Business-Oriented Workshops

Tearing Down the Walls: Busting Through Five Major Hurdles in Your Career
Every writer encounters brick walls that threaten to bring writing dreams to a screeching halt. Those brick-wall moments happen to everyone. They’re a normal part of the process. Success is often a matter of understanding how to tear those brick walls. This workshop is Q&A based, and focuses on solutions to five hurdles writers often face: the dreaded proposal, pitching nerves, fear of success and the imposter syndrome, rejection, and marketing anxiety. (novice and intermediate)

A Closer Look: How to Know if Your Manuscript Needs as Professional Editor (and How to Find One)
This workshop reviews the reasons to hire (or not) a professional editor for your manuscript, how to find an experienced editor in your field, and how and why edits are so expensive. It will explain the different types of edits, the costs, industry standards and expectations, and the advantages of having one. (intermediate & advanced)

Perfect Pitch: 10 Tips on Selling in 50 Words or Less
Ten suggestions that will help you perfect your “elevator pitch.” These will help you refine the high concept in your book and suggest ways to practice. Finally, they’ll help you eliminate those inevitable nerves when approaching an editor and make the best of your ten-minute session. Bring those pitches with you! (novice & intermediate)

10 Tips to Winning an Editor’s Heart (and Signature on a Contract)
This “Top Ten” countdown focuses on what editors and agents look for in a prospective writer’s work and attitude. Drawn from 30 years’ experience as a professional editor, this is practical advice presented with humor and (I hope) wisdom. (novice)

Why Did I Get Rejected?: A View from Behind the Desk
Editors don’t look for a reason to buy the novel you’ve struggled with for months—or years! They look for a reason to reject it. Don’t give them one. This workshop provides a glimpse from behind an editor’s desk: what they look for, why talent is not enough to get your manuscript published, and traps to avoid in such areas as format, presentation, and the development of character and story arcs. (intermediate & advanced)

Why Does It Take SO Long?: The Publishing Process from Submission to Contract 
The path of a manuscript from the moment it arrives on an editor’s desk through a contract offer. Bonus: Advantages of seeking a traditional publisher. (novice)