Upcoming Events

Writing and Publishing Your Book with Dr Robert Wood

Over six weeks you learn how to write and publish your book with author of five books, Dr Robert Wood.

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• Robert WoodSee more about Robert Wood

Apr 14, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Centre for Stories

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This event has sold out. If you would like to go on the wait list for future courses with Robert please email info@centreforstories.com

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This workshop series looks at writing from the start of the creative journey until after the release of your book. It is intended to encourage and empower you with knowledge about books and the industry, all towards improving your creative and professional knowledge. Based on informing and sharing, participants will ask questions and do exercises with each other to help turn your writing into a reality.

Dr Robert Wood is a 2021 Westpac Social Change Fellow and a Malayali person. He is the Creative Director of Centre for Stories and the author of five books, including A Guide to Field and Wood (2021) Redgate (2020), and Suburbanism (2019). He has also written for The Guardian, LA Review of Books, CEREAL, UWA Public Policy Blog and Cultural Weekly.

In this 6-week course, you will learn from Robert the art and craft of writing and publishing your book – whether you have the beginnings of an idea, or a finished manuscript.

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THE COURSE

APR 14 – Week 1: Writing Your Book

In this workshop, we will focus on what it takes to write – how to make time, how to set small goals, why motivation matters. It is about viewing writing as a craft and skill that is done in a community setting with the aim of connecting to readers. This is open to those with any book inside them, a half finished manuscript, and those just starting on their writing journey.

APR 21 – Week 2: Finishing Your Manuscript

In our second session together, we will look at how to complete a project. In particular, we will answer how to know when it is done, and what it means to let it go. Participants will learn how to format, how to write a synopsis, where and when to submit, and what it means to say your manuscript has finished.

MAY 5 – Week 3: Finding An Agent

For our third get together, Robert will explain the book trade in greater detail with an emphasis on agents and how they can be useful. Here, we will expand our horizons beyond the state to think nationally and internationally. We will answer why agents are a good thing for writers.

MAY 12 – Week 4: Connecting With Publishers

Publishers are the closest collaborators of writers. They help turn writing into books and find readers for us. How do we understand their perspective? What can be useful in submitting to specific houses? And what should I know before I approach them from Perth to Melbourne to New York?

MAY 19 – Week 5: Working on Production

In session five, we will talk about what happens after you have started writing your book, finished your manuscript, spoken with agent and publishers. It will give an insight into cover deign, galleys and proofs and stages of production, marketing and distribution, and how sales  and review works in defining the success of your book.

MAY 26 – Week 6: After Publication 

Your book is in the world, what comes next? This session looks at writers festivals, library appearances, and how to make a career as a writer after your first book. What can you expect after this, and how might you have a chance at sustained and satisfying success?

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WHAT TO EXPECT AND TO BRING

Each workshop goes for 90 minutes and will take place on Friday afternoons from 1pm until 2:30pm at Centre for Stories. Please note there is a break during one week (Apr 28) as Robert is unavailable that week.

The sessions will be a mix of theory, discussion and interactive writing exercises.

Please bring your writing materials with you – paper and pen, or tablet/laptop.

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TICKETS

Tickets are $480. Your ticket pays for the entire length of the course, so you must be able to commit to attending all six sessions.

Companion card holders are welcome, please contact us on (08) 9328 1443 or at info@centreforstories.com to organise this.

Perth Train Station is just a 10 minute walk from Centre for Stories, or there is nearby parking at Wilson Parking on 6-8 Errichetti Place, Northbridge, which is a 2-minute walk away from Centre for Stories.

Centre for Stories is wheelchair accessible.

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  Robert Wood

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  Dr. Robert Wood (BA, B.Econ, Hons, AM, PhD) is interested in community, ideas and language, and the author of five books with an international profile. In 2021, he is one of ten Westpac Social Change Fellows. Robert was an Endeavour Research Fellow at Columbia University from 2017 to 2018 working with Nobel, Booker and Pulitzer Winners. In 2018, he was a Copyright Agency Emerging Critic with Sydney Review of Books, and had a monthly column with the Los Angeles Review of Books from 2017 to 2020. Between 2013 and 2016, he edited for the journals Cordite, Peril, and Overland, and was on the Faculty of The School of Life in Melbourne. Robert is responsible for developing partnerships with artists and social change organisations; planning a program of activities, including writing, publishing and mentoring; quality control of all creative outputs; and implementing best-practice models that improve wellbeing.