If you’re the kind of writer who likes to ask, “What’s the single most important marketing activity I should focus on?” (because you don’t have time for anything else), this workshop is for you.

You’ll learn key principles for using your website, email newsletter (or Substack), and a dash of social media to better reach and engage readers, both new and old. Plus we’ll consider offline or in-real-life opportunities to grow your readership through collaborations, partnerships, and literary citizenship.

Here’s what. we’ll cover:

• Build Your Bio: It’s Not Just About You. It’s such a small thing, an innocuous bit of copy that can be passed over quickly, even ignored. But when your writing makes an impression, one of the first things a reader will ask is “Who wrote this?” Your biographical note thus represents an opportunity to establish a meaningful connection and potentially draw opportunities to you.
• Know Your Comps. Agents and publishers often want to know your comparable titles or authors when you pitch, as they can be critical in understanding a work’s position in the market. When writers struggle with comps, it’s usually for one of two reasons: they’re not well-read in their genre or they’re looking for too similar of a comp. We’ll talk about why you should be just as interested in knowing your comps as agents—and how to go about finding comps.
• Your Media Face: Author Website. All career-minded writers, even those not yet published, should create and maintain a website as part of their professional development. You own and control it, and can use it to tell your own story and connect directly with interested readers or influencers. It’s hard to overstate its importance over the long term. Consider it a cost of doing business in the digital era, a necessary business card and networking tool.
• Facing Your Reader: Email Newsletter. While email newsletters have many uses, their most immediate use for writers is to keep readers and professional connections informed about what they are doing. A regular email newsletter sent to readers creates a long string of impressions, keeping your name at the forefront of their mind. When an opportunity arises—a book club needs a new book to read, a publication is searching for a freelancer, or a conference needs speakers—people are far more likely to think of you if they regularly see your name.
• The Community Face: Social Media. You’ll hear tons of conflicting advice about how to use such-and-such social media tool, perhaps more than any other aspect of author business practice. That’s because social media best practices differ depending on your unique career situation, how you behave online, what you’re using these tools for at any particular time, and how that makes you feel. There is no one-size-fits-all advice; the best strategy, frankly, is whatever works for you personally and is sustainable.
• How Book Launch Plans Come Together. When it comes to book marketing, the biggest mistake that authors make, by far, is focusing on tactics rather than first setting a strategy. Tactics look like: posting on social media, writing guest posts, or planning a podcast tour. Strategy looks like: reaching as many readers of a comp author as possible or becoming a recognizable name in the horror writing community. Each of these strategies could have endless tactics associated with it. A good book launch starts with a strategy then prioritizes tactics to execute on that strategy. What makes for a good strategy? Whatever makes you happy—really!

Like it or hate it, artificial intelligence is an inescapable feature of work and life in writing and publishing today. Publishers and writers alike use tools with AI already baked in, including Microsoft Word, Grammarly, the Adobe Creative Suite, Google Docs and Google search. Eventually, AI will be an accepted and normal part of the writing and publishing process.

In plain English, Jane will explain how AI is being used by authors and publishers for positive and creative ends. There are legal, safe, and effective ways to use free and paid AI tools to help you with brainstorming, marketing, research, or deciphering the latest contract you’ve been sent.

Of course, there are plenty of bad actors using AI, too, and Jane will discuss the most prevalent types of fraud or infringement, and what can be done if you find yourself affected. We’ll look at how to talk with your agent and publisher about use of AI in connection with your work, plus other steps you can take to protect your rights and intellectual property.

Developments and concerns surrounding AI are constantly shifting, as does the content of this session. It will summarize the current status of copyright lawsuits, AI licensing agreements, and any other breaking news that affects writers and publishers.