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Last updated on
8 September, 2007

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How-To Books That Sell!
with Dorothy Zjawin

REGISTRATION:

COST, LENGTH, PREREQUISITES:

No prerequisites.

Standard course: $150 / 6 weeks. Click here to register

Extended schedule: $188 / 12 weeks. Click here to register
Extended course gives you two weeks to do each lesson but contains NO additional material.

For questions about this COURSE, e-mail Dorothy Zjawin at

Have knowledge to share? Why not use it to write a nonfiction book? In fact, writing about your interest or expertise is one of the easiest ways to get published. In this 6-week course, I will show you how to focus your idea, develop a chapter outline and contact publishers and agents. You will also learn how to avoid common mistakes made by many beginners. And by the end of this course, you will have not only developed a saleable book idea, but submitted it to publishers and agents.

Week 1: Preparing to Write Your How-To Book
Learning about different types of how-to books, surveying books in the topic of your choice, and mining your expertise for a book topic.

HOMEWORK: List 3 titles of a how-to or self-help book on a topic that you would like to write about. Then write a short paragraph that explains which of these books would you wish to read first and why. What kinds of readers would be interested in these books and why?

Week 2: Finding and Shaping Your Idea
Exploring your chosen topic and developing an angle or slant for it.

HOMEWORK: List three skills or interests that you feel most passionate about.
Which one of these skills or interests would you like to discuss or explain further in a book manuscript and why? What are a few of the most interesting aspects of this favorite skill or hobby? Which of these aspects might serve as a theme for your book and why?

Week 3: Choosing a Title For Your Book
Using your idea’s slant, brainstorming and other strategies to find that perfect working title for your book Basics of generating interesting titles that focus on specific audiences.

HOMEWORK: Imagine that you finally discovered a how-to book that you had been looking for all along. In your mind’s eye, what does that book’s cover look like? Even more important, what is its title? Alternative homework: Write down five book titles that you would like to see. Perhaps you can use one of these as a working title for your book!

Week 4: Organizing Your Book
Learning the basics of research, generating a content menu and a working blueprint of your book.

HOMEWORK: Brainstorm a list of possible items that would be appropriate for your working title. Do this by writing down every item as it occurs to you without putting down your pen in one minute. Do not stop to edit! Allow your list to cool off and pick it up again. Then decide which items might be suitable for Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Week 5: Developing Sample Chapters
Learning how to expand your blueprint into a detailed outline into separate chapters, outlining and writing a draft of three sample chapters. Exercise: First write a brief summary of your book, explaining what it is about and why it is unique. Describe your audience as well and how they would benefit from your book.

HOMEWORK: Write sample chapter one.

Week 6: To Market, To Market!
Learning how to contact agents and editors in a professional manner by developing good query letters, looking at query letters that worked, and developing a great book proposal.

HOMEWORK: Look through a reference such as the Writer’s Market at your library and write down the names of five publishers and agents who might be interested in your book idea. Develop a query letter for one of the publishers and agents

Dorothy Zjawin—author, speaker, instructor—has over ten years of writing experience. Her publications include a how-to book for teachers, Teaching Ideas For The Come-Alive Classroom (Parker Pub. Co./Prentice-Hall) and numerous Instructor and Star-Ledger articles. In addition, she has created a Writerês Institute at Montclair State University and taught courses as How to be Your Own Literary Agent and How To Write Query Letters That Sell. At the present, she teaches writing courses at various colleges and serves as a consulting faculty mentor of technical writing at Thomas Edison State College. She has also served as a freelance developmental editor for Addison-Wesley and a projects editor at McGraw-Hill.