RESEARCH: Pursuits after the MFA by Heidi Ruby Miller

RESEARCH

What happens now?


This is the outline and links from a module I teach at Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program for the final term students who are about to graduate. As the title suggests, it helps them to consider what lies ahead and what to expect from professional life after the MFA. The following are the 7 most common post-graduate (writing program) pursuits:

1. Pursue teaching job


A. Online listingsHigherEdJobs - http://www.higheredjobs.com/Academic Careers Online - http://www.academiccareers.com/The University Jobs - http://univjobs.com/B. Local listings            Craigslist - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites            Newspapers            Word of Mouth            College/University sitesC. Letters of Recommendation/References
2. Pursue more educationA. Online listings            Poets & Writers - http://www.pw.org/mfa            Online Colleges - http://search.onlinecolleges.com/NewPages - http://www.newpages.com/creative-writing-programs/AWP - https://www.awpwriter.org/programs_conferences/guide_writing_programsB. Local schoolsC. Letters of Recommendation/References
3. Pursue publicationA. AgentAgentQuery.com - http://www.agentquery.com/Poets & Writers - http://www.pw.org/literary_agents            Query Tracker - http://www.querytracker.net/            Author Advance - http://www.authoradvance.com/agencies            Writer's Digest - http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/literary-agentB. PublisherRalan.com - http://www.ralan.com/            ITW - http://thrillerwriters.org/aboutitw/recognized-publishers/            Duotrope - https://duotrope.com/Dark Markets - http://darkmarkets.com/category/markets/book-publishers/            Individual sitesC. Self-PublishingAmazon KDP - https://kdp.amazon.com/kdp/self-publishing/signinLulu - http://www.lulu.com/Lightning Source - https://www1.lightningsource.com/default.aspxCreate Space - https://www.createspace.comNook Press - https://www.nookpress.com/Xlibris - http://www2.xlibris.com/
4. Pursue job in publishing industryA. FreelancingBloggingPro - http://www.bloggingpro.com/jobs/CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sitesDuotrope - https://duotrope.com/Freelancewriting.com - http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelance-writing-jobs.phpFreelance Writing Jobs - http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/category/writing-gigs/JournalismJobs - http://www.journalismjobs.com/search_results.cfm?JobTypeID=4LinkedIn Jobs - http://www.linkedin.com/job/home?trk=hb_tab_jobs_topMediaBistro - http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/default.asp?gdsr=1&jbdr=3ProBlogger - http://jobs.problogger.net/Word of mouthB. EditingCraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sitesIndividual publisher sitesWord of mouthC. Marketing/PromotionCraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sitesIndividual company sitesWord of mouth
5. Pursue something else entirely
6. Pursue hybrid of options
7. Pursue extrasA. Professional organizationsThe Authors Guild - http://www.authorsguild.org/ITW – http://thrillerwriters.org/RWA – http://www.rwa.org/HWA – http://horror.org/MWA – http://mysterywriters.orgSFWA – http://www.sfwa.org/Pennwriters – http://www.pennwriters.org/prod/B. Local organizationsC. Seton Hill WPF Alum