Launching a Book and Reaching your Readers—Without a Large PR Budget
This three-hour seminar will guide you through the many pathways to launch a book, especially for early career writers who don't have a large platform or promotional machine behind them.
Paid Narratively Academy members get 20% off all classes, including this one. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to join—or to get the paid member promo code if you already are a member.
Cost: $119
You’ve spent years of hard work and poured no shortage of blood, sweat and tears into your book. But when you finally have a “pub day,” then the hard part starts—figuring out how to reach readers.
The word “marketing” sends a shiver down the spine of many a creative writer, but it doesn’t have to. This three-hour seminar will guide you through the many pathways to launch a book, especially for early career writers who have neither a large platform nor the access to a large budget—their own or their publisher’s—to pay for promotion services.
Namrata Podar’s debut novel, Border Less, was a Silver Medalist for Best Regional Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and was featured in most anticipated, best or favorite book lists by The Millions, Ms. Magazine, Brown Girl Bookshelf, BuzzFeed News, Chicago Review of Books, Washington Independent Review of Books and more.
In this seminar, she will walk writers through how to prepare for and execute a launch strategy that finds your readers. Topics will include:
The role of author platforms in contemporary book business.
Organic and sustainable ways to nourish an online presence and grow the audience for one’s work.
Ideas for pre-launch and post-launch of a book.
Pathways to community-building and literary citizenship.
This workshop is open to any authors, whether you’re planning to self-publish your book, publish with a smaller publishing house, or take a different path. It will be particularly useful to those who are among the first to professionally pursue writing in their communities, and writers from the global majority trying to negotiate the structural inequities in writing and publishing.
This is the right class for you if…
You have a book contract but not a significant promotional budget.
You plan on self-publishing your book.
You’re not sure of your exact publishing plan yet, but you’d like to explore options.
This three-hour workshop takes place on Saturday, March 28 from 12pm to 3pm ET. All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world.
This class will NOT be recorded and live attendance is mandatory.
Instructor Bio: Namrata Poddar writes fiction and nonfiction, serves as Interviews Editor for Kweli, and teaches literature at UCLA. Her debut novel, Border Less, was a Silver Medalist for Best Regional Fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards, a finalist for Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award and Feminist Press's Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, and longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her other writing has appeared in several publications including Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Longreads, The Kenyon Review, and The Best Asian Short Stories. She holds a PhD in French literature from the University of Pennsylvania, an MFA in Fiction from Bennington College, and a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Transnational Cultures from UCLA. Find her on Instagram and Threads, @writerpoddar, and on Bluesky, @namratapoddar.
Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.
50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.
No cancellations after the class start date.
Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.
Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.