Category: About
This Week in mb Education
Also, for you Chicagoans, don't forget my breaking into blogging class!
EAST
MONDAY
On the Road: Breaking into Travel Writing: If you've ever wanted to write about the landscape outside your window or on the other side of the globe, this seminar may be for you.
12-Week Novelist: Draft your novel in 3 months!
Basic Training: Intro to Magazine Writing: Write for the glossies.
eClass: Boot Camp for Journalists: A rigorous reporting and writing class that will transform your portfolio
eClass: 12-Week Novelist: Draft Your Novel in 3 Months!
TUESDAY
How to Use Plot to Structure Your Fiction in Boston: The secrets of building and creating powerful storylines
Understanding Grammar and Style: We'll examine recent newspapers and magazines for good and bad writing; and we'll also look at examples in fiction and nonfiction.
How to Write a Cookbook Proposal: One-Night Workshop: Whether you're just beginning to think about writing your dream cookbook or you have a preliminary draft this is the workshop for you.
Arts & Entertainment Journalism Boot Camp: Work the pop culture beat for mags from Us Weekly to Esquire
eClass: Boot Camp for Magazine Editors: learn how to edit various styles of articles, master the assignment letter, delve into the writer-editor relationship, and manage freelancers.
eClass: Writing and Editing for the Web, Circa 2006: In this four-week course, we'll cover the essentials of writing and editing for the web
WEDNESDAY
Breaking into the Glossies in Chicago: Intro to writing for magazines
Fictional Techniques and Literary Devices for Writers: This seminar will utilize each student's writing practice to illustrate its theoretical points.
Health Writing for Journalists: Fit to Print
6-Week Copy Editor: Intermediate Level: this six-week class focuses on sharpening essential skills and developing a more sophisticated copyediting sensibility.
Food Writing Boot Camp: Each week, you'll receive an assignment with prototypes so you can see how it's been done before, and wisdom and tips from your instructor on how to go about completing the assignment.
eClass: 12-Week TV Writer: Start -- and Finish! -- Your Spec Script in 3 Months!
eClass: Basic Training: Intro to Magazine Writing: Write for the glossies.
eClass: The Advanced Copy Editor: This online class is for junior copy editors, writers, editors, or anyone with some background in copy editing who wishes to learn more about the profession.
THURSDAY
How to Use Plot to Structure Your Fiction: The secrets of building and creating powerful storylines
eClass: Humor Writing Boot Camp: From headlines to punchlines
SATURDAY
Create Your Own Website: Learn to make your own basic web page on a Mac
The Sitcom Writer's Room: Two-Day Intensive Workshop
WEST
MONDAY
How to Write a Children's Book in San Francisco: And sell it, too!
Introduction to Copywriting: How to cash in without selling out
Memoir Writing 101: This seminar will revolve around confronting those kinds of questions and determining whether or not you have a story that you are ready to tell, willing to tell, and skilled enough to form into a memoir.
TUESDAY
Sell That Reality Show + Pitch Slam: Join this one-of-a-kind panel, where development executives, producers, and agents from some production companies, networks, and agencies tell you what they're looking for, and how you can deliver it to them.
Perfect Pitching in San Francisco: Target, craft, and sell magazine stories through query letters
How to Get a Literary Agent: Screenwriters, novelists, and nonfiction book authors: Get represented!
Boot Camp for Journalists: By the end of class, students can expect to have:
A complete portfolio of eight publishable articles that will impress any magazine editor, the ability to work under tight deadlines, and an understanding of how to achieve the career you started out (or ended up) wanting.
WEDNESDAY
Extreme Spec Makeover: Make your TV spec the best it can be--just in time for staffing season
Photography Portfolio Review with Caren Alpert in San Francisco: you'll have a chance to have your book critiqued and edited as much as necessary to create a tight, well-paced representation of you.
Intermediate Magazine Editing: this intensive class is designed to motivate you to stop thinking about writing for the magazines you love—and start doing it.
Writing Personal Essays in Seattle: We will read and discuss student work in class and prepare it for pitching.
THURSDAY
Food-Writing Boot Camp: an intensive 6-week course, taught by one of the top editors at one of the top publications in the industry.
The 12-Week Novelist: Start (and finish) your novel in three months. Really.
I've Got Class
Do you mind if I plug myself here for a moment? You're too kind. Tell your friends in Chicago to sign up for my Breaking Into Blogging class later this month. Sure, I'm not Matt Drudge. But blogging has helped me do a lot of things; interview famous authors, get amazing freelance gigs (including one that sent me on a free trip to the British Virgins Islands), and get PAID blogging jobs like this one. Have you ever wondered whether starting a blog could help your writing career? I'll tell you what I know.
This Week in mb Education
EAST COAST
TUESDAY
Breaking Into Travel Writing in Boston: You'll learn how travel editors think, what they want from their writers, and how to give it to them.
How to Pitch Your Film to Hollywood: How to sell your idea for a commercial or Hollywood movie.
