Workshop Electives

Panelists: Sandra Bishop, Rachelle Gardner, Joyce Hart, Lee Hough, Steve Laube, Amanda Luedeke, Nicole Resciniti, Meredith Smith, and Les Stobbe

A question-and-answer session with the agents listed.

Panelists: Karen Ball, Terry Burns, Greg Johnson, Chip MacGregor, Tamela Hancock Murray, Barbara Scott, Mary Sue Seymour, and Sarah Younger.

A question-and-answer session with the agents listed.

Authors will learn how bookstores make their purchasing decisions, including sales timelines, ideas to increase distribution, and other non-traditional ways to sell books.

1. What do retailers expect from authors? How do retailers make their purchasing decisions?
a. A tribe
i. What is it?
ii. How do I build one?
b. Publicity
i. Pros and cons of book signings
ii. Publishers want you to do it, and retailers expect it.what should you concentrate on?
c. ‘Pull’ marketing
i. What will make your book stand out from the rest, and drive readers into the store?
ii. Pre release campaign
d. Quality covers / content
2. Who are the retailers and how do books get to them?
a. The changing face of retail
b. Numbers of books being published and sold to retail
c. How does the retailer hear about my book?
i. Catalog
ii. Sales teams
iii. Data
d. Types of sales channels - and how they work.
i. Big Box
ii. Chains
iii. Independents
iv. Distributors
v. Special markets
vi. International
e. Shelf space and store location
f. Returns
3. How does the retail purchasing timeline work?

a. Timeline
i. Why does it take so long?
b. Publisher catalog promotion
c. Marketing promotion
d. Release schedule
e. Retail catalog promotion
f. Front list vs. back list
4. If I have unpublished books or out-of-print (OP), how can I get them to retail?
a. Pursue traditional publishers who may take a risk on your other titles
b. Is self publishing/printing an option?
i. All of the tools are available
ii. Contract distribution - difference between contract and wholesale
iii. Print-on-demand
c. Build your marketing plan before you do anything
i. Target audience
ii. Desired distribution
iii. Tap current tribe and followers
d. Build a quality product
i. ISBN, cover design, editing, marketing

The number of email subscribers you have is a key component publishers look at to measure your platform. In this class you will learn how to attract subscribers, design beautiful emails and create content that gets forwarded around the web.

A veteran author will benefit from discussion on defining the past and future of his or her brand, plus strategizing on how to best communicate that identity and invest limited time to continue to grow readership.

As a seasoned author, you’ve likely given some thought to the elevator pitch to deliver when you reveal that you’re an author.  You’ve probably even participated in discussions with a marketing team or two in which someone threw around taglines to define what it is you write.  But if you’re feeling restless living with a years-old tagline, or if you’re expanding your brand to include some new types of stories, you’ll benefit from revisiting the way you’re marketed.
HOW TO BRAND: With a diverse roster and more than 50 new releases across every genre each year, our marketing and publicity team has developed some practices to help us and the authors we represent to understand brands best.  We’ll spend time in this session explaining defining brands and discussing fresh perspectives on that definition process.
USING YOUR BRAND: We’ll end with some practical ideas about how to telegraph your specific branding, solicit reader feedback, and invest your limit
ed promotional time by coming alongside your marketing team.  Good marketing doesn’t just happen, but if you’re willing to devote time to this kind of branding discussion, it’s possible to come away with data that’ll help make career decisions easier for years to come.

Discover what an editor is looking for in a fiction proposal and how to make yours rise to the top of the stack.  Learn the difference between a theme, a 30 second commercial, and an incredible hook. We’ll look at current novels and film and discuss the theme and hook in each story. We’ll talk about trends, overused topics, and those elements in a proposal that will cause an editor to roll his or her eyes.  We’ll talk about writing your passion.

We’ll also take an honest look at publishing – including how many books are published per year and what the average book sells.  We’ll discuss the cost of publishing and marketing a book. And we’ll take a look at the growing ebook market and how it can effect new, emerging authors.

Little-known facts about what a working writer’s daily life is really like. Did you know that much of a writer’s day is spent doing things besides writing? Do you know why your agent earns his/her keep? What are the pitfalls of fame and the myths of fortune? How do you deal with the green-eyed monster––yours and fellow writers’? How does becoming a writer threaten your family life and life as you knew it before you were a writer? All this and much more, including what to do about it all!

Understanding what dialogue is and isn't, what it can and shouldn't do, and how to use it to your advantage, no matter the genre.

