Instructor Bios 

This video goes over the bios of your award-winning instructors. (Free to sample before registering.)

Course Intro: Your Map to Success

Writing a book is not for wimps! It will transform you as you write to transform your readers. And since those readers are waiting for your gifts of wisdom, we don’t want you to quit before the race is won. So you’ll need a strong writer’s mindset and realistic expectations for this messy, creative—and fulfilling!—process. We’ll provide plenty of tools to help you turn your mess into a masterpiece, but you’ll need the tips in this module to keep up your momentum until that finish line’s in sight!

What’s in a Name? Creating a Title That Attracts the Right Readers

Let’s face it, you’re (probably) not the first author to write about this, so when potential readers scroll through a long list of search results, how do they know your book is exactly what they’re looking for? Spoiler alert! It’s your title and subtitle. In this lesson, you’ll learn the essentials of crafting a strong title that tells readers everything they need to know about your unique message and how you approach it. You’ll also learn how having a strong working title from the early stages will keep your writing focused and more efficient.

Putting Your Ducks in a Row (While Herding Cats): Turning Your Ideas into an Annotated Table of Contents

You have so much you want to say, so how do you wrangle all that content and make it cooperate? The pros make it look so easy, but the truth is, all that organization is hard work. In this lesson, we’ll tackle the need-to-knows and get started creating an annotated table of contents that will set you up for success. Plus, this process will help you determine if you actually have more than one book on your hands—and which content to save for later. With this carefully crafted outline as your guide, drafting your book will be much less painful, and you’ll have cleared a significant hurdle in getting your manuscript to the finish line.

The Heart of Your Message: Structuring Chapters for Your Unique Genre 

(You’ll choose the narrative or nonnarrative path—one lesson for each.)

Now that you know what content goes with which chapter (thanks to your annotated table of contents!), how do you organize and write those chapters to be powerful—to compel readers to turn page after page? There are tried-and-true tricks for developing a chapter that delivers. In this lesson, we’ll cover important insights that make or break your chapters—and your book.

Crushing Your Writing Goals: Setting a Schedule and Making Goals

No matter how much inspiration you have and planning you’ve done, for your book to become a reality, you have to sit down and write the thing. This is why so many would-be authors don’t cross the finish line. So, how will you write while juggling your busy life? In this lesson, we’ll review some strategies for setting and meeting your writing goals all the way to THE END.

Fair Use or Foul? Ethically Sourcing Material

We’ve all seen nonfiction authors borrowing quotations and paraphrasing each other. As readers, we love to see additional evidence so we don't just have to take the author’s word for it. What we don’t see is the rigorous process the author went through to include others’ works (keeping it within the bounds of law, ethics, and professional respect). In this lesson, you’ll receive a crash course in intellectual property (IP) basics to help you understand how to protect your and others’ IP—and when you need to consult an IP lawyer.

Better with Betas: Giving and Receiving Feedback

Writing a book that lands with its target audience involves tapping into that audience from your earliest drafts. From reader response to writing craft, the feedback you receive from early readers, other writers, and editors will help you chisel your book into the masterpiece beneath the stone. In this lesson, we’ll review the who, what, when, where, why, and how of giving and receiving effective feedback so your book can make the difference you want it to.

It’s How You Say It (Part 1): Nailing Your Message with Point of View and Theme

Great nonfiction writers are masters of rhetoric, so this lesson is the first in a three-part series covering effective rhetorical tools we haven’t yet discussed in this course. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to determine which point of view is best for your book and how to skillfully utilize main ideas so readers absorb every last bit of your important, life-changing message.

It’s How You Say It (Part 2): Engaging Your Reader with Prose Structure

So far we’ve looked at the biggest pieces of a book. Now, it’s time to pull out your magnifying glass to look at the smaller bits—paragraphs and sentences. These are the links making up the chain of your book, and we all know a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We must carefully weld together these seemingly humble pieces of the whole in the strongest manner possible. In this lesson, we’ll look at paragraph and prose structure, and you’ll learn how to harness this often-overlooked superpower to keep readers engrossed in your message.

It’s How You Say It (Part 3): Powering Up Sentences with Strong Verbs and Prepositions

We used the magnifying glass in the last lesson, and now we’ll grab our microscopes to look at word choice. In this lesson, we'll look at how prepositions and verbs can make or break sentences so you can write powerful ones that engage readers from one period, question mark, and exclamation point to the next.

Instructor Bios 

This video goes over the bios of your award-winning instructors.

All about Editing

Learn about the different types of editing and which you need for different stages of your book’s development and production, how to process and act on alpha and beta reader feedback, and how to develop an editing plan unique to your goals and your book’s purpose.

Deciding How to Publish: Traditional Publishing versus Other Common Paths

Learn about the different paths to publishing (trad, indie, hybrid, oh my!), the pros and cons of each, and how your goals, timeline, platform, and book’s topic affect which path you choose.

Literary Agents 101

Discover what a literary agent can do for your author career. This class goes into depth on why you may want an agent; what agents are looking for (in other words, how to get out of the slush pile!); when you should start querying; the best places to find reputable agents; how to write queries, synopses, and book proposals; navigating rejection like a pro; and best practices for pitching and selling yourself as a professional that agents and publishers want to work with.

Indie Publishing Paths: In-Depth Overview

Dive deep into self-publishing must-knows to understand the different types of indie-publishing services available today, the pros and cons of each, and how to determine which publishing plan lines up with your goals, budget, and timeline. 

Cover Design

Despite the long-standing advice, we all judge a book by its cover! And, as one of your most important marketing tools, you want yours to pass muster. Avoid common mistakes and woo your target audience into clicking BUY with the time-tested strategies publishers and professional cover designers use to ensure a marketable cover.

Writing Your Backliner

Your book description (sometimes called a blurb, backliner, or jacket / back cover copy) is a critical marketing tool. Competing with the front cover for importance, it will make or break your sales. Readers will expect to tell—in just a few seconds of skimming your blurb—if this book will solve their problems, intrigue and awe them, or transform their lives. So you need to know the tips and tricks to effective book copy. Get it wrong and they stop reading. Get it right and watch those clicks pour in!

Navigating Distribution and Royalty Statements 

Save time learning how to quickly navigate and understand your royalty statements from various distributors. Plus, get some insider tips that will prevent confusion and frustration if you have more than one distributor making your books available to stores.