Provoking Thought: Starting Your Nonfiction Book of Ideas

Class Description

Do you have an idea for a book about science, medicine, parenting, psychology, architecture, culture, or technology? You're in luck: there's a booming market for these books! Writing such a "book of ideas," however, requires a very different approach than fiction or narrative nonfiction. In this state-of-the-art seminar, you'll learn everything you need to know in order to market your book of ideas to an agent or publisher from someone who has sold more than a million dollars worth of such book proposals. It's highly recommended you take this seminar before jumping into a class on writing techniques since this will give you a broad overview of how nonfiction publishing actually works. We'll pay special attention to the single most important factor in selling your book: the framing. You'll learn about how the nonfiction publishing industry has changed in the past three years, what editors are looking for, what readers are looking for, how to find the best agent for your project, how to craft a winning proposal, and how to come up with the most effect framing for your book.

We'll analyze successful and failed books of ideas published in the past few years (especially science books), giving special attention to the different styles of Malcolm Gladwell (author of Outliers)and Steven Pinker (author of Blank Slate). In addition, we'll discuss how ebooks are changing the industry and opening new opportunities for unpublished nonfiction authors. The class will consist of lecture, fun slides, and highly interactive discussion with plenty of opportunities to ask questions during and after class. By the end of the fast-moving 3-hour seminar you'll have a clear sense of what you need to do to write and sell your book of ideas--and perhaps more importantly, what you should not do as a first-time author!