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Marketing Toolkit (Prepping for Writers’ Institute 2013)
Are your project’s selling materials ready to be shopped? This one-day workshop is designed for writers who want successful strategies for pitching to agents.
Marketing Toolkit (Prepping for Writers’ Institute 2013)
This “marketing toolkit” is for writers who plan to pitch to agents and editors either in person at conferences (such as the Writers’ Institute, April 12-14, 2013), or via mail/email. It’s also for writers who may be experiencing too many rejections and suspect their pitch materials need re-tooling. Learn common beginner mistakes to avoid; sharpen your logline, and your hooks on the pages of your proposal. Practice in-person pitching (optional).
- Understand how to navigate a writers’ conference.
- Learn how to compose selling loglines, synopses and ancillary materials for their projects.
- See the publishing process from the agent and publisher’s point of view.
- Learn how to prepare and deliver effective pitches
Who this workshop is for
This class is for writers of all types of material – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc. who want to sell their materials to agents and publishers. Especially:
- All writers who want to sell their books to agents
- All writers who are curious about how to market and sell their writing ideas
- All writers who are thinking of attending the 2013 Writers’ Institute and are going to pitch their work there
- All writers who want to network and understand how to navigate the publishing environment.
Extra bonus: Free critique
Your instructor will provide you with feedback on your project’s logline and synopsis. The feedback you’ll receive assists you in determining that you are on the right track with your selling materials. Personalized critiquing can be expensive, but is included free for workshop participants. This assignment is due three weeks after the course meeting to allow you enough time to revise your materials if you are attending the Writers’ Institute conference.
Your instructor
Laurie Scheer is a member of our UW-Madison Continuing Studies writing department. During her 20-year career in the entertainment industry, Laurie has worked for ABC, Viacom, and Cablevision where she has purchased, developed, and produced both television and independent feature film projects, and, as a development consultant, has acquired and developed materials for numerous production companies. She has been a guest speaker at nearly every important industry organization from the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences to the Writer's Guild to the Romance Writers of America. Among other distinctions, Laurie is an author, an Emmy-nominated producer, the pitch coach for NATPE, and she has just launched a new writing journal Midwest Prairie Review as a vehicle for Midwestern writers’ voices to shine. Currently, she is researching projects that assist writers in working within all platforms within a multiplatform digital arena.
For details about this workshop, contact Laurie Scheer, 608-265-3972.
Location
Location: The Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison, is conveniently located just east of the UW-Madison campus on Lake Mendota (map). Only one block from the Memorial Union and State Street, there are restaurants, shops and even hotels nearby if you’d like to extend your stay.
Parking: Parking ramps and surface lots are located within a few blocks of the Pyle Center. Additional parking and transportation information (including parking maps) can be found on the Getting Around page from UW-Madison Visitor Information. Visit http://vip.wisc.edu/plan-your-visit/parking/