AUTOFICTION WORKSHOP: Exploring Hybrid Writing by Gila Green

START DATE: Sunday, July 5, 2020

END DATE: Sunday, August 16, 2020

DURATION: 6 weeks

LOCATION: Zoom and email for assignments

FEEDBACK: Instructor feedback and critique

COURSE DESCRIPTION: What is autofiction? It's not memoir, fiction or personal essay, but might weave elements of two or all three. Auto-fiction is a genre for writers who want to write their stories minus the "is this true?" question lurking around every sentence." Autofiction allows writers to pen personal experience without the constraints of traditional autobiography. In this course, we'll explore some of the techniques of writers who have reconstructed events from their own lives using methods borrowed from other genres to create new forms. There will be weekly readings that we'll use to discuss different elements of craft in terms of narrative, structure, genre, tone, narrator, character, and theme. We will also have a weekly writing exercise based on the reading, as well as group and instructor workshopping of participant work.

 WEEKS AT A GLANCE:

WEEK 1: Getting to the Emotional Truth of the Story

Forget the facts and focus on your core message. Reading by Alexander Chee. Complete at least one writing exercise of 1,000 words. Post for peer feedback.

WEEK 2: Set Your Protagonist Free

Complete at least one writing exercise of no more than 1,000 words. Post for feedback. Readings from Chris Kraus.

WEEK 3: Draw from Your Own Experience

Complete at least one writing exercise of no more than 1,000 words. Post for feedback. Readings from Juliet Escoria.

WEEK 4: Shut up so others can speak.

Complete at least one writing exercise of no more than 1,000 words. Post for feedback. Reading from Scott McClanahan.

WEEK 5: Pictures, Objects, Sensory Prompts

Complete at least one writing exercise of no more than 1,000 words. Post for feedback. Reading from Bruno Schulz.

WEEK 6: Sights, Smells, and Other Sensory Memories.

Complete at least one writing exercise of no more than 1,000 words. Post for feedback. Reading from Maggie Nelson.

Materials needed: All written materials in the form of lectures, ebooks, story links, etc. are provided by the instructor.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Canadian Gila Green is the author of No Entry, a young adult, environmental fiction novel; novel in stories White Zion and two adult novels, Passport Control and King of the Class. She has published dozens of short stories in literary magazines and anthologies. Please visit: www.gilagreenwrites.com

COST: $185, which includes one-on-one e-mail support and feedback from your instructor, weekly assignments and critiques. Skype & Skype chat if you choose that option.

BUY NOW: Autofiction Workshop: Exploring Hybrid Writing with Gila Green (6 weeks, starting 7/5/2020) Limit: 8-10 students. Early registration is recommended.

CLASS TWO

Prepare to Publish: the business of publication, a hands-on workshop for writers with complete or near-complete manuscripts ready for publication. Monday & Wednesday options

starts last week of June

Many authors invest all of their energy into their works and are so pre-occupied with writing and editing that by the time it comes to publishing, they are woefully unprepared. Exhausted from the writing process, they are willing to take the first opportunity to publish their books, with little research. This often leads to disappointment, frustration, loss of money, and often a sense of hopelessness or wasted time. The solution? Prepare to publish. Because publishing is a business completely separate from writing.

Why this class will save you money, time, and disappointment
The average author spends up to $10,000 in publishing their books and most don't earn any money. This excludes the amount of money spent writing the book through workshops and editors.

This course puts together Gila Green's years of experience to help you avoid common first-time author pitfalls, including blindly throwing thousands of dollars on websites, publicists, publishers, and advertisements with unrealistic expectations.

Learn to:
  • identify your writing genre
  • spot scams
  • ask the the right questions of publishers, agents, and publicists
  • perform due diligence with regard to literary agents
  • pay attention to elements of an author contract
  • craft your query letters, blurbs, press releases and other marketing material
  • sell your books
This hyper-practical 12-week course will create a strategy tailored to YOUR book. (Note the possibility of a 6-week option, depending where you are in the process.)

Take a look at the FAQs below before registering. Once registered, we will be in touch to discuss whether this course is indeed right for your work and needs.


Course outline
Part 1:
Week 1: Which publishing strategy is the best for your manuscript
Weeks 2 & 3: Crafting your query letter and author bio
Weeks 4 & 5: Writing the back cover blurb, styling the author photo, and obtaining blurbs from other authors
Week 6: Book contracts & how to protect yourself
Part 2:
Week 7: Author networking & general authors associations
Weeks 8 & 9: Writing press releases, essays, and blog posts
Weeks 10 & 11: How to market your book
Weeks 12: Selling & advertising your bookDetailsCost for the 12-week course: 4500 NIS / 1275 USD

Cost for the 6-week course: 2500 NIS / 710 USD
Delivery: 90-minute Zoom sessions & an interactive private Facebook group.
Monday: 10:00-11:30 AM IDT / 5:00-6.30 PM AEST
Part 1: Jun 22-July 27; Part 2: Aug 3-Sept 7
Wednesday: 7:30-9 PM IDT / 12:30 PM EST
Part 1: Jun 24-Aug 5 (no July 29); Part 2: Aug 12-Sept 16
Minimum/Maximum Participation: 5/10
Registration
: Sign up below and we will be in touch. Payment can be made via bank transfer, Pepper Pay, check/cheque or credit card.
Cancellation and refund policy


FAQs
Q: I have no time/patience to find an agent and plan to self-publish. Should I take your course?
A. Yes. Self-published authors have to perform many of the same tasks as traditionally-published authors (writing a great bio, synopsis, back cover blurb, press release), network and create a marketing and sales plan and there are just as many scams out there for traditionally published as self-published authors. 


