Untitled Document

WRITING FOR THE MARKETPLACE

PBDS #604

NOTE: This is representative of the syllabi for this course. It is not necessarily the syllabus being used in any one semester.

Writing for various free-lance markets, primarily newspapers and magazines, and

learning how to assess the needs of those publications and how to make pitches to them. Also: writing book proposals and gauging what would make a good and marketable book.

In a sense, this is a two-in-one course: one course is on advanced-level writing; the other is about business strategy. The writing part is essential to crack a market -- and deliver the "goods; the business part is essential to understand a market. Several goals will be braided throughout the semester: understanding the relationship of audience to content, which is what a good editor knows; understanding the relationship of market to publication, which is what a good publisher knows: understanding the relationship of voice and tone to content and audience, which is what a good writer knows.

We'll develop critical and analytical skills that are crucial for understanding the purpose, structure and design of specific forms of writing and how they relate -- or don't relate -- to specific publications or to book publishing. We'll try to discern how your writing fits into a current publishing niche. Or how you can tailor your writing so it fits a niche.

We'll navigate strategies to get articles and/or books published; assess the current state of magazine and rook publishing; analyze local and national magazines and newspapers: assess types and styles of Writing; try to decipher an editor's editorial values; and gauge how all this -- topic, style, substance fluff, whimsy/gravity, etc., etc. -- appeals to a publisher's targeted audience.

Hopefully, you'll leave this course with an enhanced appreciation for the possibilities and the power of your own work -- and the temperament and direction of the marketplace and how you fit into it. You may also be better able to tolerate the confusion, uncertainty, ambivalence and fear that are inescapable parts of serious writing.

REQUIRED READING

To purchase:

* On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. New York: HarperCollins.

* WriterMarket 2001, edited by Kirsten Hehm. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books.

There will be frequent handouts, especially from the NY Times' Thursday column, "Making

Book,", which discusses the vagaries of to day's book publishing and often analyzes the symbiotic relationships between books, TV, magazines, and films, all of which are integral to understanding today's "marketplace."

RECOMMENDED READING

* Elements of Style by Strunk and White. New York: MacMillan

* Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, edited by Jean M. Fredette. Cincinnati. Ohio: Writer's Digest

Books

* Writer's Digest and/or Writer Magazine (both are available in the Langsdale Library)

* Brill's Content (available on newsstands or at www.briliscontent.com or www.content.com)

READING ON-THE-RUN:

Throughout this course (and maybe for. every day of your life afterward). whenever you pass a newsstand, scan the racks. This is the "front door" of the "market." See where each magazine and newspaper is displayed. See which gets the most prominence. Determine which has the most eye-catching visuals or headlines on the cover or their front page. What doesn't? WHY? What kind of tone does the cover set for the interior of then magazine? What does it "promise" about the magazine?

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Keep a writer's notebook. A three-ring binder will work best for this. For each week of the class, write in your notebook two to three ideas that you'd like to develop as articles or as books. Each idea should include: the slant you'd take when writing the article or book what pulls you toward this idea, what magazine(s) or publisher(s) might be interested in it. How long the article or book might be, how long it might take you to research and write. Keep your entries in this notebook brief. I will collect the notebooks the class that meets on Nov. 8.

(This notebook is primarily for your own personal use. Do not be overly concerned with neatness. Your entries can be done in handwriting or with a word processor or on an old typewriter you found in a junkyard. What's important is 1) entries be neat enough so I can read them; 2) you not spend more time addressing legibility than you do addressing creativity.)

The length of writing assignments will be given in the number of desired words. (This -- not the number of pages -- is how people in newspaper/magazine/book publishing think.) The length of an assignment is not arbitrary, although it is somewhat flexible. For a 1,500-word assignment, for example, you don't have to hit that magic number right on the button. On the other hand, don't skimp and write 1,000 words. And don't write a bloated 2,000 words. A general rule of thumb is that going over or under an assigned length by 150-200 words is dandy. Anything excessively above or below that number would be problematic.

Assignments have specific lengths to give you a feel for a form of writing, for the discipline involved in it, for your own proclivity for -- and comfort in -- that style. Don't be seduced by the numbers! The compression necessary when writing a 500-word essay may be as difficult as the discipline and/or research and/or thinking demanded when taking a 2,500-word essay to full length. Maybe more difficult.

