Announcing: Fall 2008 GWP Bloginar

The online Making It PoP: Translating Your Ideas for Trade workshop is back!

This fall, I'll once again be offering a 5-week hands-on seminar for researchers and academics on writing book proposals. This teleconference features guests from the publishing industry and is paired with an ongoing online web forum in the form of a closed class blog.

The course is designed to help researchers, scholars, and policy "wonks" bridge the translation gap. I'll encourage you to make bold observations, learn new tricks, and unlearn old ones—like hiding your voice behind footnotes or lit reviews, or subordinating yourself to your topic. You'll learn why it's essential to think about audience and market in a different way. We'll explore the differences between popular and academic writing, why a dissertation is not a trade book, and how to write an effective book proposal--meaning one with the best chances of being sold.

In this course you will also learn:
• Techniques for de-jargonizing your prose
• Why "making it pop" does not mean "dumbing it down" or "selling out," and how to deal with institutional scorn
• How to know whether your book idea has commercial potential
• The elements of a strong book proposal
• The importance of narrative, and what else editors look for
• The role of an agent
• The in's and out's of publshing in different popular media venues (online and print)

When: Five weeks, Tuesdays, October 7th - November 4th, 7:00pm - 8:15pm (via phone; ongoing online forum during the week)

Guest instructors from the publishing industry will share their expertise each week. Past instructors have included:

Alissa Quart, author of Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers and Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child, published by Penguin Press in 2006, and contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly

Laura Mazer, an editor and book consultant who has worked with publishers including Seal Press, Counterpoint Books, Soft Skull Press, Avalon Publishing Group, and Random House (see Laura's Book Smarts column here and here and here on GWP)

Christine Kenneally, author of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language and a freelance journalist who has written for The New Yorker,The New York Times, Discover, Slate and Salon

Tracy Brown, President of the Tracy Brown Literary Agency

Amanda Moon, an editor at Basic Books and formerly an editor at Palgrave.

Jean Casella, a freelance book editor and formerly the publisher of The Feminist Press

For questions, pricing, and more, please contact girlwpen@gmail.com.