Teaching the Ins (and Outs) of Indie Publishing

I’m designing a course on Indie Publishing that I hope to teach as an adult education class at my local high school. I spoke to the continuing education program director recently, and she was enthusiastic about adding this type of class to their offerings. This won’t be my first time teaching a course, but my first one teaching a class on this subject. As a librarian, I’ve given small group instruction on various topics involving databases and computers. But now that I’ve had over two years of experience in the Indie Publishing field, I thought I would share that information with my community.

The class will be geared toward publishing with an Indie publisher, although I will briefly cover Indie self-publishing and publishing with a large publisher. The reason I chose to focus on publishing with an Indie Publisher is that I have had experience publishing my own books with two Indie publishers, but I also self-published my first with a self-publishing company. I have not yet published with a large publisher, but I am currently querying agents with one of my manuscripts in the hope of doing so one day.

Below is the blurb for the class and an outline of what I’m proposing. The outline will be developed further as I research and organize the class this summer. If you’re an author, editor, or publisher with knowledge of the Indie field, I welcome your feedback on this post. The class will be scheduled in Fall 2017 as a one and a half hour evening session. If it is well received, I may expand on it or teach multiple sessions next spring. I will have access to an Internet computer on which I plan to show websites and possibly create a photoshop presentation.  I will also distribute handouts.

How to Publish Your Book with an Indie Publisher

Have you written a book but had no luck finding a publisher? Is your manuscript turning “yellow” as you try to figure out what to do with it? Are you considering starting a writing project but afraid of being rejected before you even begin? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you will benefit from taking this course.

Note: This class will only cover fiction writing. Most Indie Publishers are not interested in non-fiction.

Course Outline

1. What is an Indie Publisher and how do you locate one?
2. How to submit and query an Indie Publisher
3. The role of Social Media in Indie Publishing
4. Signing a Contract with an Indie Publisher
5. Promoting Your Published Book with an Indie Publisher
6. Beyond Indie Publishing – A look at Self-publishing and the Big 5 Publishers
7. Q&A