On August 4th, 2012, Bob Mayer and his business partner, Jen Talty, will give us three one-hour workshops. We’ll start at 9am that day. The three workshops will cover the following topics: (1) The Original Idea: the heart of your story and key to selling your book. (2) Outlining and Plot: the events of your story. (3) Beyond the ebook: how do you sell it?

The Original Idea:  The Heart of Your Story and Key to Selling Your Book. Can you say what your book is about in 25 words of less?  This is essential to both writing a tight book and then selling it.  We’ll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you stay on course while writing the book and with which you can excite those you tell it to when trying to sell it.  Conflict drives your story.  Not only must conflict escalate throughout the entire novel, every single scene must have conflict in it.  The Conflict Box is an effective technique for focusing your story on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict lock.

Outlining and Plot:  The Events of Your Story. Before you begin writing your book, you should spend some time outlining and developing your story.  We’ll discuss types of outlines along with techniques for efficiently developing the strongest possible story based on your original idea.  The creative process before the actual start of the book will be covered.  From the exciting opening that grabs the reader through the escalating conflict to the climactic scene and ending with the resolution—the entire structure of the novel with be covered with emphasis on hooks, the remote control effect, building suspense, and having satisfying endings.

Beyond the eBook uploaded—how do you sell it? It’s easier than ever to ‘publish’ a book and there are many out there who will take your money to do it for you.  Also, there are many out there offering boilerplate ‘marketing’ plan for your book.  But what is the reality?  How did we go from selling 347 eBooks in January 2011 to selling over 100,000 in July of the same year?  What techniques and tricks of the trade did we learn through experience? This workshop will help you develop marketing strategies for yourself as an author and for your books. We will look at various social media outlets, Google and Facebook ads, and other ways you can help widen your reach as an author.

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Bob Mayer is the NY Times bestselling author of factual thrillers. He steeps his stories in military, historical and scientific facts, and then weaves those facts through fiction, creating an exciting ride for the reader.  He’s a West Point graduate, former Green Beret, Special Forces, and author of more than 50 books all available in eBook that have sold over 4 million copies. He’s been on bestseller lists in thriller, science fiction, suspense, action, war, historical fiction and is the only male author on the Romance Writers of America Honor Roll.

His non-fiction books include WHO DARES WINS:  The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear & Succeed; The Novel Writer’s Toolkit: A Guide To Writing Great Fiction; and Write It Forward: From Writer to Successful Author.  His novels include the bestselling Area 51 books and collaborations with Jennifer Crusie.  His books have hit the NY Times, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and numerous other bestseller lists.  His last title, The Jefferson Allegiance, was released independently and reached #2 overall in sales on Nook.

Bob has presented for over 1,000 organizations both in the United States and internationally, including keynote presentations, all day workshops, and multi-day seminars. For more information see www.bobmayer.org.