The Weekend of June 28th & 29th, 2025

Live Seminar via Zoom from 10AM - 11:30AM Eastern on Saturday and Sunday

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Sanibel Lazar's debut novel, To Have and Have More, will be published by 8th Note Press/Zandoin in April 2025. Her writing appears in NYmag, ELLE, Air Mail, Literary Hub, and more. She earned her MFA from The New School and is currently working on a satire about the New York media scene. You can find Sanibel on TikTok and Instagram.

Learn more about Sanibel in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

Being a brilliant writer doesn’t automatically make you a social media natural. Learn how to use your storytelling talents to create engaging content that thrives in the attention economy in this class composed of ⅓ social media strategy and ⅔ video content crash course. 

You’re capable of writing an entire book, why does creating a social media post feel Sisyphean? Why does writing a caption make you question your writing chops? Because catering to ultra-short attention spans and writing great prose are not *quite* the same skill. Success on social media requires a combination of brand building, self-promotion, and a clearly defined product (your book). 

I’ll spend 60% of this course covering the basics of video content (Reels, Tiktok, YouTube). We’ll discuss how the algorithm works, what’s considered a “good” amount of views, the best time to post, how to engage with followers — and I’ll give you the tools to make your first videos.

The remaining 40% will focus on how to develop a content strategy that aligns with the book/collection you’re selling. The most common mistake I see writers committing on social media (and I’m referring to bestselling authors who are far more established in their career than I) is making ads for their book. If you’re a fledgling writer, you most likely won’t build an audience if all you’re talking about is yourself and your writing. To get eyeballs on your content and to amass followers, you need to provide what people scroll for: entertainment. 

COURSE OUTLINE:

Class 1: Practical skills. I want you to finish the first session eager — and prepared — to post a video or two). We’ll discuss the categories of video content (writer life/educational/trends/montage) and how to turn your book into digestible, compelling content. I’ll share my best practices for engagement (the art of strategic reduction: making complex themes/ideas graspable), the traps I fell into, and the differences between posting on TikTok and Instagram. Finally, I’ll describe what I’ve learned about how social media followers translate beyond the app (pre-sales, podcasts).

Class 2: The second session will focus on big picture strategy—how to approach social media with the same clarity and intention you bring to your writing. We’ll discuss how to think like an editorial director, treating your content as a mini publication that is dedicated exclusively to featuring you and your book. I’ll break down the difference between video and static posts (and how to use both effectively), plus how to create engaging content that doesn’t rely on the same tired milestone posts (ARCs arrived! First event!) We’ll also cover the parasocial dynamic—what to share, what to withhold, and how to maintain boundaries while keeping potential-readers invested. Finally, we’ll analyze why bestseller status doesn’t necessarily translate to success on social media. 

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Think like a product marketer: positioning yourself and your work
  
• Establishing name and book recognition (without being repetitive)
  
• Differentiating yourself from the sea of other authors online
  
• Analyzing performance: what’s working/not working and how to adjust
  
• Logistics of content (best practices of filming, how to edit efficiently, how often to post).
  
• What to avoid (common writer content mistakes, why don’t bestselling authors automatically succeed on TikTok?) 
  
• How to use “clickbait principles” to make content that “stops the scroll”
  
• Write catchy headlines