Have you ever wondered how to reach a broader market, perhaps even selling your titles worldwide – without excess stock, long waits or crazy costs in freight? Join Debbie from Ingram to learn about print-on-demand and global distribution, and how these services are turning the publishing world on its head. Starting with a great quality product, mixing in a generous splash of marketing, and fine-tuning your metadata for maximised retail impact, it’s a winning formula to publish like a pro.

Many authors write their first few books fairly easily, drawing on their own experiences and unconsciously using their own voice to create characters. But a few
books on – or a book requiring more than two POV character voices – and it starts to sound repetitious. This workshop teaches authors how to deep-dive into their characters and create multiple POVs that each sound unique to the reader. Starting with personality, and layering on worldview, goals, past trauma, education, flaws, dreams, fears, loves, filters, dialogue tics, physical mannerisms, relationships, and more. Students will leave with the confidence to create an endless array of interesting people to populate their stories.

Sit back and relax.

With seasoned pros Lauren Elise Daniels and Geneve Flynn, learn what to expect when navigating the editing world, including contrasting your original draft with editorial suggestions, how to negotiate editorial advice and invent organic solutions alongside critique, and much more.

A powerful workshop for emerging authors trying to understand what they have to do and how to do it, and how to tell a good editor from a dodgy one.

Young Adult fiction has often been accused of being too gritty, too bleak and potentially harmful, particularly in relation to depictions of suicide. However, there are others who see the literature being produced for an adolescent audience, as worthwhile and beneficial, dedicated to serving the needs of an inquisitive teenage audience. Young adult readers seek worlds and characters that are familiar to them; characters who are having experiences that our young readers are curious about. In this sense, the experiences in this form of Young Adult literature, serves to explore difficult emotional and social terrains vicariously, rather than in a way that encourages emulation.

How do writers navigate this difficult terrain? What is the role, responsibility and impact of YA fiction when dealing with real-life issues?

When you apply for a program that doesn’t promise anything but the chance to get your foot in the door, it’s difficult to trust the system, and even more difficult to trust yourself. I’d love to share with you what I think worked for me in pitching my novel to producers and directors through the Adaptable program, and I’m especially keen for you to know how the process so far is going to make my future novels stronger.

Across genres, there are a plethora of tropes and stereotypes that we see incredibly often. Whether it’s a one dimensional character (‘oh look, a black maid who only cares about her white mistress’s needs!), a contemporary myth (she takes her glasses/hijab off, and look and how beautiful and desirable she is!) or simply a one liner (‘I promise nothing bad will ever happen to you’), tropes can either be a very useful tool, or a dangerous crutch. In this talk, we’re going to look at what tropes and stereotypes are there to tell us, ways in which stereotypes can creep up without us realising, and how to avoid (or wisely use!) them in a way that best serves the story.

What’s involved in achieving a long term writing career in your chosen genre? Having seen many changes in publishing since my first book was published in 1999, I will use this session to discuss ways to establish good work habits, how to develop and maintain a strong working relationship with editors and publishers, and I’ll share strategies for networking and for successfully steering your career through times of uncertainty and doubt.

Ever given up with Facebook ads because you heard they’ve become too competitive? You’re partly wrong. The possibilities for authors on Facebook are now richer than ever. But the competitive space has tightened — which is why it’s all the more important to know the right ways to use the platform. If you want to up your Facebook ads game with established strategies and new ideas, then this workshop is for you. Reedsy’s Ricardo Fayet has years of experience running Facebook ads for authors and will be teaching some of the advanced Facebook ads targeting, creatives, and placements that have brought him success. On the menu: dynamic ads, multi-layer ads, instant experiences, and tracking conversions!