Write a Bestseller
NON-FICTION
Masterclass Series
Join me in my ‘Write A Bestseller’ Masterclass series to turn your knowledge and ideas into a bestselling book.
BECOMING AN AUTHOR CHANGES EVERYTHING
It brings respect, a flood of new fans & prospects, and new opportunities you probably couldn’t even imagine right now. I know because I’ve experienced it and helped many others do the same. I’d been working in my field for years but was surprised at how with a book suddenly I was more of an expert in the eyes of others and how when I shared my story, people connected with me in a new way.
And now I want to show you how to make it happen for yourself in this small group masterclass series.
I’ll walk you through proven strategies for conceiving and writing a bestselling book based on 30 years experience bookselling, writing, coaching, commissioning, agenting, and publishing.
PEOPLE WRITE FOR SO MANY REASONS & THE QUESTIONS ARE NUMEROUS:
- How do I write about my life, my story, what I’ve learnt in a way that is both true to me and commercially appealing?
- How do I write a book that truly changes lives – and perhaps even changes the way everyone thinks about my subject area?
- How do I pick out the bestselling concept amongst all my ideas?
- What’s the key to a killer title?
- How do I structure my book?
- How do I stay motivated to get it written?
- How do I know my book will be successful?
- How do I write a proposal that can win me a book deal?
- How can I pitch my book and make it a bestseller?
I’ll answer all of these questions and more…
In September 2021 we hope to return to meeting live on Month 1 and a live pitch day in Month 4 and the other classes over zoom. If you are out of London or overseas it would be great if you can attend at least one of those events in person, extending your trip to enjoy some of our best literary places as well as the well-known tourists sights.
BECOMING AN AUTHORPRENEUR
If you start with the right idea your book can not only become a bestseller but also serve as an evergreen marketing tool for you. This is life-changing if you work for yourself, run a business or you’re currently in a job and would like to build your personal brand. If you want to move into a new area or develop a passion or hobby, this works for you too.
A bestselling book will bring followers, fans and clients to you instead of you having to go hunt for them. And even better, they already know, like and trust you because they’ve read your book.
And a beautiful bonus for the self employed; people will pay a lot more to hire the author of the book they love.
You will also get invited to give keynote speeches, appear on radio, TV and podcasts, give interviews for newspapers and magazines and get invited to all sorts of opportunities you can barely imagine right now.
“The Masterclass has enabled me to write my new book in a way that is going to make it more likely to connect with the reader and be a more interesting and better book – I would not have been able to do this on my own.” – Professor Ken Rea, trainer of leading actors, including Ewan McGregor, Lily James, Joseph Fiennes, Dominic West, Damian Lewis, Orlando Bloom, and Daniel Craig.
GET THE RIGHT SORT OF HELP
The rewards of a successful book are numerous but the chances of achieving your goal are lower when you try to do it all on your own. Developing a commercial idea for your book and writing it in a way that positions it for success aren’t things that comes naturally to most of us. The key tasks are to create a great proposal, find an agent, get a book deal and ensure that the book’s content markets you in the right way once it’s out. It’s a lot to do on your own but you don’t have to.
All too often people with great ideas and expertise spent a lot of time and energy writing a book that they don’t love, that they’re not proud of. They feel disappointed and frustrated. And that is a shame when some expert guidance would have produced a completely different result.
The challenge, even if you’re an avid reader of non-fiction, is to think like a publisher. And to do that you need guidance from people on the inside of the book business.
Introducing your guide to the inside world of publishing
Jacq Burns was commissioning editor at Random House & Editorial Director at Harper Collins where she edited classics such as Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus, Who Moved My Cheese,Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Toddler Taming – which have sold millions of copies.
She is the author of Write a Bestseller, published by Hodder, and a bestselling series of successful books for Random House, under a pseudonym. Jacq has also ghostwritten a number of well-known titles and she co-founded The London Writers Club. She is now a literary agent for non-fiction authors.
How will the Write a Bestseller Masterclasses help me?
BEFORE WE MEET
You will receive a simple fill-in-the-blanks document to help you start to capture your ideas for the book and also bring Jacq up to speed with your thinking. She will review it in advance so she knows all about you, about your ideas, your passion and your business.
You’ll then be set some pre-masterclass homework.
