A Practical Course

Approval has been granted for my proposal for this new and very practical three-credit course at University College (Wash U), to be taught in Fall 2010. No course number has yet been assigned. Writers must do this work anyway, so why not with us?

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION

This practical course guides writers who are ready to face the challenges of preparing their completed manuscripts for submission to publishers. Focusing on their individual manuscripts, students will learn the industry standards for presentation and formatting, perform market research, practice writing queries and synopses for editors and agents, and explore conventional and new approaches to publication and other forms of dissemination. Students will share and discuss their findings. Authors and editors of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and features will speak to the class about manuscript submission and acceptance. Manuscripts may consist of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, and range from feature length to book-length, but they must be complete and ready for submission; this is not a workshop for developing works as yet unwritten or for furthering works in progress. The course encourages a businesslike and committed approach. Not for writers of technical, scholarly, or foreign-language manuscripts, or works consisting largely of illustrations.