Assignments should be double-spaced in 12-point characters. Always use one-inch margins and indent paragraphs. Do not have an extra space between paragraphs. Those extra spaces disrupt the reading process, turn each paragraph into an isolated island of its own and interrupt the flow of meaning and effect.

REVISIONS

Every writing assignment (except the writer's notebook) can be revised up to three times. The grade for the latest revision will replace any previous grades received for that assignment. No revision will be accepted unless all previous versions of that assignment are stapled to it.

WEEKLY TASKS

Each week, bring to class one magazine or newspaper for discussion. This publication might have an article you consider exemplary or that which speaks brilliantly to the publication's targeted audience. Or an article you deem atrocious, but which still addressees the publication's audience. Or an article which seems to be a complete anomaly for that publication.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Starting around the fourth or fifth week of the course, each student will make a 30-minute presentation about:

* a specific magazine to which they plan to submit story ideas, why they hope to be published there, what story ideas they plan to submit, what audience/niche the magazine fills (who are its readers?), and such details on how much the magazine pays per article and clever tips on how to get into its editors good graces.

OR a specific story idea you have and the several magazines to which you hope to submit it.

How you might tailor the idea and the writing for reach of those markets.

OR a specific book idea you have and the several publishers to which you'd submit it. Why those publishers are right for your idea. What kind of books those publishers print. Your strategy for convincing a publisher to buy for your book. Your strategy for actually marketing the book once it's published.

GRADING

Grades will be given on every writing assignment:

F -- for work that does not satisfy in any way the course requirements and/or the graduate level of this course.

C-, C, C+ -- for work that barely satisfies the course requirements and/or the graduate level of this course.

B-, B, B+ -- good, solid, commendable work.

A-, A -- work so accomplished, so polished, so skilled that an editor receiving it would

immediately shriek "Eureka!" and sprint down the hall to brag to colleagues that another Hemingway, Wolfe, Mailer, Capote, McPhee has just been discovered.

There is no final exam.

Grades received for your writing assignments will account for 65 percent of your [mal grade; your oral presentation will account for 20 percent; class participation and attendance will account for 15 percent. Also influencing the [mal grade will be your progress and improvement as a writer and as a thinker about writing since the beginning of the semester.

Any assignment not turned in by the beginning of the class when it is due will lose half a , letter grade. Assignments more than one week late will lose a full letter grade.

Excessive and repeated tardiness will adversely affect your grade, as will more than two absences.

OFFICE HOURS

My office #, phone # and e-mail address are in the top left corner of the first page of this syllabus. I'll be in my office from 7-8 p.m. on Thursdays, plus about 15 minutes after each class. I'll also be in the office from about 7-8 p.m., Tuesdays.

I'll accommodate any student who wants to meet in my office, but an appointment is necessary. If you know in advance you'd like such a meeting, please call or e-mail. Ifa before- or after-class meeting is inconvenient for you, I'll try to adjust my schedule -- within reason -- so we can meet at another time.

THE WEEKS AHEAD

Note: This is a rough overview of the semester. Readings, writing assignments, and class discussions may change as the semester proceeds.

Week 1 Get acquainted; general lay of the land; writing and reading assignments for Week #2.

Week 2 * Send for writer's guidelines from three magazines you think may be appropriate markets for your articles. Bring a copy of the guidelines to class when they arrive so you can briefly discuss them.

Begin your writer's notebook. (See "Writing Assignments," p. 2 of syllabus, for details on tie notebook.)

DUE: 500-750 word essay about why you want to write and be published. what sort of magazines you'd like to be published in and/or what sort of nooks you might like to write; what makes you unique as a writer. What might make you stand out from the crowd. To be realistic (but hopefully not mordant), discuss how your ego might handle rejections from editors.

READING: Handout: "How To Read an Editor's Mind and Manuscripts.'! "Sell What You Write," p. 32, Writer's Market 2001

Week 3 Bring to class three copies of a two ideas for a seasonal article you'd like to propose to a magazine for an article. Each idea should be 300-400 words. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. What magazine(s) might be interested in it. How long the article might be. How long it might take you to research and write.

READING: Handouts from Handbook of .l\1agazine Writing: "Interviews." "Popping the Question," "Writing the Seasonal Article." "Getting Published: Before Your First Sale," p. 5-16, Writer's Market 2001

Week 4 Guest speaker: Meg Guroff, managing editor "of Modern Maturity magazine and former managing editor of Baltimore Magazine. What are the editorial needs of such niche magazines and how -- as a writer -- can you satisfy them? What's the best way to pitch an idea to such a magazine? What's the best way to tailor your writing for such magazines?

