Book Idea Workshop: Critical Steps to Elevating an Idea
When we have a book idea, we often don't know where to start. We ask, is this idea any good? Is it worth doing? Am I good enough to do it?
In this session, Amy Goldmacher will take you through an interactive process that will get you clear on your book idea so you can write it (or the proposal for it):
- What You Want To Say: You get crystal clear on the core concept that encapsulates what you want to say with this book and develop the content that serves and delights your readers.
- How You Say It: You develop the structure and organization that best serves your work and helps your audiences experience your content powerfully.
- Who Needs To Hear It: You pinpoint your specific audience(s) and determine the best route to reach them that also meets your unique goals and needs.
- How You Talk About It: You describe your book in terms audiences understand it, including agents and publishers as well as your readers.
This session are for any writer, whether you’re writing fiction, nonfiction, or memoir, and whether you’re:
- At the very beginning stage with a great idea—or several—and don’t know where or how to start.
- In the drafting stage.
- Have a complete, revised, and edited manuscript and are ready to seek agents or publishers.
Take a 30,000-foot view of your project and get feedback for improvement. After this session, you will feel confident that your book idea has what it takes to succeed.
Book Marketing for People Who Hate Social Media
A real strategy for real writers—no algorithms, no follower count, no reels required.
Tired of being told you have to be on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter to sell your book? You’re not alone—and you’re not wrong. In this refreshingly honest, high-impact session, bestselling author and book coach Rea Frey reveals a sustainable, soul-aligned approach to book marketing—without relying on social media at all.
Whether you’re a debut author or a burned-out veteran, this workshop gives you a new way to grow your audience and launch your book on your terms.
You’ll learn how to:
- Build your Quiet Visibility Strategy
- Launch using the Social-Free Book Launch Flow
- Pitch podcasts, essays, and aligned outlets without a publicist
- Create meaningful momentum through word-of-mouth and reader referrals
- Grow your first 100 true fans—no platform required
You’ll walk away with:
- Fill-in-the-blank pitch templates
- A weekly visibility map
- A 3-part launch email series
- A radically different (and freeing) way to think about marketing
This is for the writers who want to be seen without selling out.
Let’s get booked—without the ’gram.
Beyond the Query: The First 50 Pages
Chantelle Aimée Osman, senior editor at Simon & Schuster's newest imprint, Simon Maverick, joins us for a new Symposium event.
Query letters and synopses are important steps in your publishing journey, but what really lands an agent, editor, or in the end, a reader, are the first 50 pages of your manuscript.
This workshop will not only give you the tools you need to perfect your query and synopsis, but will also discuss common pitfalls in the first 50 pages, and what to do to make them shine.
*Bonus: All registrants will get a free copy of Chantelle's Quick and Dirty Guide to Editing, post-event.
[Enjoy Chantelle as a guest on "The Story Will Save You" podcast.]
From Draft to Deal: What REALLY Happens After You Finish Your Book
You typed “The End”… now what?
Finishing your book is huge—but what comes next is what separates a finished manuscript from a published one. In this real-talk symposium, bestselling author and book coach Rea Frey takes you behind the curtain of what actually happens after you finish your draft—and why the real work (and magic) starts after the final page.
We’ll cover:
- Why the “now what?” feeling is totally normal—and what to do with it
- How to revise your book like a pro (hint: you’re not ready to query yet)
- What literary agents really do—and how to get their attention
- Realistic timelines from draft to deal to bookshelf (think years, not weeks)
- What happens when you do get the book deal: contracts, royalty math, and red flags to watch for
- How to ask the right questions up front about your publishing team—so you’re not caught off guard by what’s on you to handle
- Why marketing starts before your book comes out—and how to make a plan you’ll actually stick to
You’ll walk away with:
- A “Ready to Query?” checklist
- A sample query letter that sells
- A publishing timeline breakdown
- A 3-month book launch marketing plan to build early buzz and long-tail sales
Perfect for:
Writers with a finished (or almost finished) manuscript, querying authors, and anyone stuck in the “what now?” limbo after typing The End.
The Great Publishing Debate: Traditional vs. Self-Publishing and What No One Tells You
Publishing a book is no small feat—but choosing how to publish it? That might be the biggest plot twist of your career. In this no-fluff, myth-busting symposium, bestselling author and publishing strategist Rea Frey breaks down the fantasy, the fine print, and the facts behind both traditional and self-publishing—so you can stop spinning in indecision and start building your own path forward.
We’ll cover:
- What traditional publishing really looks like (beyond the fantasy of six-figure deals and NYT lists)
- The truth about self-publishing—and how indie authors are building six-figure empires
- Royalties, rights, and the realities of money
- The red flags of vanity presses and misleading hybrid models
- How to determine which path aligns with your goals, timeline, and creative vision
You’ll walk away with:
- A royalty breakdown (traditional vs. self-publishing)
- A "Which Path Is Right For You?" quiz
- A contract red flag checklist
- Real author confessions, timelines, and what no one else tells you about life after “The End”
Whether you're querying agents, formatting your ARC, or just trying to figure out what the heck BISAC codes are, this symposium will give you the clarity (and courage) to move forward—on your terms.
Perfect for:
Aspiring authors, writers ready to publish, and creatives weighing their options in a rapidly shifting industry.
Submitting to Small Presses and Literary Journals
Wherever you are in the writing process, submitting your work can be a helpful light at the end of the tunnel. But the world of literary magazines and small publishers is so expansive and diverse, it’s hard to know where and how to send your work out for publication.