Jumpstart Your Ad Portfolio: For writers and designers -- break into the ad world
Op-Ed Master Class: Opinion writing for authors, journalists, scholars, and activists
eClass: Pitch That TV Show: Taking your TV show concept and getting it on the air
WEDNESDAY
Negotiate Your Way to Higher Pay in Boston: Negotiation gets better with practice, and becomes less awkward over time.
Advanced Freelancing for Magazines in Chicago: How to find, pitch and write the stories you care about most
Writing and Publishing Your Comic Book or Graphic Novel: In this seminar, noted comics writer, editor and educator Danny "Spider-Man" Fingeroth will teach you how to devise and develop your ideas and characters.
eClass: 12-Week Screenwriter: Start (and finish!) your screenplay in three months.
eClass: 12-Week TV Writer: Start (and Finish!) Your Spec Script in 3 Months!
eClass: 6-Week Copy Editor: How to Be One, How to Get a Job Being One
THURSDAY
Me, Myself, and Foie Gras: Writing the Perfect Food Essay: In this three-hour seminar you'll be given all the tools and information you need to write an affecting, targeted food essay that will get an editor's attention.
12-Week Screenwriter: Writing the Indie Film: How to write a screenplay for an independent movie in three months.
Master Class with Fiona Maazel: Advanced Fiction Writing: This class will workshop student work and also published work, by way of exploring specific feats of craft.
Writing Comedy for TV: learn how to analyze news stories and current trends to create material, then hone these jokes so they're ready for the air.
SATURDAY
Basic Training: Intro to Writing for Women's TV and Cable Shows: This course will teach you what you need to know about women's television networks and how to break into this exciting and growing industry.
WEST COAST
WEDNESDAY
How to Write for Men's and Women's Magazines: This seminar, taught by an instructor who's worked on both sides of the aisle, will help you pinpoint the kinds of stories the different magazines look for from freelancers, and how to get your foot in the door.
THURSDAY
The 6-Week Screenwriter: Finish and sell your movie
Introduction to Travel Writing in San Francisco: If you keep up with the work, you'll have two salable pieces and pitch letters to match (and the know-how to send them out!) by class end.
How to Write for Magazines (Even if You've Never Even Tried it Before)in San Francisco: We'll take you beyond the usual magazine seminar and give you a seller's edge.
One-Day Workshop: Writing (and Publishing) Your Memoir in San Francisco: We'll talk about how to make a personal story universal, and how that experience is a window onto a larger world.
Not to Be-Labor the Point...
But MBToolBox will be on vacation Monday September 4, returning Tuesday. Have a great and safe weekend!
So What Do You Do, Michael Ian Black?
You might enjoy Michael Ian Black from "The State," or "Stella," or the "I Love the..." shows, or "Ed," or "Wet Hot American Summer" or something else. But now you can love him in a whole new way: as the editor-at-large of Cracked:
mediabistro: How do you differentiate Cracked from Mad?Black: The Cracked of old was very much like Mad: lots of dumb jokes aimed at 12-year-old boys. The new Cracked is a lot more grown-up. Dumb jokes aimed at 25-year-old boys.
mediabistro:What does an "editor-at-large" do?
Black: I'm a lot like the Queen of England. It's basically a figurehead position. I get to go to all the Cracked polo matches and balls, but I have no actual power. I'm also like the Queen of England insofar as I wear a tiara and carry a scepter.
More here. Also, why is that picture so sexy?
This Week in mb Learning
EAST COAST
WEDNESDAY
How to Become an Arts and Culture Journalist in Boston: Boston makes a good base to land freelance gigs with local outlets, but also with the national press.
THURSDAY
Introduction to TV News Production in New York: learn what a job in news production involves, if it's the right career for you, and if so, how to get your foot in the door of an exciting and rewarding profession.
WEST COAST
Monday:
PR Professionals: How to Become the Writer's Best Friend: The age-old mystery of the writer's m.o. is revealed and decoded in this tell-all seminar.
Introduction to Travel Writing in San Francisco: we'll reveal all you'll need to successfully break into the travel publishing world.
Tuesday:
Copyediting & Proofreading for Magazine and Newspaper Staffers: For anyone who works with editorial copy for magazines or newspapers, learn foolproof tricks to making sure you're not staring at mistakes on the page after the printing.
Wednesday:
How to Be a TV News Reporter: Whether you are interested in making a career switch from print or radio into TV, or if you just want to learn some on-camera presentation skills, this class will give you an overview of the world of TV news and what it takes to be an on-air reporter.
Writing Great Personal Essays in Seattle: This is a seminar intended for beginning and intermediate writers who have something to say but haven't figure out how to say it.
This Week in mb Classes
EAST/MIDWEST
WEDNESDAY
Managing Your Freelance Career in Chicago: Become -- and stay -- a fulltime freelancer
THURSDAY
Perfect Pitch in Boston: How to successfully promote your business, client, or self.
