RESEARCH: Life after the MFA by Heidi Ruby Miller

RESEARCH

YOU WROTE A WHOLE BOOK.

CONGRATULATIONS!

NOW WHAT?

LIFE AFTER THE WPF PROGRAM

The following is an outline from a class I teach for the graduating students during their last residency in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction Graduate Program . I am a WPF alumna and now adjunct faculty and a mentor there.

PURSUITS
1. More education
2. Teaching
3. Organizational memberships
4. Jobs in publishing industry
5. Something else entirely
6. Hybrid of options
7. Publication

1. MORE EDUCATION
A. Online offerings
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_programs
B. Local schools
C. Letters of recommendation/references - professors, mentors, peers, and alum

2. TEACHING
A. Online listings
HigherEdJobs - http://www.higheredjobs.com/
Academic Careers - http://www.academiccareers.com/
The University Jobs - http://univjobs.com/
B. Local listings
Craigslist - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites - Check out listings here carefully!
Newspapers
Word of Mouth
College/University sites
C. Letters of Recommendation/References - professors, mentors, peers, and alum

3. ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
A. Professional organizations
The Authors Guild - http://www.authorsguild.org/
ITW – http://thrillerwriters.org/
RWA – http://www.rwa.org/
HWA – http://horror.org/
MWA – http://mysterywriters.org
SFWA – http://www.sfwa.org/
Pennwriters – http://www.pennwriters.org/
B. Local organizations
C. Seton Hill WPF Alum

4. JOBS IN PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
A. Freelancing
BloggingPro - http://www.bloggingpro.com/jobs/
CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites - Check out listings here carefully!
Duotrope - https://duotrope.com/
Freelancewriting.com - http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelance-writing-jobs.php
Freelance Writing Jobs - http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/category/writing-gigs/
JournalismJobs - http://www.journalismjobs.com/search_results.cfm?JobTypeID=4
LinkedIn Jobs - http://www.linkedin.com/job/home?trk=hb_tab_jobs_top
MediaBistro - http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/default.asp?gdsr=1&jbdr=3
ProBlogger - http://jobs.problogger.net/
Word of mouth
B. Editing
CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites - Check out listings here carefully!
Individual publisher sites
Word of mouth
C. References - professors, mentors, peers, and alum

5. SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY

6. HYBRID OF OPTIONS

7. PUBLICATION
A. Agent
AgentQuery.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-agent
B. Publisher
Ralan.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 sites
C. Self-Publishing
Amazon KDP - https://kdp.amazon.com/kdp/self-publishing/signin
Lulu - http://www.lulu.com/
Lightning Source - https://www1.lightningsource.com/default.aspx
Create Space - https://www.createspace.com
Nook Press - https://www.nookpress.com/
Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/
Xlibris - http://www2.xlibris.com/

GOOD LUCK!