WD Presents: Magazine Cover Reveal, Literary Agent Boot Camp Announced, and More!
This week, we’re excited to reveal the cover for our upcoming July/August issue of Writer’s Digest, a Literary Agent Boot Camp, and more!
There's always so much happening in the Writer's Digest universe that even staff members have trouble keeping up. As a result, we decided to start collecting what's on the horizon to make it easier for everyone to know what's happening and when.
This week, we’re excited to reveal the cover for our upcoming July/August issue of Writer’s Digest, a Literary Agent Boot Camp, and more!
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July/August 2021 Writer’s Digest Cover Reveal!
Inspired by our January 1976 issue themed “Writing for Social Change,” the July/August 2021 issue themed Writing for Change, with a subtheme of finding the courage to write. We aim to cover the variety of ways in which author and/or their characters make courageous choices, including in writing about topics that inspire change in themselves, their readers, or the world.
Prefer a print copy? Subscribe today!
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Conference Announcements
Annual Conference Will Be Virtual
July 23-24, 2021
Writer's Digest Annual Conference will be going virtual! Please read our latest conference update here.
Writer's Digest Annual Conference offers everything you need to advance your writing career creatively and professionally. Gain invaluable tips to improve your craft, explore publishing options and learn how to establish a sustainable career—all while being inspired by successful authors and your fellow attendees. It’s all brought to you by Writer’s Digest, the experts at nurturing and developing writers at every stage of their career for over 100 years.
Novel Conference Registration Now Open!
October 21-24, 2021
Imagine dedicating an entire extended weekend to your novel?
Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference is hopeful we will be able to meet in person this October. There is still a lot of COVID-related uncertainty in 2021 and WD wants to take the proper steps to ensure all of our speakers, attendees, exhibitors, and staff are as safe as possible. That includes creating and thinking about a contingency plan for our in-person event. be sure to check our website for the latest information.
Hone your craft, refine your characters, explore the future of publishing, and get the tools you need to advance your career as a successful novelist.
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Upcoming Webinars!
Publishing Your Children's Book: How to Write and Pitch Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Book Manuscripts
June 22-25, 2021
In this Writer's Digest Boot Camp starting June 22, the agents of P.S. Literary Agency will show you how to make your submission stand out. How do you write a children's book with commercial appeal? How do you decide what category and genre your book belongs in? How do you find agents and publishers to submit your manuscript to? How can you attract both child and adult readers (and buyers)? The agent instructors will answer these questions—and more! They will also critique your work and answer any questions you have about writing and selling books for children.
Literary Agent Boot Camp: Perfecting Submission Materials
July 27, 2021 - July 30, 2021
Think of your submission package as a job application for your book. You not only want to apply to the right people, the ones who have a passion for the books you write, but you want to present your book in such a way that they will easily see what your book has to offer. This live Writers Digest boot camp will teach you how to put together a dynamic yet professional submission package that will show agents you take your potential author career seriously and make them want to read your work.
In this boot camp from Fuse Literary Agency, attendees will learn how to put together a short yet effective query letter and a one- to two-page book synopsis (fiction). They’ll also learn some best practices for submitting their query, pages, and synopsis to agents.
Each attendee will have the opportunity to have ten pages critiqued by an agent along with their work in any combination: query letter, manuscript pages, and synopsis.
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Upcoming Science Fiction & Fantasy Virtual Conference!
Writer’s Digest University is pleased to present a one-of-a-kind online event for science fiction and fantasy writers! On August 28 and 29, our WDU Annual Science Fiction & Fantasy Virtual Conference will provide expert insights from SIX award-winning and bestselling authors on the finer points of how to write within the science fiction and fantasy genres. Spend the weekend learning techniques for honing your craft from six different published authors*, then (if you choose) pitch your novel via query letter to a literary agent specifically looking for material in these genres. The agent will provide you with a personalized critique of your query—and maybe ask to see more.
Experience the education, camaraderie, and opportunities provided by a live writing conference without ever having to leave your home!
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Seven Online Writing Courses Start This Week
Seven new online writing courses start this week, including Advanced Poetry Writing, Introduction to Copyediting, and more. Click here to check out the Writer's Digest University calendar.
