Two Talks on the Business of Writing
On the Saturday afternoon of the Harvest Writers Retreat, there will be two optional talks on the business of writing for retreat participants, one on building a plan for submissions and another on developing a platform. Each will cover essential aspects of moving your writing out into the world. To see the full retreat schedule, click here.
Who, What, Why, When, Where: Building a Plan for Submissions
with Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
Very few writers have editors and publishers knocking on their doors asking for writing. So no matter the genre you’re writing in or how many publication credits you have to your name, you need a plan for submitting your work. Where should you send your work? When should you send out your work? What should you send? How might you deal with all of the inevitable rejections? How might you build on your successful submissions? These and many other questions related to submitting will be asked and answered. This talk will give participants a roadmap for developing their own unique submissions plan that is appropriate for their goals in the coming year(s).
Gibson Fay-LeBlanc’s first collection of poems, Death of a Ventriloquist, won the Vassar Miller Prize, was published in 2012, and was featured by Poets & Writers as one of a dozen debut collections to watch. His second book, Dangle Dazzle Dive, is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press in 2021. Gibson’s poems have appeared in magazines including Guernica, The New Republic, Tin House, jubilat, FIELD, and The Literary Review, and his articles and stories have appeared in magazines including Kenyon Review, Portland Magazine, and SLICE. He currently serves as executive director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and lives in Portland with his family.
START WHERE YOU’RE STANDING: HOW TO CREATE & DEVELOP YOUR WRITER’S PLATFORM
with Tanya Whiton
Whether you’re just starting out, on the road to publication, or have already published a book, creating and maintaining your “author platform” is part of the business of being a writer. Simply put, a platform is defined by a) who you are and b) who you want to reach. The challenge is how to consistently promote yourself and your work without investing too much precious time that could be better spent writing! This talk will give participants an outline of how to assess what they are currently doing, find ways to add to what’s working, eliminate what isn’t, and make an actionable plan for the year ahead.
Writer and editor Tanya Whiton’s fiction has recently been featured in Collateral, CutBank, Fanzine, The Cincinnati Review, and Al Pie de la Letra. She is also the co-writer and an associate producer of the documentary feature THE ZEN SPEAKER: BREAKING THE SILENCE. A former Associate Director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program, Tanya teaches creative writing and professional development skills for writers, and has created seminars for the Solstice MFA Program, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Lesley University, and the Stonecoast Writers’ Conference. Visit: tanyakwhiton.com