in the mechanics of writing a book proposal. We will also discuss the importance of doing market research to determine the uniqueness of a book idea or storyline and of developing an author profile through publishing shorter pieces or essays in magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc.. The aim, by the end of class, is for students to have gained a working knowledge of how to write a book proposal and to have written a synopsis/overview of their book and chapter-by-chapter summaries.
This is a course that focuses on narrative nonfiction and memoir. The course is part lecture and part workshop. Students who wish to take this class should have taken writing classes before and should feel comfortable reading and critiquing other students’ work. Led by an instructor who has worked extensively as both a literary agent and an editor.
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. Please visit the Resources tab to access the video-conference link.
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!