DUE: Bring to 'class three copies of two ideas for a personality profile you'd like to propose to a magazine. Each idea should b 300-400 words. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. What magazine(s) might be interested in it. How long the article might be. How long it might take you to research and write.

READING: On Writing Well by William Zinsser, Chapter 12, "Writing About People: The Interview." Handout: Personality profile(s) from magazines.

Week 5 No class - Yom Kippur

Week 6 Guest speaker: John Fairhall, city editor, Baltimore Sun: what editor of large city papers are seeking & how to break into their market.

DUE: two-page query letter pitching to a magazine -- Esquire? Redbook? The Nation? Playboy? Vanity Fair? Baltimore Magazine? Washingtonian Magazine? Etc., etc., etc. -- the seasonal story idea or the personality profile that most appeals to you or which you think has the best chance of being sold.

READING: "writing Queries That Work, pp 17-20, Writer's Market 2001. "Query Letter Clinic," pp. 21-31. Writer's Market 2001

Week 7 DUE: 750 to 1.000 word article on a seasonal topic or a personality profile.

READING: TBA

Week 8 DUE: Revision of query letter you wrote for class of Week 6, Oct. 4. As you revise, keep in mind this passage from Philip Gerard's Creative Nonfiction:

Revision is... re-envisioning your work. Stepping back from it in light of what you know now, what you have written and determining if you have done what you set out to do. Just because the piece occurred to you in a certain way and you wrote it that way doesn't mean that was the only way, or the best way, to do it.

READING: On Writing Well: "Rewriting," pp. 84-88.

Week 9 DUE: Revision of article on seasonal topic or personality profile that you wrote for class of Week 7, Oct. II.

Bring to class three copies of a 400-500 word precis of the book idea you've written in your notebook that you'd most like to propose to a publisher. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. Which publisher(s) might be interested in it. How long (in number of words) the book might be. How long it might take you to research and write. What qualifies .you to write this book.

READING: From On Writing Well: Chapters Four and Twenty. From Writer's Market 2001: "First Books," pp.85-88. '

IMPORTANT: This class will run from 8: 15:-9: 15. After that, I'll meet individually with students I for 10-15 minute sessions in my office (Room 503) to review progress to date, discuss any problems. review idea for book proposal they're about to write.

Week 10 Guest Speakers: Gregg Wilhelm and Megan Devine: "Independent Book Publishers: Their Purpose & Scope & How You -- The Writer -- Fit In." What is an independent book publisher? How "independent" are they? "Independent" from what? What niche do they fill in this age of mass-market mergers and the disappearing small publisher with a strong and autonomous voice? What are their editorial needs and how -- as a writer -- can you satisfy them? Gregg Wilhelm is president of Book Wise Associates and publisher of Edgewise Books, a new imprint launching in 2002. He was formerly director and editor at Woodholme House Publishers, director of the Archdiocese of Baltimore-affiliated Cathedral Foundation Press, acquisitions editor at Brookes Publishing, and an acquisitions assistant at Johns Hopkins University Press. Meghan Devine is partner in Bookwise Associates, which offers editorial, marketing, subsidiary rights sales, and agenting services to writers and publishers. Previously, she was marketing manager at Woodholme House Publishers, an agent at the Sagalyn Agency, and a sales representative with Random House.

DUE: First half of book proposal: Working title and 5-6 page overview.

READINGS: TBA

IMPORTANT: This class may not run until the usual 10:45 if I was not able to meet individually with every student last week to review progress, discuss any problems, review their book proposal idea. If necessary, class time will be tailored accordingly.

Week 11 Guest speaker: Sue De Pasquale, editor, Johns Hopkins Magazine. "Writing for University Magazines." What niche do university magazines serve? What are their editorial needs and how- - as a writer -- can you satisfy them? How can you best pitch an idea to such a magazine? Do such publications enjoy the freedom to criticize their own institutions?

DUE: Second half of book proposal: The market; chapter outline; and "about the author." READING: TBA

Week 12 DUE: The writer's notebook you've been keeping from the beginning of the semester. I'll return this in 2-3 weeks.

READING: TBA

Week 13 NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING

Week 14 DUE: revised book proposals

READING: TBA

Week 15 Last class. No final, but please attend for general discussion about the course.