Each of the five masterclasses will begin with a workshop led by Jacq and then practical writing time with feedback and a Q & A discussion. Everyone will receive input and feedback during the series, including two private 1-1 sessions during the practical writing time. Jacq will meet you at whatever stage you are at and set appropriate work for your free writing sessions at each masterclass. (And don’t forget Masterclass Four is when you privately pitch to a leading literary agent!)
You’ll see how your book works and start to understand the style of book you are writing, how you will journey and share with your readers, and how your eventual pitch will reflect that in a stunning and original way that’s uniquely yours.
In individual work and feedback time the magic will keep on happening.
You’ll have a compelling process or approach that is captured in your book and built into a related offer in your business. Jacq will show you how your book can be based on your own life and experience that only you can write this book. In other words, you’ll have a killer story, or piece of Intellectual property that nobody else has or can steal. It’s all yours, it’s your unique and magical point of difference.
what is included:
- A pre-masterclass Fill in the Blanks Questionnaire
- Five days of live workshops with agent Jacq Burns.
- Exercises and homework each month
- Feedback on your proposal
- Two one-to-one, session during the masterclasses.
- A private pitch to a leading literary agent on the final day.
MONTH 1 FOCUS:
Title, premise and concept. What style of book will you write and how should you structure and write it.
Jacq will help you to define and refine your structure and chapters. The containers you will fill. We map our books out on A3 paper or giant post-its.
Practical writing takes place in the afternoon: Beginning to get your chapters sketched out and written. (or polished if you are ahead and have chapters already)
Jacq is there for troubleshooting. She will set tasks and we then meet back from open discussion. All the help you need on getting your book proposal sample chapters sketched out and written. And each person will receive a 1-to-1 check-in during the afternoon.
MONTH 2 FOCUS:
Reviewing and refining everything we did in month 1.
Discussion: All about the demands and expectations of the publishing industry and what you need to include in your bestselling proposal. How does it work? Jacq explains what publishers and agents are looking for – including the secret Penguin checklist – to developing your own book proposal and pitch.
Practical writing in the afternoon: work on your book proposal which includes starting on or refining sample chapters.
MONTH 3 FOCUS:
Putting it all together into a book proposal using Jacq’s professional template. If you’re just beginning, you’ll be well looked after to get this done. If you have already started writing, that’s great, for you this day will be about making it perfect with Jacq’s help.
MONTH 4: THE BIG DAY
Month 4, Masterclass 1: Our morning session will focus on last minute tweaks to your proposal and after lunch a leading London agent will appear for your private pitch. Giving you feedback ready to create action plan to get you ready to send your book proposal out! Covid permitting we will do this live, otherwise it will be on Zoom.
Month 4, Masterclass 2: We join for a group session and then break off individually to discuss the agent’s feedback and formulate your personal action plan with next steps to getting your book into print.
“I absolutely loved working with you on this, Jacq – firstly and because you have been very encouraging (big thank you!!) – but secondly because this kind of thinking and commentary from a highly experienced viewpoint is not just fantastically valuable feedback, it is highly inspirational.” – Alan Sears, The Six Conversations of a Brilliant Manager
Imagine after the Bestseller Masterclass series you will have…
- Your book idea to set the world alight…. NAILED!
- Your irresistible book title & subtitle… NAILED!
- Your book structure planned out so you know what you’re writing each time you sit down to it… NAILED!
- Your deal-winning proposal drafted…READY!
- Been introduced to a leading agent and had expert feedback from them. READY TO SEND OUT YOUR PROPOSAL!
PRICING
How is this masterclass series different? There are a lot of group courses that are run via video. I choose instead to work more closely with new authors in a small group followed by private one-to-one consultations to go deep into your bestseller concept & proposal. There is nothing theoretical about these masterclasses, I get to know your idea in depth and offer you my expertise to make it really work, helping you be ready to pitch to the right people in the industry.
The investment for the Bestseller Masterclass series is £2975 (if you are a UK resident you’ll be charged an additional 20% VAT).
You can pay by card, Transferwise or bank transfer.
If you’d like to be considered for the Bestseller Masterclass series, your first step is to send a quick email to paula@jacqburns.com and tell us a little about your book idea.
Jacq Burns
“Jacq gave me the focus, the motivation and the expertise to complete the job. With her help you increase your chances of winning ten-fold. I was delighted to earn over £20,000 from my book before it was launched!” – Tom Isaacs.