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Digital Storytelling Platforms for Genre Novelists

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The digital storytelling industry has introduced new disruptors. Learn how you can benefit and advance your career.

Just as ebooks disrupted the print market, the digital storytelling industry has introduced another round of disruptors: serial story apps, interactive story apps, and story-based games. As consumer habits skew mobile, the market (and the target demographic) for story consumerism is changing. The creative talent behind much of this emerging, app-based content? Novelists.

This class will introduce some of the emerging storytelling formats that authors are using to distribute their work—such as chat-based stories, choose your own adventure, and immersive games—and will analyze the trajectories of platforms like Radish, Tap by Wattpad, Hooked, Choice of Games, Chapters, and KISS. It will be part commentary and emerging industry analysis, part overview of the submission process, and part intel culled from interviewing product managers at these organizations as well as current authors.

In this 75-minute class with bestselling author Kilby Blades, you’ll learn:

  • Why the market for mobile story apps exists and how the mobile story space is growing

  • Which apps are key to the space and how the companies that own them make money

  • How authors are creating, recycling, or reworking content for relevant platforms

  • What genres and narratives work best for various structures (e.g., chat-based vs. interactive vs. serial, etc.)

  • Advances, royalties and compensation models for authors, as well as intangible benefits

  • How to get noticed and be financially successful on story apps and games, with profiles of authors who have been financially successful

  • How to find out what platforms are acquiring, and how to pitch effectively—including pitching through literary agents

  • Drawbacks, risks and considerations around managing rights

  • Outlook and predictions about how the space will evolve

Who should take this class

  • Authors of genre fiction who are looking to monetize their stories beyond standard ebook and paperback publishing

  • Authors of genre fiction who want up-to-date information and analysis around a handful of pre-eminent story-based apps

  • Authors of genre fiction who are interested in gaining a better understanding of app and gaming subrights

  • Authors of genre fiction who are already published on app and gaming platforms looking for insights around financial success

  • Game developers with storytelling chops who may want to enter the story app arena

Who should NOT take take this class:

  • Authors of general fiction, literary fiction, or nonfiction/memoir

  • Authors of short-form genre fiction with no appetite to write longer stories

  • Authors who have published stories on several or all of the platforms, who may already have a solid understanding of the space and business models of the platforms

How do I know if this webinar is worth the cost?

This is an important question, and it’s a tough one to answer—especially since so much online education is available free of charge. Furthermore, every student is different, and a valuable webinar for one person can end up being a disappointment to another. For this reason, we offer full refunds if you register, attend the entire class, and fail to get the information you were looking for. Please email us directly to request a refund.

Do I have to attend the live class?

No. Everyone who registers will get access to the recording.

How do I attend the live class?

This class uses Zoom webinar technology. You will join through your Internet-connected computer or mobile device. When you register, within 1 business day you will receive information via email on how to join the class. If you registered for the live class but didn’t receive a confirmation email from Zoom, please contact us.

  • When: Thursday, May 6, 2021

  • Time: 1 p.m.–2:15 p.m. Eastern Time / 10 a.m. Pacific Time

  • Fee: $25

The webinar is broadcasted via the internet with live audio delivered through your computer or mobile device speakers. The visual presentation is displayed directly from the presenter’s computer to your computer screen. The Q&A is managed through a chat-style submission system with questions read and answered by the presenter for the entire class to hear.

Closed captions are provided during the live class. For students joining the class through the Zoom app on a mobile device, you can disable the closed captions by going to your settings and turning off closed captions.

Earlier Event: April 10
The Business of Writing