			WRITING FOR THE MARKETPLACE PBDS #604 NOTE: This is representative of the syllabi for this course. It is not necessarily the syllabus being used in any one semester. Writing for various free-lance markets, primarily newspapers and magazines, and learning how to assess the needs of those publications and how to make pitches to them. Also: writing book proposals and gauging what would make a good and marketable book. In a sense, this is a two-in-one course: one course is on advanced-level writing; the other is about business strategy. The writing part is essential to crack a market -- and deliver the "goods; the business part is essential to understand a market. Several goals will be braided throughout the semester: understanding the relationship of audience to content, which is what a good editor knows; understanding the relationship of market to publication, which is what a good publisher knows: understanding the relationship of voice and tone to content and audience, which is what a good writer knows. We'll develop critical and analytical skills that are crucial for understanding the purpose, structure and design of specific forms of writing and how they relate -- or don't relate -- to specific publications or to book publishing. We'll try to discern how your writing fits into a current publishing niche. Or how you can tailor your writing so it fits a niche. We'll navigate strategies to get articles and/or books published; assess the current state of magazine and rook publishing; analyze local and national magazines and newspapers: assess types and styles of Writing; try to decipher an editor's editorial values; and gauge how all this -- topic, style, substance fluff, whimsy/gravity, etc., etc. -- appeals to a publisher's targeted audience. Hopefully, you'll leave this course with an enhanced appreciation for the possibilities and the power of your own work -- and the temperament and direction of the marketplace and how you fit into it. You may also be better able to tolerate the confusion, uncertainty, ambivalence and fear that are inescapable parts of serious writing. REQUIRED READING To purchase: * On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. New York: HarperCollins. * WriterMarket 2001, edited by Kirsten Hehm. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books. There will be frequent handouts, especially from the NY Times' Thursday column, "Making Book,", which discusses the vagaries of to day's book publishing and often analyzes the symbiotic relationships between books, TV, magazines, and films, all of which are integral to understanding today's "marketplace." RECOMMENDED READING * Elements of Style by Strunk and White. New York: MacMillan * Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, edited by Jean M. Fredette. Cincinnati. Ohio: Writer's Digest Books * Writer's Digest and/or Writer Magazine (both are available in the Langsdale Library) * Brill's Content (available on newsstands or at www.briliscontent.com or www.content.com) READING ON-THE-RUN: Throughout this course (and maybe for. every day of your life afterward). whenever you pass a newsstand, scan the racks. This is the "front door" of the "market." See where each magazine and newspaper is displayed. See which gets the most prominence. Determine which has the most eye-catching visuals or headlines on the cover or their front page. What doesn't? WHY? What kind of tone does the cover set for the interior of then magazine? What does it "promise" about the magazine? WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Keep a writer's notebook. A three-ring binder will work best for this. For each week of the class, write in your notebook two to three ideas that you'd like to develop as articles or as books. Each idea should include: the slant you'd take when writing the article or book what pulls you toward this idea, what magazine(s) or publisher(s) might be interested in it. How long the article or book might be, how long it might take you to research and write. Keep your entries in this notebook brief. I will collect the notebooks the class that meets on Nov. 8. (This notebook is primarily for your own personal use. Do not be overly concerned with neatness. Your entries can be done in handwriting or with a word processor or on an old typewriter you found in a junkyard. What's important is 1) entries be neat enough so I can read them; 2) you not spend more time addressing legibility than you do addressing creativity.) The length of writing assignments will be given in the number of desired words. (This -- not the number of pages -- is how people in newspaper/magazine/book publishing think.) The length of an assignment is not arbitrary, although it is somewhat flexible. For a 1,500-word assignment, for example, you don't have to hit that magic number right on the button. On the other hand, don't skimp and write 1,000 words. And don't write a bloated 2,000 words. A general rule of thumb is that going over or under an assigned length by 150-200 words is dandy. Anything excessively above or below that number would be problematic. Assignments have specific lengths to give you a feel for a form of writing, for the discipline involved in it, for your own proclivity for -- and comfort in -- that style. Don't be seduced by the numbers! The compression necessary when writing a 500-word essay may be as difficult as the discipline and/or research