CW 28 — From Writer to Author: Navigating the Twisty Path to Publication
Quarter: Spring
Day(s): Tuesdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 6 weeks
Date(s): Apr 18—May 23
Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Apr 20
Unit: 0
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Tuition: $275
Instructor(s): Malena Watrous
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Spring
Date(s)
Apr 18—May 23
6 weeks
Refund Date
Apr 20
0 Unit
Fees
$275
Grade Restriction
NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Instructor(s):
Malena Watrous
Recording
Yes
Open
The difference between a writer and an author is that the latter has published a book. But the path to publication is seldom straightforward. After finishing a manuscript, many aspiring authors are uncertain how to proceed. Do you need an agent, and how do you go about finding one? Is it important to hire a developmental editor, and how do you know who's going to be a good fit? If you choose to self-publish, what steps are involved? How do you make the public aware that your book exists? This course gives beginning writers exposure to published authors who will talk to them about the steps they took toward (and after) publication, demystifying the process. In this six-week course, we will begin with an introduction to the basics of publishing, then discuss five books (one each week) by five successfully published authors, who will each come to our class via a live online session, together with an instrumental member of the team that helped them on the path to publication. These sessions will serve as part book group, part information session about how publishing works. You will be able to ask these authors and their “teammates” questions about the book and their working relationship and become better able to navigate the path to publication on your own.
For students who have previously taken this course, the structure is the same but the books and guests are new. Students will have access to supplemental discussion threads to discuss the books and the course. There will be no writing assignments.
MALENA WATROUS
Writer; Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford; Online Writing Certificate Program Lead and Creative Writing Coordinator, Stanford Continuing Studies
Malena Watrous is the author of the novel If You Follow Me and co-author of the novel Sparked and the cookbook My Mexico City Kitchen. She has contributed to The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Jessie Weaver, Live Your Best Lie (ISBN 978-1368078368)
(Required) Mike Scalise, The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir (ISBN 978-1941411339)
(Required) Thomas H McNeely, Pictures of the Shark: Stories (ISBN 978-1680032710)
(Required) Kirthana Ramisetti, Advika and the Hollywood Wives (ISBN 978-1538709276)
(Required) Kimberly Young, In the Event of Death (ISBN 978-1637586662 )
(Required) Mike Scalise, The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir (ISBN 978-1941411339)
(Required) Thomas H McNeely, Pictures of the Shark: Stories (ISBN 978-1680032710)
(Required) Kirthana Ramisetti, Advika and the Hollywood Wives (ISBN 978-1538709276)
(Required) Kimberly Young, In the Event of Death (ISBN 978-1637586662 )