Workshops
An Intro to Indie Publishing with Draft2Digital
Instructor: Jim Azevedo
Start Date: Thursday, July 23, 2026
Time: 7pm, EDT
Duration: 90 minutes
Type: Zoom
Draft2Digital (D2D) is one of the world’s largest publishing and distribution platforms for self-published authors, serving more than 330,000 writers worldwide. Yet many authors, even current D2D account holders, don’t realize the full breadth of tools the platform offers.
This workshop pulls back the curtain on all of it: formatting, conversion, and publishing tools; distribution and retail tools; marketing and promotion tools; and sales and account management tools.
Whether you’re an aspiring author exploring your options, a traditionally published author who just regained your rights, or an established indie bestseller looking to optimize, this comprehensive overview has something for you.
About the Instructor
Jim Azevedo is the marketing director at Draft2Digital (D2D). Prior to D2D, Jim led marketing at Smashwords, the pioneering ebook self-publishing company, from 2011 until it was acquired by D2D in March 2022.
Character and Conflict
Instructor: Sheila Roberts
Start Date: Monday, June 15, 2026
End Date: Friday, June 26, 2026
Duration: 2 Weeks
Type: Google Classroom
USD Fee: A2P Member – $5; Non-A2P Member – $15
When we talk about the books we love it always boils down to the characters. This is why it’s so important to create memorable ones. Our characters – their challenges, their choices and their struggles – are what make our readers want to invest valuable time and money in our stories.
What questions should you ask yourself about your characters? What should you know about them before you begin to write? In this course you will discover tools to get to know your characters and make them realistic to your reader.
Discover your character’s goals and what issues drive their personalities. Examine ways both internal and external conflict can be used to create your story.
This class will delve into how to create characters that will keep readers turning pages, and will show the important connection between character and conflict and how that drives a plot.
About the Instructor
Over the years USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly best-selling author Sheila Roberts has written sixty books under different names, ranging from non-fiction and devotional to romance and women’s fiction.
While she’s written in different genres her roots are in romance, having started out writing Regency romances
and then moving on to contemporary romance. Her women’s fiction novels continue to hold a strong romantic element, including her May release, Love on the Shelf and her previous novel, The Man Next Door.
She has seen her novels, On Strike of Christmas, The Nine Lives o Christmas, and Christmas on Candy Cane
Lane, made into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark and Great American Family channels.
Power Up Your Prose
Instructor: Zara West
Start Date: Monday, May 4, 2026
End Date: Friday, May 29, 2026
Duration: 4 Weeks
Type: Groups.io
USD Fee: A2P Member – $10; Non-A2P Member – $20
Ever felt your writing falls flat, stuck in the same tired phrases that don’t quite sing?
Imagine transforming your prose into vivid, mouth-watering descriptions that leap off the page. In “Power Up Your Prose,” you’ll dive deep into vivacious verbs, sensory language, and literary devices that breathe life into your story. Whether you want to punch up those dull names or turn clichés into sparkling gems, this workshop guides you step-by-step. Plus, you’ll learn when simplicity speaks louder than showy—because great writing knows when to shine and when to whisper.
As part of the workshop, you’ll receive a full chapter critique tailored to your unique voice and extensive word lists and templates.
Ready to power up your prose? Join the workshop today and start crafting sentences that truly resonate. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your writing with expert guidance and personalized feedback!
About the Instructor
There are lots of different ways to write a novel, and award-winning author Zara West has tried them all. An author of both fiction and non-fiction, she has published two award-winning romantic thriller series, The Skin Quartet and Tide Harbor Suspense. As Joan Koster, she has written a biographical historical series about Forgotten Women, and she is also the author of the Write for Success series of writing craft books: Fast Draft Your Manuscript and Get It Done Now, Revise Your Draft and Make Your Writing Shine, Research Your Subject and Validate Your Writing, and Power Charge Your Language and Make
Your Writing Sing.
Searching for Your Romance Voice & Style
Instructor: Elizabeth Flynn
Start Date: Monday, April 6, 2026
End Date: Friday, April 30, 2026
Duration: 4 Weeks
Type: Groups.io
USD Fee: A2P Member – $10; Non-A2P Member – $20
What makes the difference between a story that grabs your imagination and one that puts you to sleep? Even if the stories are similar, the voice of the one you can’t forget could make all the difference. This is particularly important in the romance genre.
To discover that elusive something, we’re going on a voice hunt. We’re going to examine some classic books and some authors then figure out why they’re so distinctive, and in so doing, we can discover your own.
Voice and style are ephemeral things—hard to define and hard to categorize. You already have your own voice and style, you know. You may not realize how to quantify it just yet. You have to identify it and shape it into the sparkly jewel it can be. Once you identify it, you can make sure everyone can, too. Your literary voice is as distinctive as the one emanating from your throat, complete with rasps and swallows and hesitations, the little breaks in your timbre as you talk about something emotional and close to you. Your voice is YOU.
About the Instructor
Elizabeth MS Flynn, who writes as Eilis Flynn, is a professional editor and has been for more than forty-nine years, editing topics as diverse as academia, technology, finance, genre fiction, and comic books. She has also written fiction in the form of comic book stories, fantasies, and short stories. She has presented numerous writing workshops on topics ranging from building a superheroine to creating your story world to folktales around the world (and more!) for thirty years.
ZigZag Plotting
Instructor: Zara West
Start Date: Monday, March 2, 2026
End Date: Friday, March 27, 2026
Duration: 4 Weeks
Type: Groups.io
USD Fee: A2P Member – $10; Non-A2P Member – $20
Unlock your novel’s heartbeat! Looking for a way to add tension and conflict to your novel? Then this workshop is for you. Whether you are a plotter or a pantser, you can apply these easy-to-use tools and techniques as you draft, during revision of your WIP, and even as a way to break through writer’s block, whenever it strikes.
In this workshop, you will discover how to read your novel’s heartbeat like a surgeon, visually map out characters’ actions and reactions, as well as their emotional highs and lows, and, in doing so, create tension and conflict that flows through each scene, across the chapters, and that unify your entire novel.
About the Instructor
There are lots of different ways to write a novel, and award-winning author Zara West has tried them all. An author of both fiction and non-fiction, she has published two award-winning romantic thriller series, The Skin Quartet and Tide Harbor Suspense. As Joan Koster, she has written a biographical historical series about Forgotten Women, and she is also the author of the Write for Success series of writing craft books: Fast Draft Your Manuscript and Get It Done Now, Revise Your Draft and Make Your Writing Shine, Research Your Subject and Validate Your Writing, and Power Charge Your Language and Make
Your Writing Sing.