Developing Your Book Concept: An Editorial Workshop (2 sessions)

This two-part program will help guide the new author or self-publisher in how to make a book stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. We will cover what publishers and booksellers look for in a new title, and how to shape book concepts into marketable projects. Attendees will share their book proposals or book ideas with the group, receive feedback, and return to present a revised proposal and explore ongoing challenges and questions. The goal will be to make each project as marketable as possible, whether to a traditional publisher in a proposal, or to the general public as a self-published book. Class size limited to 8 people.

Instructor: Peter Burford

Peter Burford has worked in book publishing for over forty years and has acquired and published hundreds of books in subjects as diverse as gardening, cooking, history, the outdoors, sports, business, nature, memoir and more.  He has worked in the editorial department of a major New York publisher and as the chief operating officer of a significant mid-size house.  Since 1998 he has been president of Burford Books, an Ithaca-based publisher of books on the outdoors, food and wine, military history, the Finger Lakes, and other subjects.