This publishing boot camp, limited to just 15 students, is designed for folks ready to prioritize writing a book proposal and finding a literary agent. Tawny Lara, Quirk and Penguin Random House author of Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze, and the forthcoming card deck, The Sobriety Deck, designed this intensive as the boot camp she needed in the early stages of her publishing career. Tawny also has a Business degree, and she’s the co-founder of a drink brand. She approaches book proposals the same way she approaches business. She sees book proposals as business plans for your book and literary agents as the investors who believe in your vision.

WHAT WRITERS CAN EXPECT:

In a virtual group setting, students meet with Tawny for two hours a week to finally dust off that old Google Doc and get to work.

Each week is structured so students can focus on one aspect of the publishing process at a time rather than feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing at once.

Each session ends with a 20-minute Q&A where students can ask about publishing, proposals, finding an agent, preorder campaigns, and book marketing.

GUEST SPEAKERS: 

• Gina Moffa, LCSW, grief therapist and author of Moving On Doesn’t Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss
• Anna Goldfarb, journalist and author of Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections

Week 1: Why Me? and Why Now? – Each book proposal needs to answer two questions: Why Me? and Why Now? You’ll define why you’re the person to write your book and why the world needs your book right now. Then, we’ll spruce up your author bio by creating a full-page About the Author section that further expands on why you’re the right person to write this book.

Week 2: Target Audience and Comp Titles – Identifying your target audiences can help you visualize your readers, which then helps publishers (and you!) know how to market your book. In addition to identifying your target audiences, you’ll also identify your comp titles (existing books that are similar to yours), then discern how your book is different.

Week 3: Chapter Overview and Sample Chapters – Chapter titles and summaries help future agents and publishers understand your book idea. You’ll learn what to include in those summaries to be as efficient as possible. Then, you’ll choose two chapters to include in your proposal. This class time will be spent outlining those sample chapters both digitally and using sticky notes.

Week 4: Literary Agents 101 – This week is all about finding the right agent to help you bring your project to life. Learn what exactly a literary agent does, what they look for, and how to convey your expertise to them. We’ll also cover the basics of how the publishing industry works from concept to publishing.

Week 5: Query Letters and Critiques – Now that you have a better understanding of what a literary agent does, this week focuses on writing a query letter that gets their attention. Students will also have time to draft their queries in class, then get feedback from their classmates and the teacher.

Week 6: Critiques, Q+A, and Community – The critique energy continues into the final week of class. Here, you’ll have time to revisit the draft of your proposal written during weeks 1-3. Then, you’ll share select sections with the class for feedback. We’ll close with ample time for Q+A and community connection. Writing a book can feel lonely at times, so moments like these help writers stay on track with their publishing goals.

SPECIFIC COURSE TAKEAWAYS: