• Section 1: EXPECTATIONS – internal, external, commercial writing goals, and their relative importance; how to set goals.
• Section 2: MY COMMERCIAL GOALS – desired sales, definition of success, level of time and money commitment; goal reevaluation in light of resources/commitment level.
• Section 3: STRIKING A BALANCE – vision, doing, and management; balancing all three; balancing writing and life.
• Section 4: HARSH TRUTHS ABOUT PUBLISHERS – publisher & agent goals and definition of success vs. author; how publisher markets themselves.
• Section 5: AGENT AND PUBLISHER GOALS – sell-through; progress towards making sell-through; revenue vs. expense; comparing personal with publisher goals.
• Section 6: MYSELF AS MARKETER – authors already have what it takes; what marketing is and why it’s so critical; writing and marketing as part of the same artistic process.
• Section 7: COMMON OBJECTIONS – common reasons authors can’t or won’t market and rebuttals.
• Section 8: WHERE TO BEGIN – selecting which title from multiple published titles for begin marketing.
• Section 9: WHAT AM I SELLING? – defining the product; 25, 50, 100-word descriptions; plot, theme, author qualifications; tag line; inspirations and influences; tying book into current world events/interests/issues; reviews.
• Section 10: WHO WILL READ MY BOOKS? – defining ideal reader traits.
• Section 11: WHERE TO SELL MY BOOKS? – primary, secondary, and tertiary markets and the importance of each.
• Section 12: RESOURCES – advertising and publicity outlets.
• Section 13: ADS VS. PUBLICITY – importance of multiple impressions; ads vs. publicity, pros and cons; costs/benefits.
• Section 14: ONLINE OR OFFLINE – making winning Web pages; difference between online and offline marketing, pros and cons.
• Section 15: GETTING THE WORD OUT – six cardinal rules; the 4 C’s; the core message; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.
• Section 16: THE BIG PICTURE – the 4 P’s; inside a marketing plan; my marketing plans, target audiences.
• Section 17: ON SELECTING A PUBLISHER – types of publishers (traditional, POD, e-book, subsidy, vanity), pros and cons.
• Section 18: WRAPPING IT UP – you just made a business and marketing plan!
• Section 19: AUTHOR INTERVIEWS – interviews with authors on the road to success.
• Section 20: CONCLUSION – participant feedback.