Creating Suspense

September 29-30

Learn a simple but powerful technique to increase the suspense in your fiction. Make your reader sit on the edge of their seat. This is an interactive seminar with personal feedback from the instructor. You can work on WiP.

Rayne Hall is the author of over 20 books in several genres (mostly horror and fantasy), published under several pen names and translated into several languages. With a college degree in publishing management and a masters in creative writing, she has worked in the publishing industry for three decades. Currently, she edits  paranormal short story anthologies and teaches online classes for advanced-level writers.

Query Letters: Your Major Marketing Tool - from Agent to Publishing to Bestseller - March 3-10, 2012
Let's talk query letters. From the minute you go after a publisher writing a great query letter is your single most important marketing skill. One of the agents I interviewed for The Frugal Editor said that authors who follow templates religiously are doing themselves a disservice. She hints that if they can't let their voice come through in a letter, then why should she trust them to write a book. You'll learn the pet peeves of agents I interviewed and some techniques for making your letter stand out without resorting to kitschy or downright annoying tactics. Learn more about the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers.

Multi Award-Winning How To do It Frugally Series of Books and Booklets for Writers

The Frugal Book Promoter The Frugal Editor Booklet Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers Booklet The Great First Impression Book Proposal

Carolyn will be in forums daily at 1 pm EST / 12 pm Central / 10 am Pacific for questions

The Writer's Mind-Body Connection - April 16-29, 2012

We can all agree that caffeine wakes you up, a scary situation causes your body to produce adrenaline, and certain boring books put you to sleep. But the mind-body connection goes so much further than that. Research continues to prove just how closely our minds and bodies are connected, which has huge implications for writers. Are there foods you can eat to make you more creative? Will the time of day you work out affect the number of pages you write in a day? Can writing an emotional scene make you mad at your husband? Join author Kara Lennox for a fun and interesting two weeks, learning about the latest research and how you can apply it to your life to improve your writing (and maybe improve your life).

Kara Lennox is our Seminar Host

Kara Lennox (a.k.a. Karen Leabo) has been a student of meditation and yoga for decades. She has been long fascinated with the illusive and sometimes magical-seeming connections between mind and body, reading every book or piece of research she can get her hands on, particularly as they apply to creativity and productivity. Kara has written more than 60 contemporary romance novels for Harlequin/Silhouette and Bantam Loveswept. Currently she is working on her next book in the Project Justice romantic suspense series, published by Harlequin Super Romance Since her first novel was released in 1989, her books frequently appear on romance bestseller lists. They have been translated into 18 languages and published in twenty-plus countries around the world. Kara's books have finaled in several romance industry contests including the National Readers' Choice Awards, the Holt Medallion competition, and the RITA.Her Harlequin American Romance PLAIN JANE'S PLAN won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice award.

Author Marketing and Branding- How to Stand Out in a Crowd

May 20-30

Are you deathly afraid of marketing and promotion? Well, you need to get over it, because your publisher most likely isn't going to fork over money and resources to publicize your book. And with so many great books out there, how will potential readers know about your book if you don't tell them yourself? In this course you will learn what branding is, what your platform is and how to develop it, including tips for book launches and signings, what should be on your website, how to put together author pages on sites like Amazon and Goodreads, and much more!

Cassandra Carr is a multi-published erotic romance writer with Ellora's Cave, Siren, and Loose Id who lives in Western New York with her husband, Inspiration, and her daughter, Too Cute for Words. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out on Twitter. Cassandra's book Caught was recently named Best BDSM Book 2011 by LoveRomancesCafe.

How To Create Your Own Book Trailers

3 Sessions- Sunday - June 3, June 10th, June 17

Ever thought about making your own book trailer? It's not as difficult as you may think. check out my (free) easy steps. Each week for three weeks, I will guide you along the path of what it takes you make your own trailer.

Linda Hadaway has a wonderful supportive husband, Bryon and a great little boy, Jacob, who keeps me busy when I am not writing. Three grown children: Donn, Brandy, Dale, and my lovely daughter- in-law, Heather. I've been blessed with grandkids: Donnie, Hallie, Melinda; Daylen and his twin brothers: Holton & Dalton; Anthony; and great-grandbaby- Jade.

I've worked in the Human Services for many years. The experiences I've had certainly added interesting personality traits to the characters that seem to create themselves somewhere in my head.

Become a Better Editor of Your Own Work - August 1-12, 2012

M M Pollard is our Seminar Host

Becoming a Better Editor of Your Own Work covers five editing strategies and five writing errors. I’ll give you an assignment with new strategy so that you can practice each one to correct that lesson’s error in your own work.

M M Pollard - As a line editor for Black Velvet Seductions, MM Pollard read many entertaining and thought-provoking stories. But she found common mistakes in punctuation, grammar, and usage in the manuscripts.

With fifteen years of experience teaching English, MM Pollard decided to start her own workshop business. Her goal is to teach writers what they need to know about English grammar, usage, and punctuation so that they won’t need an editing service to correct their mistakes in these areas.

MM Pollard is a popular presenter who has taught workshops at Savvy Authors, Muse Online Writers Conference, Novelists at Work, Orange County Chapter RWA, Writers Online Classes, and Celtic Hearts RWA, as well as her own site.