Q: I plan to self-publish and would like advice as to how to go about that: choosing a graphic artist, which company to use, updates on Amazon Kindle plan and so on. Is this course for me? A: No. This course is about preparation before you publish and does not cover the technical aspects of self-publishing such as actually getting your book up on Amazon/Kindle, which publishing program to choose, and so on.


Q: I hate publicity and sales. Why not just hand everything over to a PR person? Why bother spending money on your course?
A: Publicists generally focus on publicity (not sales). They often do things that help you market your book such as find book bloggers in advance for reviews and find "the hook" to help you write a press release. They rarely do activities that help you generate sales such as help you build an email list. As we will discuss in the course, sales and marketing are two different things. In addition, if you plan to write a second book, you may not be in a position to spend the same amount of money twice or you may be so disappointed from the outcome of your first book that you don't write another one. Also, note that there's a lot of "junk marketing" out there. Junk marketing is anything that cannot be measured. This course is focused on moving you away from junk marketing. 


Q: I have just published my book and have no visibility and no sales. Is your course for me?
A: Yes. If your book has been published in the last year, this course will still be helpful unless you wrote about something so trendy that it is already dated, but that's rare. Even if your book is more than a year old, it is still possible to succeed with it and to position yourself now for your second book. There are some strong elements that might not be fixed if your book is already out. For example, if your book cover lacks a great design, which is critical, that is water under the bridge unless you own the rights and want to rerelease it. 


Q: Will this course get me a literary agent/publisher? A: Not directly. This course will discuss how to find a literary agent, the pros and cons of literary agents and realistic expectations regarding literary agents and small publishers –you cannot get to the large publishers on your own without an agent most of the time. It will not guarantee you a literary agent or a publisher - anyone who guarantees you publication is not to be trusted. What it will do is help you find the right one and redirect your focus to the book itself, its target and value. All of the marketing in the world cannot help a book that has no value to an audience.


Q: A small publisher just sent me a contract. Can you go over it for me as part of the course?
A: No. I am not a lawyer and nothing I say is legal advice. I will discuss pitfalls of publishing contracts from my experience of using my own lawyer to review mine and talk about what to look out for and how to protect yourself, from my experience. I have reviewed seven contracts for my own works from three different countries and no, I didn't sign them all and I signed one and changed my mind—luckily, very quickly. I can also suggest ways to get advice that are less costly than using a lawyer but I cannot act as a lawyer and review personal contracts. 


Q: Will you review my manuscript and help me position it for marketing and sales as part of the course?
A: I will be critiquing your weekly assignments based on your own assessment of your work.Reviewing your personal manuscript to help you position it either for an agent, publisher or for readers is beyond the scope of this course. If it's something you're interested in, please approach me independently of this course.


Q: What can I expect to come out with at the end of this course?
A: You can expect to finish this course with a strategy for publishing your book that is tailored to YOU. This course will give you control of the process, something many authors feel they lack. Very few authors are happy with a lot of marketing and visibility but no sales, unless they wrote the book to sell another service they offer. This course will give you a realistic view of publishing from someone who has been regularly publishing since 2005 (short stories), and novels since 2013 as well as someone who is still currently in touch with and working with her four publishers on a regular basis.


Q: There's so much free information on the internet. Why take your course?
A: You could possibly succeed with a lot of the free information online if you're willing to put in the hours and the research. However, the problem with general advice is it is not tailored and often has zero relevance to you. Would you recommend the same diet for a sixteen, thirty and sixty year old? Just as your diet plan won't work for your neighbor, your publishing plan has to work for you, not anyone else. In addition, information is just the beginning, it's what you do with the information that counts and this course will get you acting on that information with weekly assignments that hold you accountable to sit and do the work.


Q: I read there's a book coming out every few seconds on Amazon. Isn't the publishing world saturated anyway, no matter what I do? Why spend more money on a course that offers no guarantees?
A: There are no guarantees with a small business - and putting out a book is starting a small business. While it's true, there are new books out there every day, there is also demand for great books in popular genres that people actually want to read. There's always room at the top. But it normally takes practice, hard work and networking—something many authors are too exhausted to do after they've finished writing and that they often believe they can pay someone else to do for them. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case unless the author was already a brand name beforehand.This course will help you focus on the real world of publishing as a business, hold you accountable, provide you with a community of your peers, making you far better equipped to succeed. 


Q: I am writing a children's/fantasy/sci fi book. Is your course for me.
A: Yes. This course is aimed at authors who are near completion or have just completed a manuscript and you will be doing your own assignments tailored to your own work and receiving instructor and peer feedback.



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