Building a Business

Expanding my book coaching and developmental editing brand

Hello!

Last weekend kicked off the busy fall I have promoting my memoir, Mosaic. The Punch Bucket Literary Festival in Asheville, NC was such a great gathering of authors, publishing professionals, and people there to learn more about the craft. The panel I was on featured four (me and three others) to talk about nonfiction writing. And to my surprise, I sat right next to Susanne Paola, co-author of Tell it Slant. If you’ve ever taken one of my community-based writing courses on memoir, I’ve used her book in class. She said my reading from Mosaic was beautiful. It was a fangirl moment.

Now I’m back home for two weeks until the Louisville Book Festival October 11. If you are in the area, I’d love to see you stop by my table (which I just found out is table 42— the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” according to Douglas Adams.

But in the meantime, I’m working on expanding my book coaching and developmental editing business. As I inch away from college teaching, I’m focusing more efforts into what I love doing—writing and helping others write their books.

I’m looking for a handful of new clients to add to my list. Can I make this a full-time gig? Maybe. I hope so. With your help, it might be possible.

Word-of-mouth is the main way I have gotten my clients over the last two years. So now the question is: how do I make this thing bigger?

I’ve also created my Memoir Jump Start Program for those who want to get going on a memoir project and just want a little help to get there. It’s a self-guided program through instructional videos and writing exercises that I’ve used while teaching my classes.

If you know of writers who might benefit from my services, send them my way! I am happy to chat (free of charge) to see if I’m a good fit for their projects.

Change is hard. And scary. Doubt that I can make this work is real. But by putting this into the universe, a lot of effort on my part to promote, and a lot of good fortune, I will hold out hope that I can make this work.

What I’m Reading:

I’m teaching a popular literature course at Miami University, and so I’m reading my own assigned booklist along with the students. We just finished The Crossing by Jason Mott. This week we started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. And, for my own funsies, I’m reading The Returned by Jason Mott. Yikes. That’s a lot of books.

What I’m Watching:

My husband and I just started watching Alien Earth on Hulu. Talk about creepy sci-fi. Despite the moments that I have to turn away for, I’m pretty drawn into the concept of bringing space specimens to Earth and how that might go wrong (you think?)

What New Thing I’ve Tried (writing edition):

I’m currently writing my next book, which is a speculative fiction/thriller about a therapeutic device meant to help people’s brain think they can change their own fates, therefore erasing trauma, however things go terribly wrong. This is a big departure from what I last wrote (historical fiction) and before that (memoir). But it carries along the themes I always explore: grief, loss, trauma, resilience, mental health.

Thanks for reading, and if you feel inclined, share this with your writing friends. I’d love to see a few of their projects come to life!

Until next time,

~Laura