Understanding what dialogue is and isn’t, what it can and can’t do, and how to use it to your advantage.


THE MYTH OF DIALOGUE
Myth 1:  In order for my dialogue to sound realistic, I must write it exactly how we speak
Myth 2:  I must include the entire conversation between the characters inside a passage
Myth 3:  Dialogue doesn’t have anything to do with my character development
Myth 4:  Dialogue should be used only when necessary.

INTERNAL DIALOGUE
What is it?
3rd person internal dialogue
1st person internal dialogue


WHAT DIALOGUE CAN DO FOR YOUR BOOK

Keep it well paced
Add distinction between your characters

HOW STUDYING SCREENWRITING CAN AMP UP NOVEL WRITING

The limitations of screenwriting cause screenwriters to be experts at writing dialogue.  See how you can combine screenwriting techniques to your novel to c
ause it to stand out.

CUTTING THE FAT

The art of examining dialogue and cutting what isn’t absolutely necessary
Every word of your dialogue must have some purpose
Establishing setting
Establishing character
Causing conflict
Perspective

Learn how to write smart with this arc-building look at giving your protagonist thirty pivotal things to do.

PLOT & PROBLEM

. Identify felt need/universal truth
. Zero in on bottom line/premise
. External and Internal conflicts
. What is at stake? Why does it matter?
. Pivot Points
. Arc Essentials


PEOPLE & PLACE

. Exploiting your character’s motivators
. Bio feedback
. Setting as character
. Pivot Points
. Arc Essentials


PREPARATION

. The 30-episode drawing board
. Planning for both tension & small victories
. Setting up the eleventh hour/all is lost
. Successful Outcomes

(Hands on EXERCISE)

“Getting Some of It On You” is a crash course in writing fiction for middle readers. Participants will romp with me through the basic process I, at least, use to create compelling stories by becoming part of the tween world, working from the glint of an idea, discovering real-kid characters, and sharing the love of God without spiritually mugging anybody . Hands, imagination, and a willingness to, well, get some of it on you are required.

Market trends, building a platform before you are published, proposals, and how to meet with an editor.

As an Author, do you long to take your stories and characters far beyond where you’ve gone so far, but feel like you’ve hit a ceiling with your creativity?

Often the brake holding authors back isn’t their creativity but their freedom, or lack thereof.

Bestselling author James L. Rubart (whose new series deals thematically with freedom) and Senior VP and Publishing of Thomas Nelson Fiction (who will join Ransomed Heart ministries in June) want to help you obliterate the brake in your life and paint a vision of what it looks like to live a life of true freedom—both for the stories you write and the story you are living.

In this class, Jim and Allen will dive deep into the issues that hold you back from more freedom in your life, offering insights into how to break through those barriers. Because when freedom permeates your life, it can permeate your novels—making each story more compelling for your readers while giving them a taste of real freedom.

How to have a successful author event from a dual point-of-view: Suzy will discuss in-person events and Rusty will present virtual author events

A frank discussion of the numbers game in the industry

This interactive, advanced craft workshop takes an intensive look at the character development that will turn your heroine from engaging to unforgettable.

With an aim toward turning each participant’s heroine from engaging to unforgettable, this highly interactive, advanced craft workshop takes an intensive look at the development of the character arc using the heroine’s goal, motivation and conflict.  Participants will be asked to bring a description of an unforgettable heroine from the movies and a description of their own heroine, along with sample dialogue and description passage from their own novel.

First session: a close look at ten heroines from cinema and literary history. What elements of each character makes her unforgettable. A review of eight heroine archetypes and how the heroines fit within those archetypes. How using archetypes can deepen character development. A character sheet will be distributed, which participants will fill out for their own work in progress.

Second session: Review of each character sheet. New discoveries; old friends. What did the character sheet help you discover that you didn’t already know about your heroine? How these discoveries will deepen development.

Third session: Continuation of the review. Discussion of application to each WIP.

This seminar will help authors create stellar book proposals to shop to publishing houses.

Everything You Need to Know about Book Proposals

Elements of a Killer Novel Proposal

Ten Keys to Refining Your Book Proposal

Pitching and Submitting Your Book Proposal

Creating a Sample Query Letter

Examining a Sample Proposal

Finding and Working with an Agent

Trends, Philosophies, and Career Questions

This workshop is appropriate for those looking to attract an agent.

