Showing posts with label authorpreneurs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authorpreneurs. Show all posts

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Being a Writer in the 21st Century - 10 week course

I'm teaching on a 10 week short course from January 2015 in Canterbury - details below if you want to join us!  I will share everything I've learned about my many years (almost 40!) as a published writer. Great venue, and great atmosphere!

Course description

Being a writer in the digital age offers a wealth of unprecedented opportunities for authors – but to benefit from this exciting entrepreneurial climate, a writer has to become a new creature - an authorpreneur. This course explores the realities and practicalities of writing in the 21 st century, arming writers with essential tools and knowledge to avoid the pitfalls.  A comprehensive range of topics will be covered, including marketing, selling and promotion, earning income from writing, the role of agents, publishers, using social media, understanding contracts and payments, methods of working practice and managing your time.

Days and times: Monday 12 January 1-3pm, for 10 weeks
Cost: £89.50
Venue: Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, UK

What previous students have said about my day schools:

“Jane is very knowledgeable and has a wealth of experience.”
“Fabulously engaging tutor, enthusiastic about her subject, spoke with passion and authority.”
“It was more than I imagined.  Very informative and interesting.”
“Knowledgeable about the topic.  Excellent to listen to. Inspiring.”
“Obvious sound knowledge base and good clear delivery.”
“Useful hand-outs with links that can provide even more information after the course.”
“Inspiring and informative.  Lots of ideas to work with now!”
 “Jane is clearly very experienced.  She has a good relaxed style and is very enthusiastic.”
“Very useful and clearly put across.”
“Excellent content.  Covered more than I expected.”
“Very clear information.  Very generous with the information. Helpful.”
“Very good at answering questions, very clear targets and direction, well prepared.”
 “It was excellent – very informative, well organised, encouraged questions. Engaging.”

TO BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW GO TO:
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/cae/short-courses/spring-2015/being-a-writer-in-the-21st-century.aspx


Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Saturday School for Writers: Making Words Work

I thoroughly enjoyed teaching my latest Business of Writing day school for Canterbury Christ Church about Self-publishing your e-book on Amazon, in which I shared my personal experiences - good and bad - in the hope of informing and encouraging other writers.  

My next Canterbury Saturday school, Making Words Work on April 26th, explores income streams for writers and ways of “monetizing your output” as a writer. I love teaching and sharing what I've learned, and the last 2 day schools had great feedback so if you fancy joining us (or know someone who might) I would be most grateful if you felt able to share. Thanks  See link for more info. 
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/community-arts-education/day-schools/summer-2014.asp

The Business of Writing 2: Making Words Work
Saturday 26 April, 2014.  10am-4pm at Canterbury Christ Church University
Unless you are writing for a hobby, it’s a business.  This has given rise to a new title: authorpreneur.
This day school explores and discusses income streams for writers and ways of“monetizing your output” as a writer, including competitions, residencies, workshops, talks, readings, speaking, copywriting, editing, and coaching. We will also look at organisations that exist to help authors, the role of an agent and issues such as contracts, fees and royalties, as well as pitching to agents and publishers.
Finally, we examine managing and costing your time, an essential aspect of being a successful freelance writer.  What are you worth? What are the time vampires and how do you combat them?  How do you stay motivated?  We will look at each of the following topics which address the reality of being freelance, such as working methods,  environment, deadlines, setting targets (financial and personal), the importance of forward planning, recycling work and pen names. The session will also cover building your writing portfolio and creating a marketing plan.   

All Day Schools cost £27.50.  To book please contact April Doyle via email to education.communityarts@canterbury.ac.uk or by phoning 01227 863451

Thursday, 11 July 2013

Marketing for Writers and Being an Authorpreneur

This week I've been thinking about marketing in relation to books and indie publishing, probably because I'm giving a talk in Canterbury next week on Wednesday 17th July which is called  Being a Writer Entrepreneur
If you want to find out more click on the link below. 


I've also read a couple of excellent articles for writers.  The first, from the wonderful Joanna Penn, is all about marketing and the other is how to fund your work through Crowdfunding.  Great reads!




Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Hybrid authors and authorpreneurs

I'm interested in the current discussions around "authorpreneurs" and "hybrid" authors (I love the word "hybrid".  Very science fiction).  Can you really have the best of both worlds if you are/have been traditionally published and are also self (indie) publishing?

I've done both and I haven't decided yet.  There are, like most things, pros and cons to each.  Indie publishing is tremendously hard work and also gives me an insight into trad publishing that I didn't have before.  It gives me a more balanced perspective, I think.

Many writers who have found success with the indie route are now snapping up trad deals, and the advantage of this is that although you will have less control, you will also have more time to actually write. There are only so many hours in the day and so much energy to use up creatively.

But the aspect of indie that I love most is the control over every aspect of the process.  It's absorbing, fascinating and fun.

Read a great post here which explores the topic in detail:
http://janefriedman.com/2013/01/30/self-pub-and-traditional-pub-cj-lyons/

Related post:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-business-of-writing-part-1.html