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The Gatekeepers:
This course is currently closed. I’ve taught online for many years. I’ve seen dozens of
students come and go with me at Painter’s Rock, Kiss of Death, Mediabistro, and
Absolute Write. And I wrote and specialize in a course that teaches writers how
to create a nonfiction book proposal from idea through to sales. I always tell
my students right off the bat to clear the decks. To make sure that they have
time to do the work, train themselves to think, and be able to focus enough to
complete the assignments. 4 weeks, lessons and assignments posted on a private forum; an
online “chat” one night a week to share questions and brainstorm "Here is why I would work with you again, Andrea: you’re
lectures are straight-forward and helpful and so is your advice, and you are
respectful to your students. And I respect your advice because you’ve been
there. Remember I said that Dale Carnegie talked about earning the right to
speak? You have earned the right to teach."
"No amount of time spent reading books and magazine articles about writing will duplicate what you can learn from Andrea's one on one personal feedback.She offers candid, professional,and truthful advice about your work.If your writing doesn't improve, you're not paying attention." -- Jan Shaffer on The Gatekeepers class
"Helpful and how! Making me sit down and put it to paper - the business part. I can work and rework everything in my mind, but to see it in print, I found out exactly where I was and how far - gulp! - I had to go."
--
Susan Laing on The Gatekeepers class About Publish That Book: "I took Andrea Campbell's on-line course in fall 2005
because book proposals were so mystifying to me. Having worked as a freelance
magazine writer for almost 20 years, I certainly knew how to write a magazine
query. But the book proposal seemed like a whole other art form. And it is.
Andrea explained the different elements clearly--part business plan, part
summary, part writing showcase, part voodoo--and helped me master this strange
concoction. She was tough and demanding because she said agents and editors
would be. She was right. The proposal I crafted with Andrea's help and insight
earned me a top agent and a nice book contract with Broadway Books (a Doubleday
imprint). She also told us that if we crafted a good proposal, writing the book
would be so much easier. She was right there too. After I got my contract, I
wrote my memoir in only five months since I had a very specific and
well-thought-out guideline. My book, The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of
Surprise Blossoming (I even came up with the title in her class) will be out in
May 2008." Click on the text below to register:
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In order to succeed in this industry, you, the writer, must know it intimately
from all sides. If you were a clothing designer, you wouldn’t start without
creative talent, the right materials, and a pattern to guide you. If you opened
up a retail business, you wouldn’t expect to sell your products without knowing
how to produce or restock your merchandise; you wouldn’t open your doors without
having a business foundation or center from which to sell, and you wouldn’t try
operating without a market strategy or knowing the competition. So why would you
expect writing to be any different? Yet thousands of would-be authors do. The
buy into the philosophy that if I just pen a terrific book, then I will become
successful.