Allison K Williams has coached, edited and guided writers to publication including multi-book and six-figure deals with Big Five publishers, contracts with university and literary publishers, and successful self-publication. Her clients have gained places on the NYT and USA Today Best Seller lists, built successful speaking and teaching careers, and led their own writing and well-being retreats.

Join Allison for a week tailored to your writing, publishing, marketing and platform-building needs. Includes a live Zoom meeting with New York literary agents to discuss the market and practice your pitches.

Finishing your book? Allison gives direct, actionable editorial feedback to make your manuscript sellable to agents, publishers and readers. Daily deadlines, accountability and insight get you to the final page.

Building platform? Get one-on-one guidance on your best actions and content, while planning time-saving routines to grow your audience. Best of all—the work you create for platform-building can become the foundation of your next book!

Ready for prime time? Draft your query and synopsis painlessly (and solve a few plot problems along the way!) Create your submission package and polish your first pages. Learn how to research and vet agents and publishers, and begin the submission process.

Self-Publishing? Let Allison guide you through building your publishing team (and what to do yourself). You’ll also plan your marketing strategy, begin your launch team, and get a custom marketing calendar to keep it all under control.

Whether your goal is a Big Five publisher, small literary press, hybrid or self-publishing, this retreat is a remarkable opportunity to get your manuscript into selling shape, build a platform to support your book, or supercharge your sales.

Our Time Together:

You’ll have an advance Zoom meeting with Allison to determine your goals for the week and set a realistic list of accomplishments. In Santa Fe, we’ll have a daily group meeting to check in and cover common needs including writing craft lessons, insider publishing information, platform and marketing principles, and live-editing of participant work to show craft in action.

Then, you’ll work throughout the day, checking in with Allison on progress and when you need a hand. She’ll meet one-on-one for your specific concerns, help with research, and brainstorm new ideas for your writing and publishing process.

At the end of the day, we’ll circle up to discuss our accomplishments and challenges, and set our courses for the next day.

Possible topics include:

• Writing your synopsis to find and solve plot problems in your book
• The elements of great first pages
• Identifying your audience
• Publishing short work to support your book
• Finding and evaluating potential literary agents
• Finding reputable publishing services and “hybrid” publishers
• Query letters
• Email newsletters
• Comp titles
• Steering clear of publishing scams
• Great cover design—how to buy it, or what kind of input to give your
• traditional publisher

Who should attend this retreat:

• Memoirists, novelists, business/self-help writers and essay/short story writers who want to publish traditionally, independently, or with a hybrid publisher
• Authors getting rejections for “not enough platform” or “can’t see an audience”
• Self-publishers who want an actionable, budget-friendly marketing plan that works
• Literary writers who want to get their best possible book into the world