David Hill: Get Ready to Publish!

1 Saturday, April 30, 10am-4pm   Berkeley
$95 members/$110 others      Cancellation/Refund Policy
Student Testimonials

You’ve written a poem or story or nonfiction piece, you’ve workshopped it, you’ve revised it and revised it some more, and now you feel ready to send it out into the world in search of a home. But where do you begin? The process of submitting to literary journals can be daunting, especially considering that there are over 600 journals actively publishing new work in the US alone.

“This course will walk you through the entire process,” says instructor David Hill, “from researching markets best suited to your work, to drafting a professional cover letter and author’s bio, to clicking ‘submit’ (or licking that stamp.) We’ll also discuss publication contracts, tips for working with editors, and strategies for tracking your submissions, as well as submitting to contests and applying for residencies and conferences. I will share my own experience as a writer and as an editor who has read hundreds of submissions and cover letters.”

Students can expect to leave this class with a compelling cover letter template and the names and contact information of several journals, as well as a solid understanding of how to forge an ongoing practice of submitting their creative work.

Note: This course is intended for writers of short prose and poetry. It does not cover writing book proposals or finding a literary agent.

David William Hill served as assistant editor for two oral history books: Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives (McSweeney’s, 2008) and Invisible Hands: Voices from the Global Economy (McSweeney’s, 2014). He currently serves on the editorial staff of Chicago Quarterly Review. His fiction has appeared in [PANK], Chicago Quarterly Review, Hobart, J Journal: New Writing on Justice, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and Cimarron Review, among others, and he was a finalist for both a Glimmer Train prize and the Montana Prize in Fiction. He holds an MFA from San Francisco State University and has taught creative writing at San Francisco State, Academy of Art University, and City University of Hong Kong.