{"product_id":"beyond-the-agent-small-press-publishing-seminar-online","title":"Beyond the Agent: How Small and University Presses Buy, Build, and Sell Books, a One-Day Seminar (Zoom) with Elise LeSage on Sunday, December 6th, 2026","description":"\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBegins Sunday, December 6, 2026\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eLive Seminar via Zoom from 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e🌍 \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClass Times by Time Zone: \u003c\/strong\u003eLos Angeles (PST): 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM \/ Chicago (CST): 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM \/ New York (EST): 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM \/ London (GMT): 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM \/ Berlin (CET): 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eNow Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eInstructor Elise LeSage is a writer and educator based in North Carolina, where she earned her MFA in fiction from UNC Greensboro. She is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop, the Kenyon Summer Workshop, and Clarion UCSD. Her fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming in \u003cem\u003eEPOCH, Hypertext Magazine, Flash Frog, PseudoPod\u003c\/em\u003e, and elsewhere. Her craft essays have been featured in \u003cem\u003eThe Writers' Chronicle \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e Author's Publish Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e. Elise has over three years of experience teaching creative writing. She also brings a working knowledge of the publishing industry from the inside: she has served as a submission reader for Forest Avenue Press, a marketing intern at Duke University Press, and a publishing intern at Brandylane Press, and she works as a book marketing freelancer for independently and traditionally published authors. Her work as a fiction educator emphasizes publication-readiness. She loves to help her students find their place in the literary ecosystem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho is this class for?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThis online writing class is for fiction and creative nonfiction writers seeking traditional publication for their manuscripts. Open to all levels, this seminar serves both writers actively querying and writers with manuscripts still in progress. If you are tired of wading through the query trenches, this class will show you the routes you may not have considered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat to expect:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eMost publishing courses begin and end with the literary agent. But the agented route is only one of several paths to traditional publication, and for many manuscripts it is not the best fit. This online publishing seminar offers a behind-the-scenes look at all three major paths — literary agents, independent and small presses, and university presses — with sustained attention to the latter two, where the doors are more often open to unagented writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eOver three hours, you will learn the working vocabulary and mechanics of the book industry: acquisitions, contracts, catalog positioning, distribution, publicity, lead time, advances and royalties, and where a book actually lives on a list. We will look closely at the different types of small presses and at the university presses that publish trade and crossover titles, walking each model from pitch through production to post-launch life. You will learn the green flags that signal a healthy press and the red flags worth pausing over — and how to read the terms of any publishing offer with clear eyes before you sign.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThis creative writing course draws on the instructor's experience across academic, independent, and hybrid publishing, and on original interviews she conducted for this class with editors and publishers at Running Wild Press, the University of Minnesota Press, Bull City Press, and Scuppernong Editions. Their answers to the question most writers want to ask — what should authors know before pitching to you? — are built directly into the seminar. As a live Zoom writing class, there is also room for the questions you can only ask in real time: whether a clause is standard, whether a press is the right home for your particular book. You will leave with three things you keep: a masterlist of small and university presses open to unagented submissions, a one-page worksheet for evaluating any press you encounter later, and a clear articulation of your own publishing priorities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat are the writing goals?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThis is a non-generative seminar; there is no manuscript submission and no instructor feedback on student writing. Instead, students will complete an in-class exercise defining their own publishing priorities — the questions of editorial attention, marketing reach, production quality, and press values that determine which publisher is genuinely right for a given book. Every student leaves with three take-home resources: a curated masterlist of small and university presses open to unagented submissions, organized by genre and niche; a one-page press evaluation worksheet built from the red and green flags covered in class, including the questions to ask a publisher before signing; and their completed publishing priorities worksheet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReadings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThere is no required reading. Students may be interested in Laura Stanfill's \"Imagine a Door\" and Joe Biel's \"A People's Guide to Publishing.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOURSE OUTLINE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ePublishing Key Terms: The vocabulary you will encounter in contracts, catalogs, and conversations with editors — distribution, front\/back\/mid-list, advances and royalties, ARCs, lead time, and more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ePaths to Publishing, an Introduction: An overview of the publishing landscape, including agented and Big Five publication, small presses, university presses, and hybrid models, with the advantages and limitations of each.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eUniversity Press Publication: A detailed look at the types of university presses, how they acquire, and their production cycle — from pitch tips through post-launch life, including how to position trade and crossover manuscripts for academic outlets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eSmall Press Publication: A detailed look at the types of small presses, how they acquire, and their production cycle — from pitch tips through post-launch life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eSmall Presses: Red and Green Flags: How to evaluate a press before you approach it and how to read an offer before you accept it, including the questions every writer should ask a publisher prior to signing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBuilding Your Publishing Network: How to meet and stay in contact with publishers, at conferences and conventions and online.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIn-Class Exercise: Your Publishing Priorities: Define what you actually need from a publisher before you begin approaching them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eTake-Home Worksheet and Masterlist: Your press evaluation one-pager and a curated list of small and university presses open to unagented submissions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOURSE TAKEAWAYS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA working knowledge of the publishing landscape and the vocabulary to navigate it, from acquisitions and contracts to distribution and sales\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA curated masterlist of small and university presses open to unagented submissions, organized by genre and niche\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA one-page press evaluation worksheet you can apply to any publisher you encounter, long after the class ends\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe red flags and green flags to look for when researching presses, and the questions to ask a publisher before signing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInsight from working editors and publishers at Running Wild Press, the University of Minnesota Press, Bull City Press, and Scuppernong Editions on what they want to see from writers who pitch them\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA clear sense of your own publishing priorities and which path best supports your long-term writing career\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePAYMENT OPTIONS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eTuition is $99 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInstructor: Elise LeSage\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBegins Sunday, December 6, 2026\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClass will meet for one live session via Zoom on Sunday, December 6, from 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTuition is $99 USD.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Writing Workshops Org","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50253098352888,"sku":null,"price":966.0,"currency_code":"SEK","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0287\/3917\/4532\/files\/BeyondtheAgentHowSmallandUniversityPressesBuy_Build_andSellBookswithEliseLeSage.png?v=1787932510","url":"https:\/\/writingworkshops.com\/en-se\/products\/beyond-the-agent-small-press-publishing-seminar-online","provider":"Writing Workshops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}