**If you are having trouble checking out** you may now also purchase a registration at our Books website — this is a temporary workaround until our magazine website issue is resolved. Registered attendees will get access to event recordings for 30 days.
Some conferences call these fast-paced events lightning round talks. In honor of the short CNF subgenre, we call them flash sessions! These have always been a popular and fun part of our in-person HippoCamp conference and, this year, we’re once again bringing their magic online.
In our Sunday HippoCamp Minis sessions, you’ll hear from five speakers (including Hippocampus Magazine editors) who will share bite-sized wisdom with practical takeaways on a topic they’re passionate about, all related to promoting and publishing creative nonfiction.
This is ONE OF FOUR events we’re hosting the weekend of the 16-17th! Read about all of them here.
This webinar session will feature:
Inbox Hero: How to Write a Newsletter People Love (Steph Auteri)
In a world in which publications fold on the regular and social media platforms come and go (RIP Twitter), an email newsletter remains one of the best ways to reach readers. But do you REALLY need to bother with all that? And if you do, well… what should it even BE? What does one even put into a newsletter? How does one build a newsletter that serves their writing life on both a personal and a professional level?
In this flash session, you’ll learn:
- why producing a newsletter is totally worth your time
- what to write about in your newsletter
- best practices for building a readership
- …and whatever the heck else we can manage to fit into 10 minutes
About the speaker: Steph Auteri, our essays editor, has written for everyone from the Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and Rewire News Group to Poets & Writers, Creative Nonfiction, and Cutleaf Journal. But one of her favorite things to write is her email newsletter, Thunder Thighs, which has been going out to subscribers for god knows how long. She also launched a side newsletter, Guerrilla Sex Ed, and has written email campaigns for a number of clients. Learn more at stephauteri.com.
Getting the Word Out: How to Pitch Your Book to Local Journalists (Molly Bilinski)
Getting the word out about a new book can be daunting, but leveraging local news outlets can help. There are still many community-focused journalists hungry for stories, and sending the right pitch at the right time can benefit both the author and the journalist.
In this flash session, focused on pitching books to journalists, Hippocampus Magazine Articles Editor Molly Bilinski shares strategies and tips for authors seeking local news coverage.
During this session, participants will learn how to:
- Identify the local news writers they can pitch their books to
- Capture the attention of local journalists through timing and positioning
- Draft a pitch email to local journalists
Attendees will leave the session with a better understanding of the local media landscape, as well as how to pitch their book to local journalists for coverage.
About the speaker: Molly Bilinski is an award-winning journalist and storyteller based in Monroe County, Pa. The environment and science reporter for LehighValleyNews.com, her bylines have also appeared in the Reading Eagle, The Press of Atlantic City and The Morning Call. She holds a masters of fine arts in creative nonfiction from Wilkes University’s Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. A member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Kutztown University’s English Advisory Board, she also serves as Hippocampus Magazine’s articles editor.
Be a Literary Citizen: How to Create Community and Why it Matters (Jamie Beth Cohen)
Some writers are introverts, some are not. Introverts and extroverts alike may crave the community and support of other writers, but don’t always know how to find their people.
This session will highlight
- the benefits of being part of a writing community
- the different kinds of writing communities
- how to find or create a writing community
About the speaker: Jamie Beth Cohen writes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Her words have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Hippocampus Magazine, and many other outlets. Wasted Pretty, her debut novel, was published in 2019 and its sequel, Liminal Summer came out in 2021. Jamie enjoys coaching new writers and has been mentoring an award-winning incarcerated journalist for the past five years. In 2015, Jamie co-founded Write Now Lancaster, a monthly writing meet-up. She’s a proud extroverted writer who believes much of what she has accomplished with words is thanks to her community.
Be Your Book's Matchmaker: Writing the Proposal (Vicki Mayk)
Book proposals are a business plan for your book and a marketing tool to sell your manuscript to agents and publishers. A good proposal helps to attract the best agent, publisher, and readers. In this session writers will learn:
- The basic components of a book proposal.
- Ways that the content can help you find the right agent and/or publisher.
- How it provides insights about readers and identifies markets.
- Ways the proposal gives writers a head start on marketing and planning a book launch.
About the speaker: Vicki Mayk is a writer, editor, and teacher whose work has appeared in the Brevity Blog, Cleaver, Hippocampus, Literary Mama, The Manifest-Station, Bending Genres, the anthology Air and others. Her narrative nonfiction book, Growing Up on the Gridiron: Football, Friendship and the Tragic Life of Owen Thomas, was published by Beacon Press. Catch up with her at vickimayk.com.
Search Matters: SEO & Discovery Tips for CNF Writers (Donna Talarico)
Most people turn to search engines or a specific website’s search feature to find what they’re looking for — including books. Getting found — showing up in a Google or other search engine results/listings — is crucial in a day of information overload, short attention spans, evolving algorithms, and AI advancements.
In this flash session, Donna Talarico shares tips from her day job in content strategy about how SEO can help you build and sustain your platform. This session will:
- give a primer on search engine optimization (SEO) and debunk some myths
- cover how to research what users (aka potential readers) are actually searching for (hint: it’s probably not your name)
- share how to use that data to inform content creation choices across mediums and platforms
- explore how AI and voice assistants are affecting the ways people find things on the internet
- look ahead to anticipated challenges and trends for SEO
About the speaker: Donna Talarico is founder/publisher of Hippocampus Magazine. By day, she’s a content strategist in higher education and B2B.
TICKET OPTIONS
You may purchase a ticket for just this event ($25) or register for the entire weekend ($75); choose your option below. (If this form is giving you difficulty, you can alternatively purchase a ticket at our books website, here.)