In this workshop with Dennis James Sweeney, author of How to Submit: Getting Your Writing Published with Literary Magazines and Small Presses, we’ll talk about the landscape of literary magazines and small presses, strategies for achieving your publication goals, and how to navigate the meaningful but difficult act of sending out the writing you’ve worked so hard on.
You’ll leave the class with next steps for submitting your latest piece of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or hybrid work. Join us if you’d like company in the exciting but daunting process of sending out your writing.
This presentation will cover:
- Where to submit your writing
- Formulating your submission strategy
- How to write a cover letter
- Setting up your documents
- Specific examples of published writing
- How to stay in touch with your goals as a writer and author
- Q&A
One-on-One with Literary Agent Kate McKean
Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, but she's also an author and the creator of the popular Agents & Books newsletter. Get ready for the ultimate agent AMA.
Pipeline exec Jeanne Veillette Bowerman conducts an intimate one-on-one dialogue with Kate, diving into the life of an agent, and also her new book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, available now. If that's not enough, she also has a picture book set to publish by Sourcebooks in 2026.
As always, our Symposium one-on-one conversations are a community event. While Jeanne and Kate converse, your questions will be addressed, too.
Pour a beverage, sit back and relax. Enjoy the dialogue.
Resources:
Kate’s Website
Agents + Books Newsletter
Kate on IG
Kate on X
Kate on BlueSky
Kate on Goodreads
Order Kate’s new book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life
Free Symposiums Mentioned:
Hard Truths: Book Writing Competitions
One-on-One with Victoria Strauss
Writing for Comics: Finding an Artist and Comic Distribution
Recently nominated by the Chicago Reader as the best comic book writer in Chicago, comic writer and founder of Avina Comics John Aviña will demonstrate how to find an artist, spot common scams, how to be a good collaborator with an illustrator, and also share best ways to distribute your work once your project is complete, whether that be in traditional publishing or as an independent comic creator.
The following topics will be discussed:
- Finding an Artist
- Social Media
- Test Pages
- Contracts
- Scams
- Design out reach
- Manga vs Comics
- Distribution
- Traditional
- Indie
- Diamond Publishing
This session is a wonderful compliment to John's first "Writing for Comics" Symposium available on-demand.
The Book Skeleton Workshop: How to Structure Your Story Before Writing a Single Word
Strong bones create strong stories. Build your Book Skeleton—and bring your story to life.
Most writers get stuck not because they lack talent—but because they lack structure.
Without a clear framework, even the best ideas collapse under the weight of confusion, doubt, and endless rewrites.
In The Book Skeleton, bestselling author and book coach Rea Frey will guide you through building the invisible structure that every strong book needs. Before you write a single word, you’ll design the "bones" of your story—giving you a clear, flexible blueprint to move forward with confidence, momentum, and creative flow.
This is not another overwhelming outline session. This is about creating a living, breathing skeleton that holds up your story’s spine, heart, ribs, and limbs—so you can finally start writing without fear or guesswork.
In this session, you'll learn:
- The 5 essential bones every book must have
- How to create a simple Movement Map for your story
- How to design chapters that feel purposeful, dynamic, and necessary
- How to stop second-guessing yourself and write with real clarity
- How to start strong and keep going—without losing your voice
You'll Leave With:
- A complete Book Skeleton template for your current project
- A Movement Map for your story’s beginning, middle, and end
- A Chapter Blueprint you can use again and again
- Your first 1,000 words written (or ready to flow!)
- A new sense of possibility—and proof that you already know how to begin
This workshop is for you if:
- You have a story idea but don't know how to start
- You've started writing—and gotten stuck
- You want to create a full book without losing creative energy
- You crave structure, but hate rigid outlines
- You’re ready to finally move from dreaming to doing
What attendees have said ...
Rea Frey presented a terrific method for structuring a novel that allows room for movement and change. Unlike so many speakers, she's traditionally published and knows what she's talking about. I highly recommend this course. - Lucy Sanna, author THE CHERRY HARVEST (William Morrow)
She was very knowledgeable and clear. Loved her approach and hand-outs.
Easy to follow. Plenty of examples. The framework reminded me of some instructional design aspects, which was an aha moment as something I’ve been chewing on came together.
How to Determine the Best Medium for Your Story
It's never been more important to a writer's survival to learn to create in other mediums.
You know the basics of storytelling. You’ve mastered the art of imbuing the Who with specific needs and desires. You’re expert at the art of structuring the What with conflict and reversals. You’re old hat at using verisimilitude to fill out the Where and interrogating the spectrum of ethics for the Why.
But what about the How?
Author, comic writer and screenwriter Joshua Corin will help you determine what medium is the best fit for your story? Is it a play? A screenplay? A TV show? If it’s best told using narrative prose, should it be a short story? A novel? Somewhere in between?
We'll go over the specific strengths and weaknesses of each medium, using successful (and less-than-successful) examples to highlight the importance of marrying the right content to the right form, as well as the additions and sacrifices required for adapting a story from one medium to another.
This presentation will cover:
- The universal components all stories must have
- The specific components each medium requires
- How to meet (and subvert) reader/audience expectations of that medium
- How to adapt a story from one medium to another
- Many examples to guide us along the way
- Q&A
*Send proof of purchase to symposium@pipelineartists.com for a copy of the presentation slideshow.