Nina Berry landed a two-book deal with Kensington Books’ KTeen Imprint. Her first novel, Otherkin, was released in the summer of 2012.
Nina says, “The keys to success for me were a love of writing, a determination to learn and get better, and sheer dogged persistence.”
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Deborah Lee published a personal essay in Slate called “The Wrong Tribe: How failed work friendships helped me escape my corporate career and find my true calling.”
Deborah says, “I really enjoyed the range of topics explored in my classmates’ personal essays and was glad that I could learn from the feedback given to everyone’s work.”
Linda Olantunde launched a public relations and marketing firm, Yellow Duck PR.
In addition to the PR classes she took, Linda also enrolled in writing classes, and says, “I was surprised how much writing creative stories translates into so many career areas. The classes helped me become a better storyteller overall, particularly for companies and corporations needing marketing and public relations services. They helped put me on the track I am on now.”
Henry Visotski landed a job as Social Media Marketing & Online Product Manager for Euromoney Institutional Investor after taking Understanding Search and Online Marketing with Gracey Newman.
His words of wisdom: “Embrace the changing technologies and trends, and try to introduce some of them at your company. Never stop learning new skills.”
Matthew Worley sold his article, “A Resonant, Rhythmic, Writing Revival,” to Brooklyn Based.
Matthew says, “The instructor taught me the value of persistence in dealing with editors — a quality I lacked at times — and I have already seen the value of following up and phoning, multiple times if necessary, to gain an editor’s ear.”
Sabrina Ricci launched an online literary magazine specializing in flash fiction called FictionBrigade
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Sabrina says, “Taking Mediabistro courses has helped me improve my writing, but more important, it has helped me be tougher as a writer.”
Amy Costello launched a podcast and multimedia platform, Tiny Spark, which “ignites debate about the Business of Doing Good.”
Amy’s advice to writers: “Take risks, blaze your own path, tell compelling stories, meet your deadlines, respect the people you write about. And for God’s sake, don’t wait for permission to do the things you want to do.”
Joe Peta sold his nonfiction book, Trading Bases: A Story about Wall Street, Gambling, and Baseball (Not Necessarily in that Order), to Dutton Books, a publishing division of the Penguin Group (USA).
Joe says, “Without the combination of the nonfiction book writing and nonfiction book proposal courses, both of which were invaluable to me, a complete publishing/media industry outsider, I could never have put together the proposal which led to my book sale.”
Amy Bevan was published in Taste of the Seacoast magazine and will be published in Family Fun magazine in May 2012.
Amy says, “Learning each week about different types of writing and then challenging myself to pursue them was just the experience I needed to impress editors.”
Caroline Bock‘s young adult novel, Lie, was published by St. Martin’s Press in August. It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which said, “Bock handles the novel’s multiple viewpoints exceptionally well, rotating among the painfully believable voices of high school students and adults.”
Kirkus Reviews said, “Realistic and devastatingly insightful, this novel can serve as a springboard to classroom and family discussions. Unusual and important.”
Caroline’s advice to aspiring writers? “Finish a first draft as fast as possible — and then, revise, revise.”
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