Playing the Short Game online workshop series

Submitted by Douglas Smith on Sat, 2020/04/18 - 11:38am

Short Game coverI'll be giving three free online workshops on how to market and sell short fiction, based on my Playing the Short Game writer's guide, sponsored by the Newmarket Public Library and the Writers' Community of York Region (WCYR). You need to register online for the workshops, which will take place on three consecutive Tuesday evenings: April 21, April 28, and May 5.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020, 7-9pm EDT — Playing the Short Game #1: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction

This workshop will give you critical advice on how to sell your short stories to professional markets and to build a career as a short fiction writer. Topics covered include:

  • Rights and licensing for short fiction
  • A strategy for selecting your target markets
  • Finding short fiction markets
  • Selecting the right market
  • Submitting short fiction to a market
  • What not to do when submitting
  • What to do after submitting

Tuesday, April 28, 2020, 7-9pm EDT — Playing the Short Game #2: You Sold a Story! Contracts, Editing, & Reality

This workshop takes a writer from when they learn an editor wants to buy their story to after it's published and the reviews start coming. Topics include:

  • Understanding how editors and slush piles work
  • Why editors choose or reject stories
  • What to look (and look out) for in short fiction contracts, and how to ask for changes
  • How to work with an editor during the editing process for your story
  • How to handle rejections and reviews
  • How much promotion is reasonable when you sell a story
  • Cool things that might happen: Awards, best of anthologies,…and even movies

Tuesday, May 5, 2020, 7-9pm EDT — Playing the Short Game #3: How to Make Your Short Fiction Work for You

This workshop focuses on the phase in a short story writer's career when they've established themselves and have built up a backlist of published short fiction. It will explain the many ways a successful short fiction writer can leverage their own inventory of published stories, as well as other aspects of an established short fiction writer's life. Topics include:

  • Leveraging your backlist
  • Selling reprints
  • Selling in foreign languages
  • Selling audio rights
  • Publishing a collection
  • The indie option for short fiction
  • Discoverability tools and promotion for established writers
  • Career progression in short fiction

Again, you need to register online with the library.