The writers will explain how they got published, and then my (their literary agent’s) role in the publishing process.  They will talk about how they made long term goals, so both agent and writer had the same career vision.  They will discuss using cross promotion to increase sales, and explain how authors form bonds of friendship and professional camraderie as part of an agency family, and assist each other in a myriad of ways. 

Covering such topics as editing, marketing, publicity, expenses.

Novelists should be working with Christian retailers to ensure their books are reaching the hands and hearts of consumers.

Christian novelists provide profound messages of faith, redemption, and salvation through their books; however, Christian retailers may not understand the profound value and importance of hand-selling Christian fiction to their customers. To better understand each other, and with the end customer in mind, Christian novelists and retailers need to work together to bring the message behind the books to customers. This can occur through a variety of methods, including (but not limited to) in-store book signings, book clubs, heart-of-the-author messaging/marketing, and simple public relations work that puts authors in touch with retailers so they can share their hearts and hopes with them—encouraging retailers to pass along those messages to their customers when hand-selling books. This workshop will present the importance of building these novelist/retailer relationships and present ways for both to benefit by working together to ensure Christian fiction reaches the hands of those in need of the books' healing, inspiring, and thought-provoking messages.

Come with your questions about the industry, ready for a “relaxed” conversation

We’ll discuss to watch where you step when it comes to book contracts!

A frank discussion on the agent/client relationship

Learn the four essential elements of a best-selling novel!

What Makes a Best-Seller? Ever wonder what The Left Behind series, Twilight, Harry, The Shack, and Marley and Me have I common?  They’re all best-sellers, yes, but what makes them such compelling reads?  (Here’s a hint:  It’s not just Plot.  It’s not just Characters.  It’s not even Theme!) In this class Literary Agent Chip MacGregor and Best-selling Novelist Susan May Warren, will identify the four powerful elements that build the foundation for these stories - and how to incorporate them into your own novels. If you book lacks punch - then it is probably missing one of these four elements. Come and discover what they are

Come ready to learn about the art of brainstorming….

Outliner and Seat-of-the-Pants novelists are night-and-day different in methodology but they both strive to produce the same result: a great story - which means they can learn from each other to make the process of getting there that much more rewarding.

INTRO
What an Outliner does and doesn’t do:
What a Pantster does and doesn’t do:

STORY ESSENTIALS
Non- Negotiables
Story Arc
Compelling Characters
Relevant Setting
Relatable Conflict
Believable Responses to change

How the Outliner approaches PLOT

How the Pantster approaches PLOT


OUTLINER’s FIELD MANUAL (Susan)
Outliners Strengths
Less time pondering and more time writing.
Sense of direction, helps you work toward characters’ goals.
Shortened editing time
Fewer blocks and walls and corners.
Foreshadowing opportunities are apparent.
Research ahead of time.
Not set in stone, able to amend.
Story structure/arc/plot pivots planned for.
Aids in pacing
Aids in trying out scenarios before you write them
(Class exercise)

(Rene)
PANTSTER’s FIELD MANUAL (Rene)
Pantsters Strengths
More in to
uch with how the reader will experience the story
More open to changing the novel for the better when needed
Less time researching what you don’t need, more time researching what you do
Why writing oneself into a corner is a benefit.
Less time writing what you think you want to happen, and more time actually writing what you want to happen
Pivots come more organically, less predictable
Easier to keep track of how the reader is viewing the pacing
As exhilarating to the writer as the reader because unexpected things happen
Characters have time to naturally develop as they might in real life
Rewrites include shoring up the beginning to match where you’ve landed at the end.

(Class exercise)

Have a great plot but feel shaky on mechanics, phrasing, and making your writing itself go from good to superb? This is the workshop for you. Every day, experienced writers and agents Karen Ball and Tamela Hancock Murray work with all levels of authors to help them take their manuscripts from great to outstanding. Don’t let editors get sidetracked by bloopers and blunders. You want them to concentrate on your fantastic story! Tamela and Karen will show you how.

Creating a Fan Base!

An Author needs fans, but how do you find them and create in them a desire to follow you through genre or series changes?  More than that, how do you create a friendship with your readers that will bump you to the best-seller list?  Former missionary and best-selling Author Susan May Warren shares tips and techniques she’s employed to build her tribe of readers, as well as practical ideas for publicity that won’t break the bank.

Most author websites get very little attention and generate only a handful of book sales. In this class you will learn to avoid the common author website mistakes. You will also learn the secrets that will make your site great and your book sell

A continuation from Part One

Sharing of survey results, what do christian readers want next?

Come learn all about Facebook