and/or thinking demanded when taking a 2,500-word essay to full length. Maybe more difficult. Assignments should be double-spaced in 12-point characters. Always use one-inch margins and indent paragraphs. Do not have an extra space between paragraphs. Those extra spaces disrupt the reading process, turn each paragraph into an isolated island of its own and interrupt the flow of meaning and effect. REVISIONS Every writing assignment (except the writer's notebook) can be revised up to three times. The grade for the latest revision will replace any previous grades received for that assignment. No revision will be accepted unless all previous versions of that assignment are stapled to it. WEEKLY TASKS Each week, bring to class one magazine or newspaper for discussion. This publication might have an article you consider exemplary or that which speaks brilliantly to the publication's targeted audience. Or an article you deem atrocious, but which still addressees the publication's audience. Or an article which seems to be a complete anomaly for that publication. ORAL PRESENTATIONS Starting around the fourth or fifth week of the course, each student will make a 30-minute presentation about: * a specific magazine to which they plan to submit story ideas, why they hope to be published there, what story ideas they plan to submit, what audience/niche the magazine fills (who are its readers?), and such details on how much the magazine pays per article and clever tips on how to get into its editors good graces. OR a specific story idea you have and the several magazines to which you hope to submit it. How you might tailor the idea and the writing for reach of those markets. OR a specific book idea you have and the several publishers to which you'd submit it. Why those publishers are right for your idea. What kind of books those publishers print. Your strategy for convincing a publisher to buy for your book. Your strategy for actually marketing the book once it's published. GRADING Grades will be given on every writing assignment: F -- for work that does not satisfy in any way the course requirements and/or the graduate level of this course. C-, C, C+ -- for work that barely satisfies the course requirements and/or the graduate level of this course. B-, B, B+ -- good, solid, commendable work. A-, A -- work so accomplished, so polished, so skilled that an editor receiving it would immediately shriek "Eureka!" and sprint down the hall to brag to colleagues that another Hemingway, Wolfe, Mailer, Capote, McPhee has just been discovered. There is no final exam. Grades received for your writing assignments will account for 65 percent of your [mal grade; your oral presentation will account for 20 percent; class participation and attendance will account for 15 percent. Also influencing the [mal grade will be your progress and improvement as a writer and as a thinker about writing since the beginning of the semester. Any assignment not turned in by the beginning of the class when it is due will lose half a , letter grade. Assignments more than one week late will lose a full letter grade. Excessive and repeated tardiness will adversely affect your grade, as will more than two absences. OFFICE HOURS My office #, phone # and e-mail address are in the top left corner of the first page of this syllabus. I'll be in my office from 7-8 p.m. on Thursdays, plus about 15 minutes after each class. I'll also be in the office from about 7-8 p.m., Tuesdays. I'll accommodate any student who wants to meet in my office, but an appointment is necessary. If you know in advance you'd like such a meeting, please call or e-mail. Ifa before- or after-class meeting is inconvenient for you, I'll try to adjust my schedule -- within reason -- so we can meet at another time. THE WEEKS AHEAD Note: This is a rough overview of the semester. Readings, writing assignments, and class discussions may change as the semester proceeds. Week 1 Get acquainted; general lay of the land; writing and reading assignments for Week #2. Week 2 * Send for writer's guidelines from three magazines you think may be appropriate markets for your articles. Bring a copy of the guidelines to class when they arrive so you can briefly discuss them. Begin your writer's notebook. (See "Writing Assignments," p. 2 of syllabus, for details on tie notebook.) DUE: 500-750 word essay about why you want to write and be published. what sort of magazines you'd like to be published in and/or what sort of nooks you might like to write; what makes you unique as a writer. What might make you stand out from the crowd. To be realistic (but hopefully not mordant), discuss how your ego might handle rejections from editors. READING: Handout: "How To Read an Editor's Mind and Manuscripts.'! "Sell What You Write," p. 32, Writer's Market 2001 Week 3 Bring to class three copies of a two ideas for a seasonal article you'd like to propose to a magazine for an article. Each idea should be 300-400 words. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. What magazine(s) might be interested in it. How long the article might be. How long it might take you to research and write. READING: Handouts from Handbook of .l\1agazine Writing: "Interviews." "Popping the Question," "Writing the Seasonal Article." "Getting Published: Before Your First Sale," p. 5-16, Writer's Market 2001 Week 4 Guest speaker: Meg Guroff, managing editor "of Modern Maturity magazine and former managing editor of Baltimore Magazine. What are the editorial needs of such niche magazines and how -- as a writer -- can you satisfy them? What's the best way to pitch an idea to such a magazine? What's the best way to tailor your writing for such magazines? DUE: Bring to 'class three copies of two ideas for a personality profile you'd like to propose to a magazine. Each idea should b 300-400 words. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. What magazine(s) might be interested in it. How long the article might be. How long it might take you to research and write. READING: On Writing Well by William Zinsser, Chapter 12, "Writing About People: The Interview." Handout: Personality profile(s) from magazines. Week 5 No class - Yom Kippur Week 6 Guest speaker: John Fairhall, city editor, Baltimore Sun: what editor of large city papers are seeking & how to break into their market. DUE: two-page query letter pitching to a magazine -- Esquire? Redbook? The Nation? Playboy? Vanity Fair? Baltimore Magazine? Washingtonian Magazine? Etc., etc., etc. -- the seasonal story idea or the personality profile that most appeals to you or which you think has the best chance of being sold. READING: "writing Queries That Work, pp 17-20, Writer's Market 2001. "Query Letter Clinic," pp. 21-31. Writer's Market 2001 Week 7 DUE: 750 to 1.000 word article on a seasonal topic or a personality profile. READING: TBA Week 8 DUE: Revision of query letter you wrote for class of Week 6, Oct. 4. As you revise, keep in mind this passage from Philip Gerard's Creative Nonfiction: Revision is... re-envisioning your work. Stepping back from it in light of what you know now, what you have written and determining if you have done what you set out to do. Just because the piece occurred to you in a certain way and you wrote it that way doesn't mean that was the only way, or the best way, to do it. READING: On Writing Well: "Rewriting," pp. 84-88. Week 9 DUE: Revision of article on seasonal topic or personality profile that you wrote for class of Week 7, Oct. II. Bring to class three copies of a 400-500 word precis of the book idea you've written in your notebook that you'd most like to propose to a publisher. Include the slant you might take when writing it. What pulls you toward this idea. Which publisher(s) might be interested in it. How long (in number of words) the book might be. How long it might take you to research and write. What qualifies .you to write this book. READING: From On Writing Well: Chapters Four and Twenty. From Writer's Market 2001: "First Books," pp.85-88. ' IMPORTANT: This class will run from 8: 15:-9: 15. After that, I'll meet individually with students I for 10-15 minute sessions in my office (Room 503) to review progress to date, discuss any problems. review idea for book proposal they're about to write. Week 10 Guest Speakers: Gregg Wilhelm and Megan Devine: "Independent Book Publishers: Their Purpose & Scope & How You -- The Writer -- Fit In." What is an independent book publisher? How "independent" are they? "Independent" from what? What niche do they fill in this age of mass-market mergers and the disappearing small publisher with a strong and autonomous voice? What are their editorial needs and how -- as a writer -- can you satisfy them? Gregg Wilhelm is president of Book Wise Associates and publisher of Edgewise Books, a new imprint launching in 2002. He was formerly director and editor at Woodholme House Publishers, director of the Archdiocese of Baltimore-affiliated Cathedral Foundation Press, acquisitions editor at Brookes Publishing, and an acquisitions assistant at Johns Hopkins University Press. Meghan Devine is partner in Bookwise Associates, which offers editorial, marketing, subsidiary rights sales, and agenting services to writers and publishers. Previously, she was marketing manager at Woodholme House Publishers, an agent at the Sagalyn Agency, and a sales representative with Random House. DUE: First half of book proposal: Working title and 5-6 page overview. READINGS: TBA IMPORTANT: This class may not run until the usual 10:45 if I was not able to meet individually with every student last week to review progress, discuss any problems, review their book proposal idea. If necessary, class time will be tailored accordingly. Week 11 Guest speaker: Sue De Pasquale, editor, Johns Hopkins Magazine. "Writing for University Magazines." What niche do university magazines serve? What are their editorial needs and how- - as a writer -- can you satisfy them? How can you best pitch an idea to such a magazine? Do such publications enjoy the freedom to criticize their own institutions? DUE: Second half of book proposal: The market; chapter outline; and "about the author." READING: TBA Week 12 DUE: The writer's notebook you've been keeping from the beginning of the semester. I'll return this in 2-3 weeks. READING: TBA Week 13 NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING Week 14 DUE: revised book proposals READING: TBA Week 15 Last class. No final, but please attend for general discussion about the course. home \| bs, corporate communication \| ba, english \| ma, publications design \| mfa, integrated design \| mfa, creative writing & publishing arts \| people \| portfolio \| facilities \| classes \| undergraduate applications \| graduate applications \| contact \| site index \| university of baltimore