Advanced Poetry Writing
Build your poetry writing skills by working with a highly accomplished poet! The workshop will consist of six one-week sessions, focused on individualized feedback and critique. Through detailed discussions of your own work, you will learn the kinds of questions editors ask of poems submitted to literary magazines. As a result, you will learn to revise and polish with an editor’s eye, gaining insight into how to craft poems suited for publication. You will leave this workshop with a folio of six polished poems, ideal for magazine and literary journal submissions, as well as personalized recommendations for publication and professional development.
Build Your Novel Scene by Scene
If you want to learn how to write a story, but aren’t quite ready yet to hunker down and write 10,000 words or so a week, this is the course for you. Build Your Novel Scene by Scene will offer you the impetus, the guidance, the support, and the deadline you need to finally stop talking, start writing, and, ultimately, complete that novel you always said you wanted to write.
Freelance Writing for Stay-at-Home Moms (and Dads)
Have you wanted to become a writer, but let your busy life as a mom get in the way of writing? Here’s your chance to launch a freelance writing career – and complete writing jobs from home. You might already possess many of the skills necessary to break into writing from being a mom—persistence, time management, dedication and patience. If you take these skills and apply them to your writing, you’ll be one step closer to becoming a freelance writer.
Introduction to Copyediting
Copy editors are sentence polishers—they delete redundancies, add words for clarity, re-cast passive sentences, fact-check, keep an ever-watchful eye out for consistency, and much more. In order to stay on track, a copy editor uses a variety of tools of the trade. Not only a dictionary but various stylebooks, computer software, and yes, sometimes even a red pencil. Writers count on copy editors to catch what might otherwise be embarrassing mistakes.
In order to make the leap into the real world of editing, students will need experience. The last session guides students onto a path that will help them to obtain experience and land a job.
Marketing Your Magazine Articles
Do you have a great idea for an article but don’t know what publication would be the best fit? Develop the skills you need to market your writing through this online writing workshop for experienced writers. Gain insight into marketing magazine articles and learn how to sell your writing. Plus, learn what to expect when an editor accepts your proposal and how to negotiate a contract. Take a chance and pitch your writing to editors—you might just see your work in print and get paid too!
Social Media 101
Social media is a large part of our world today—and is thriving and growing by the minute. It’s important to know how to use social media for writers, everything from the basics to how it can benefit your career. Discover how to use social media to your advantage in this Social Media 101 workshop. Get an overview of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, and GoodReads. You’ll learn how to create a profile on social networks, decide which platforms are right for you, and build a sense of community with others online. Plus, you’ll get the tools necessary to manage social media and the know-how to create effective status updates. Become a social media pro and create online interest in your work. Twitter is highlighted in this course.
Writing the Memoir 101
While writing a book-length personal story can be one of the most rewarding writing endeavors you will ever undertake, it's important to know not only how to write about your personal experiences, but also how to translate and structure them into an unforgettable memoir. The goal of this course is to teach you how to structure your stories, develop your storytelling skills, and give you the tips, techniques, and knowledge to adapt your own life stories into a chronological memoir.
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Upcoming Competition Deadlines
Annual Writing Competition
Hurry! Enter now! Final deadline June 22, 2021.
Writer’s Digest has been shining a spotlight on up-and-coming writers in all genres through its Annual Writing Competition for 90 years. Enter our 90th Annual Writing Competition for your chance to win and have your work be seen by editors and agents! Almost 500 winners will be chosen.
Self-Published E-book Awards
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: August 16, 2021
Writer’s Digest’s 9th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards honors the best self-published e-book(s) in eight of the most popular categories with $5,000 in cash, a featured interview in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City.
In addition to $13,000 in total cash prizes, all entrants will receive a brief review of their book from one of Writer’s Digest’s competition readers.
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Your Story #112: Enter Today!
DEADLINE: June 28, 2021
Write the opening line to a story based on the photo prompt in this article for a chance to be featured in an upcoming issue of Writer’s Digest. (One sentence only.) You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.
