Writing for Digital Media: Strategies for Developing Your Online Presence

Tessa Smith McGovern’s 2012 classes at the Sarah Lawrence College campus in Bronxville, NY:

(FOR THE FALL 2012 CLASS, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN)

* THIS CLASS IS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE *

WRITING FOR DIGITAL MEDIA: STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
Thursday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
March 1st – May 10th
11 Sessions, $575

FALL 2012 WRITING FOR DIGITAL MEDIA: LINKING SHORT STORIES, NON-FICTION AND MEMOIRS
DATES TBA

One word characterizes the digital age for writers and other entrepreneurs – opportunity. Never before has it been possible to achieve so much on our own. We can write, develop a brand and a platform and then, from a position of strength, decide whether to pitch an agent or publisher in the traditional way or publish electronically.

Topics will include the possibilities for your writing and your brand, what your online and professional trajectory could look like over the coming months and years, how to integrate social media into your current work to enhance your career, and how to manage your digital life without becoming overwhelmed.

We will explore ways to link short pieces into a longer, coherent whole and how to publish on multiple platforms – iPad/iPhone, Android, Nook and Kindle. We’ll discuss when to turn your blog into a book, the benefits of transmedia (stories in prose, video and audio), and develop strategies to fit your strengths and goals.

In this highly individualized class each student will receive one-on-one support and feedback on their work. We will study classic short stories by authors such as Virginia Woolf and Anton Chekhov that still work in the digital age, and write in-class exercises to further your individual projects.

Tessa Smith McGovern is an award-winning short story writer whose many publication credits include the Connecticut Review and the English Arts Council at the Southbank Centre, London. She is founder and editor of eChook Digital Publishing, which publishes short story and memoir collections on multiple platforms: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Nook, and Kindle, as well as original Web-based stories at echook.com. The stories have been read by thousands of readers in 100+ countries. eChook has over 24 million impressions on Facebook and 1,100+ Twitter followers. eChook Digital Publishing is the winner of a silver and a gold medal in the 2012 eLit Awards.

7 Responses to “Writing for Digital Media: Strategies for Developing Your Online Presence”

Carole Colquehoun 28 November 2010 at 7:19 pm #

Please let me know when writing instructions are available.

Thank you.
Tessa 15 June 2011 at 1:35 pm #

Hi Carole,

Will do. Writing instruction is also available in our newsletter, LITERARY DELIGHTS and in Story Studio (sign up on the homepage- top right). We hope you enjoy!

Tessa
Jeanette Gould 15 March 2012 at 2:03 pm #

Good Morning Tess and Student Friends,
I have hurt an ankle, and need to rest it a few days. I will use the time here at my computer to do some practice on Twitter and Facebook, and to expand last week’s timed writing. Hmmmm…the one where I go ballistic at some poor churchwoman! Does it need expanding or Have I done enough damage already??!! I hope there is a way to access the contents of today’s class. This past week, I did put in at least two hours daily on writing, though some of it relates to newsletter writing for a Sustainable Living committee, a plea to a friend for help setting up a website, and other similar tasks. I did explore e-Chook more thoroughly, and I did complete two short pieces of the memoir, and have edited them. What is emerging is that my keenest interest, and the subject which grabs me most strongly, is the communication skills I learned in CA with Marshall Rosenberg. Learned is a relative word, as the writing has shown me, and I have quite a ways to go to perfect the the skills I tout so often!! Both the completed pieces relate to conversations/interactions gone awry through lack of basic respectful communication, skillful listening, and refrain from blame and judgment. Looking forward to seeing “y’all” next week.
Tessa 15 March 2012 at 2:43 pm #

Hi Jeanette,

Nice to see you here! So sorry to hear about your ankle. I hope it feels better soon. And yes, the podcast of today’s will be on the website by Friday at 3pm latest. Great progress last week, and I have the work you emailed to return to you. If you can, it’d be great if you’d like to post your work on this page in the Reply box so everyone can read it, along with my comments.

I would like to read more about the church woman. That piece offers the reader insight into nature – the way we sometimes react when there are other issues at hand. Write as much as you can for a full first draft.

You teach Marshall Rosenberg’s skills, I know, and you may want to consider tweeting some of his tips. You can link to a page on his website so there won’t be an issue with copyright. Let us know how your explorations today go, okay? You’re making great progress.

Tessa
Jeanette Gould 13 April 2012 at 12:23 am #

• Chapters Remaining to be Written for A Fifties Tale

• The House at 8 Harbor Road

• A Fifties Tale

• Years five to eighteen

• Years twenty to thirty

• Years thirty to forty

• Years forty to fifty

• Years fifty to sixty

• Years sixty to seventy
Jeanette Gould 13 April 2012 at 12:59 am #

Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Hello Tessa, I have sent you an unimportant document as a trial run at posting my writing on your website. Having called my friend in Florida, she and I wended our way through the process, and I am pleased as punch to have learned how to do it, finally! I have taken a notebook given me by the woman in our fall class who writes about astrology, and have named it HOW TO DO STUFF ON MY COMPUTER. In it I have written down the steps TO POST TO TESSA’S WEBSITE! I am so pleased! Onward and upward or onward and upload! Jeanette Gould,Techie
Tessa 13 April 2012 at 12:37 pm #

Yay, Jeanette! Well done, well done. I’m so happy to see this wonderful progress. Ten out of ten to you for staying with it and prevailing. Tessa