Susie Has 2 Classes This Spring - Register Here!

The Business of Writing and . . . and the Parts No One Says Out Loud

I was a busy Professor in my youth. I taught creative writing, film, and sexual politics. For those of you who were there, it was a blast, eh?

My favorite 90s highlight was when the Dean of Social Sciences announced, “Susie Bright will teach at UC over my dead body” — I was devastated. Everything was cancelled.

Three days later, the same man had a stroke. I got a letter from the department secretary stuck to my doorstop: “Show up Monday.”

The show went on.

But soon after, trade publishing overtook me. I published 40+ books of my own, from bestsellers to cult-items. I edited hundreds of authors and thousands of stories. To my sometimes-pride and and sometimes-distress, I made millions . . . for the usual suspects, the publishers. Sometimes the writers too! — when the contract was right. I negotiated on both sides, all over the world. There were several scandals and miracles along the way!

I bet half of you reading this, have been neck-deep in some improbable publishing adventure with me.

So now, the page is turning. Time to set it down.

I retired from Audible last month, a place that once had me working 60 hours a week across 5 time zones.

Now, comrades asked me, “Well, what are you going to do now?”

I’d like to pass on what I learned the last 50 years in the trade.

I’ve decided to teach 2 classes in 2023: one short day on the business of writing in March, and one month-long series on the craft, in May.

When you’re my age, you feel the tick-tock, all the time. Passing my lamp is something I promised I’d do, a legacy I need to set down.

Let’s do it! Maybe I’ll see you at one class, or both! Details below:

© HL Cottrell

Susie Bright and the Art of Break-Through Publishing

March 4, 2023

10 AM – 12:30 PM, PST – via Zoom

Price: $180 for two-hour Zoom seminar with half-hour mid-break. (2 ½ hours total).

A $30 deposit saves your spot.

—Payment: Venmo @Ariel-Gore-1 with your email address to save your place, or register via Paypal right here.

When it comes to books and periodical publishing, I’ve been in the thick of it— from improbable beginnings. I started in the “underground press,” and we ended up driving the stick. Being banned and getting arrested, to being toasted and awarded— it’s an interesting circle of events, not one straight line. As protégée and mentor, I’ve considered some essential truths of our world and its influence.

How can writers, agents, editors and publishers can move next, in uncertain times? It seems impossible when one isn’t in the inner circle— so how do you read the tea leaves? How do we break THROUGH?

Join me for a one-day seminar on the strategic thought and practice of how we shake things up and stay sane.

I’ll be talking shop, you’ll be asking questions, and we’ll take on the art of editorial do-or-die decisions. I’ll do one writing/publishing improv with you to get to the heart of what your next move might be. Advance questions (confidential or otherwise) are welcome.

Class limited; please grab your spot soon.

http://literarykitchen.net/susie-bright-teaches-creative-publishing-and-the-art-of-outsider-revolution/

© HL Cottrell

The Intimate Memoir with Susie Bright

May 1 – 30, 2023

Tuition is $450 for 30-day class

Class meets on Zoom 1x a week, plus weekly/daily online feedback
A $100 deposit saves your spot.

—Payment: Venmo @Ariel-Gore-1 with your email address to save your place, or register via Paypal right here.

The Intimate Memoir is a class in intimate revelation.

Over four weeks,  we’ll look at what makes “the sex/death scene” such a melting point in so many stories and characters’ lives. Our class is both online writing and meeting on Zoom— half and half.  

One half of our class is an asynchronous online writing workshop, (meaning that you, the student, log on a few times each week, whenever you like). 

You’ll have one writing assignment per week, under 1,000 words. I’ll respond to each one.

The other section of the class is a weekly 90-minute Zoom seminar, where I’ll share themes and direction, lead flash writing exercises, and give you personal feedback on your work in progress. 

The class begins online with our first writing and reading assignment.

We’ll have our initial Zoom gathering a week later, to discuss.

At that first Zoom gathering I’ll give you your second assignment, and we’ll repeat that process until we’ve completed 4 pieces.

The last week, we’ll discuss the market and travails of erotic publishing.

Workshop size is limited, so sign up early.

http://literarykitchen.net/the-intimate-memoir-reading-and-writing-erotic-literature-with-bestselling-author-and-editor-susie-bright/

Feel free to ask me questions in comments, or email me for more info!

Susie