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Act like a Writer, Think like an Editor:

Getting Your Work in Top Shape with Christine Pride

So you want to write a book and get published.

In this 2-hour course, author and long-time publishing insider Christine Pride explores practical and critical questions that every writer who has a dream of being published must consider: What are agents and editors really looking for? How do I know if I have a marketable idea? How do I know if my book is any good? It’s so competitive out there, so how can I increase my chances of getting an agent? Is it all just hopeless? 

This course, designed to be an expert guide for every step in the process, will focus on idea development, elements of craft, and the editorial process. We will explore what makes projects exciting and marketable to agents and editors. We will discuss how to evaluate and improve your work, as well as the critical components to a successful book. And finally, we will discuss the three Ps: how to polish, package, and pitch your projects. 

The session will be interactive—come prepared to discuss your ideas and books, whatever stage you’re at in the process. We will have exercises and prompts to help you think about ways to improve/refine your book based on an editor’s eye, identify the audience for your project, and hone how you think and talk about your project (the ever important “sell”). By the end of this session, you’ll be able to think critically about elements of craft, the merits of your story, its audience, and how to reach and entice that audience: In other words, you’ll be thinking like an editor!

Christine Pride is a writer, editor and long-time publishing veteran, having held posts at many imprints including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon and Schuster. As an editor, Christine published many bestselling and critically acclaimed novels and memoirs. As a freelance editorial consultant, she does select editorial work and proposal/content development, as well as teaching and coaching and pens a semi regular column— “Race Matters" for Cup of Jo. She's also the author of the novels, written with Jo Piazza: We Are Not Like Them and You Were Always Mine (both from Atria Books). Her solo debut novel, All The Men I’ve Loved Again will be published by Atria in July 2025.

This workshop is on Zoom and will not be recorded. Registration is required and limited.

Sponsored by the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation.  

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