WEST
MONDAY
Accomplishing Your Dreams: How to raise the bar...on your life
Making Radio Documentaries: learn the step-by-step process from inspiration to completion
Writing about Health, Wellness, and Spirituality for Both Mainstream and Niche Magazines in San Francisco: To break into what is no longer a niche market, you must learn where to find stories, how to pursue interesting holistic topics, and, most of all, how to present them to a mainstream editor as essential for publication.
WEDNESDAY
Introduction to Writing for Women's Magazines: By the end of the seminar you will understand just what all those folks on staff of a women's magazine really do.
Grammar A-Z in Seattle: Tips, tricks, and differences of grammar and style
THURSDAY
A Simple Approach to Sitcom Story Structure: In this workshop you'll learn how to build a strong, simple structure that takes the struggle out of script writing.
Introduction to Copywriting: How to cash in without selling out
How to Write for Magazines (Even if You've Never Even Tried it Before) in Seattle: Get started and focused with this crash course in magazine writing.
SalesRants XII: Ask Secret Sales Guy
Answering your questions, Secret Sales Guy spills his own beans for a change, instead of everyone else's:
What's your No. 1 tip for making sales?There is no secret to making sales. The best way to make a sale is to have something that someone wants to buy. If you have something like that and it's priced exactly right, and the person who wants to purchase it has the money to do so, you will make a sale. It's that simple. Even if you are a sleazy soft-brained, scumbag with half a community college education, so long as your product meets the aforementioned criteria, you will succeed.
Of course, most of us don't have the perfect, reasonably-priced product that just happens to be ready exactly when the customer, money in hand, wants to buy it. Therefore, the key to sales is constantly being around so that when this miracle of circumstance happens, you are standing at the bottom of Cash Hill with your catcher's mitt on. That translates to calling a lot of people to remind them that you have something to sell, going to a lot of trade shows, and drinking lots of bad table wine with your prospects.
More secrets revealed about SSG here.
This Week in mb Learning
MIDWEST!
WEDNESDAY
How to Write for (and Pitch to) Women's TV Networks in Chicago: You'll learn how to prepare a perfectly polished pitch, a no-fail query letter, and a compelling selling synopsis, not to mention an understanding of mysterious process of approaching a network insider.
WEST!
MONDAY
Writing The Film Review: This class offers an overview of the five basic forms of film journalism, from the short-form capsule review, to the extended review, the genre piece, the profile, and the tech-oriented article.
TUESDAY
Copyediting & Proofreading for PR and Other Corporate Types: You can please your boss, higher-ups, journalists and the public with this handy primer on how to tighten the writing of brochures, websites, manuals, press releases, and more, and improve the accuracy of printed/posted matter.
Introduction to Writing Profiles: Make people come alive on the page
THURSDAY
Writing Company Newsletters: Drafting newsletters as a freelancer
SUNDAY
Perfect Pitching: Target, craft, and sell magazine stories through query letters.
This week in mb Classes
This week in mediabistro learning!
EAST COAST
MONDAY
How to Find Out Anything: Secrets of professional fact-finders.
TUESDAY
Copywriting A to Z: Writing for the ad world.
THURSDAY
Crash Course in Memoir Writing: This three-hour seminar will cover the fundamentals of memoir-writing
SATURDAY
Weekend Warrior: 2-Day Film School: mb has teamed up with HFI to put you through film school in one weekend
WEST COAST
MONDAY
How to Write for Magazines (Even if You've Never Even Tried it Before): Get started and focused with this crash course in magazine writing.
Fact-Checking 101 in San Francisco: hone a skill you can use in the freelance job market, or become a life long truth-warrior.
TUESDAY
Magazine Editing 101: Get the skills you need to land your dream job
The 4-Week Travel Writer: you'll learn how to grow your freelance writing career by mastering one of its most adaptable, engaging genres: travel.
The mb One-Day Workshop: Personal Essay Clinic: learn from one of our master instructors how to edit yourself, what your work is missing, what it has too much of, and where it would fit perfectly for publication.
THURSDAY
Travel Writing Boot Camp in San Francisco: Students will be expected to investigate unfamiliar neighborhoods, seek out experts in the field and demonstrate the highest levels of research and reporting.
SUNDAY
Investigative Journalism 101 : This course will introduce you to the basic tools and techniques of doing investigative journalism
Previously
mb Bloggers Are Turning Into Teachers!
AvantGuild Member News: 6.12.06
AvantGuild Member News: 5.29.06
AvantGuild Member News: 5.22.06
AvantGuild Member News: 5.13.06
Facing Life: the Retrial of Evan Zimmerman
MB Courses: The Week of 5.8.06
This Week in mb West Coast Classes
Get a Freelance Life in Chicago
This Week in East Coast Classes
Hmm, What Classes is mediabistro Offering This Week?
Whatcha Gonna Do With All That Class, All That Class?
Ch-Check It Out (What Courses Mediabistro is Offering)
Hey West Coasties: Check Out These MB Classes Going On This Week
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