Mary Buckham knows the power of P2P promotion. No, not B2B. P2P--person to person.
Mary is giving one of her more popular classes in March. It's the only time she's giving that class this year and she wanted to let potential students know that. WritersU, which is sponsoring the class, sent out one of its standard promotional emails about two weeks ago, but Mary kicked it up a notch. She followed up with a personal email to many, if not all, of her former students from that class asking them to pass the word.
Did it work? You betcha! Pretty much every one of the fiction-writing loops to which I subscribe had at least one person write in and say, "Mary Buckham wrote to me and asked me to tell you about her class." Each of those messages included a rave review and prompted others on each loop to add their own positive reviews. How much better can it get?
Has the class filled up? I have no idea. But if you'd like some help with pacing, try registering for it. It's a great class. Yes, I'm one of those very satisfied former students now passing on the word.
"Pacing: How to Create a Page-Turning Manuscript" is an online class running from March 1 to 31. In the class, which costs $30, Mary examines what makes a book intriguing enough to cause readers to turn the pages and not set it down. She analyzes how one author's books can keep readers riveted while another author's books can leave them feeling ho-hum. The specific topics include:
- The ingredients of a page-turner
- What hooks are and how to maximize them
- The power of effective scenes--common pacing pitfalls to avoid
- The ten elements of strong pacing
- How to use subplots and secondary characters
- How to avoid a sagging middle
- What a beat is and how to use it
- Great beginnings and endings that leave your readers wanting more
*Little guy glued to book courtesy of Jericho Middle School.
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6 comments:
I took Mary's plot class a couple of years back...I can recommend her, although I did have a bit of trouble keeping up with her voluminous material. (That's the trouble with trying to manage a job while you're writing fiction.)
I like your little guy absorbed in his reading!
I absolutely look to personal recommendations first, no less for a class or conference than a plumber. That Mary Buckman has so many people willing to endorse her with their names and praise attached says a lot about what they thought of her class. I've never done one of these before, but who doesn't need good pacing? On fence, but leaning...
Never would have happened without your tip and information, Elaine!
Mary has taught a couple of classes for the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime, and I took one of them--on preparing synopses. Yes, her lessons have substance and she doesn't skimp on the handouts, but that's part of what makes her such a good teacher. The other part is that she's hands-on, giving each student concrete help. I highly recommend any class Mary gives.
Thank you Elaine! You say such nice things I may have you write my obit one day ~~grin.
I do appreciate your sharing the word - pacing is such a fun and fascinating topic that I wish I could teach it more often.
Take care and thank you again!
~~ Mary Buckham :-)
I took one of Mary's classes, too. I still haven't finished reading all the materials because I can't read that much on the computer, so I had to print them out...but it was definitely interesting!
My pleasure, Mary!
Lots of good stuff there, Laura.
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