Workshops and Speaking Engagements

Pamela is a dynamic speaker as well as a former law school instructor, former contributing instructor at WriteSpace Houston, and a past member of the National Speakers’ Association. She is also a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Wyoming Writers, Writers League of Texas, Society for Human Resource Management, the State Bar of Texas, the  Houston Writers House, and the Houston Writers Guild, .

“Thank you so much for the awesome writer’s workshop you conducted at Kimble County Library last Saturday.  You were so inspiring. In fact a few of the ones in attendance are planning to form a “writer’s group” in the near future. Everyone has been singing your praises.  I hope you have a wonderful summer. Thank you again for such a great program.”

 

Sylvia Lawler
Kimble County Library Director
208 North 10th Street
Junction, TX 76849

To book Pamela to speak for your writers group, book club, or other organization (she’s spoken to Rotary, Medical Examiners, Special Needs Parents, and many more), live or via Skype, email her at pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com. For Pamela’s professional CV and a list of speeches in the employment practices setting, visit her Consulting Page. For testimonials, click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Listed below are sample topics, but don’t let it limit you as she is very versatile. If you simply want a Q&A and not a presentation, that works, too!

• How to Sell a Ton of Books in 5 Simple Steps

So you’ve written a book. It’s for sale on Amazon, your own little Field of Dreams. You’ve strong-armed everyone you know, and they’ve all promised to buy it. To read it. To review it. Only they haven’t, and it’s not selling. Meanwhile, your mother’s told everyone and their three-legged dog about her son the author. Her daughter the next Steven King. Her little pookie who’s going to be rich and famous any day now. People ask you when you’re quitting your day job (and to borrow money). Your life has become a secret hell that you cover up with a swagger and a smile. You tell yourself that it’s about the achievement. About getting it out there. About the art. The truth is, though, you want readers. You want fan letters and a movie deal. You want to make MONEY at this, but you have no idea how. Pamela does. She went from attorney/investigator to full-time author in three years, with 1.5 million downloads and six-figure royalties. And she wants to help you.

• Drawing in Readers with Rockstar Book Events

We’ve all seen the downcast author hiding behind his towering table of unsold books, alone, at one of the big box stores, haven’t we? We veer to avoid him, lest he shatter our vision of a packed house and long line at our own events some day. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: book events are hard. They can cost you real money. They’re not always fun. But they’re absolutely golden for author visibility and can be parlayed into a long term impact. I did over 200 events in the first three years after I published my first novel. I gained thousands of subscribers for my reader list in addition to engaging with readers, old and new, creating interesting content for my blog and social media, and generating hundreds of thousands of impressions of my book covers, titles, and author name. And, yes, I sold books and had fabulous Nielsen Scan numbers. So if you’ve got the guts to put yourself out there—for readings, book signings, speeches, workshops, book fairs/festivals, or any of the myriad of opportunities waiting for you—let me teach you how to make them into a smashing success. Because I don’t ever want you to have to be that lonely guy hiding behind his books :-).

• Build Reader Subscriber Lists for Sales Independence

There is no greater marketing advantage than to be able to send welcomed email straight to your readers’ inboxes, any time you want, for any reason you want. Think about it. Amazon doesn’t share with you the emails of its reader-customers that buy your books. Nor do the other sales sites. If they, in their sole discretion, think they can make money by promoting you to their readers, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. Now, that money may come from a publisher or agent in a white glove arrangement with the seller paying them to promote, or it may come because of your book’s sales, reviews, ratings, and rankings. You may have some impact on those things, but you don’t have control. But when a reader subscribes to your list and welcomes your emails, you can email them anytime and about anything YOU want. Pre-orders. New releases. Discounted or free promotions. Contests. Awards you’ve won. Rankings or accolades you’ve achieved. Your dog’s birthday. Anything. You can route them to the link you want them to land on (possibly a page on your website with your affiliate links?). They can forward the email to others, or share it on social media. You remind them of the existence of your books, and, in combination with other positive exposure to them, people BUY more. Which is a good, good thing.

• No Nonsense E-Book Strategy

Should I have an e-book? Are e-book sales up or down? How do I make one? Do I need a mobi or a pdf or an epub or what? Where do I put my e-book? Where and how do I sell it? What’s Kobo? Should I be on Nook, iBooks, and Google Play? I’ve heard about libraries and bookstores doing e-books. How can I get in on that? And what about subscription e-book sales? There’s a hundred questions for every one of those listed above, and we know it’s overwhelming for an author to cut through the chatter and get to the point: what strategy should I pursue, and how do I go about doing it most simply and cost-effectively. When Pamela Fagan Hutchins published her first book as an indie, she decided to do it all by her onesie, so that she would know the answers, heck, so she’d know the questions. That control freak side of her served her (and now you) well, because she figured it out and now derives a six-figure income on e-book sales alone. Ride along with her as she navigates the storm-sieged waters of “What the heck do I do now?” to deposit you safely on friendly soil.

• Getting Ink as an Author

You’ve heard it time and time again: authors are fighting to be visible, to be a giant, flashing, neon needle in a haystack of millions of books. But unless you’ve got the money to fund an enormous publicity campaign with a fancy schmancy publicist, you’ll have to figure out how to generate “ink”—literal and digital—on your own. Luckily for you, this is 9/10 effort and 1/10 know-how, and author Pamela Fagan Hutchins has the know-how to share with you in this glass: how to get your book, your name, and your words into the media, into the blogosphere, and into the hands of readers.

• Capitalizing on the Fastest Growing Segment of the Book Market: Audio

The nuts and bolts of how to publish an audiobook (with yourself as narrator, if you’d like) and make money at it in this fast-growing market segment.

• Translating Your Book into an International Bestseller

Everything you need to know about getting your books translated, which markets will work best for you, what formats to capture, and how to monetize your efforts into bestselling and profitable investments.

• Intermediate Publishing Success Retreat: Amazon, Facebook, BookBub, and More

Rocket launch your publishing career at a retreat focusing on publishing and promotion strategy.

• Comprehensive workshops on direct marketing, online advertising (Facebook, BookBub, Amazon), and integrated promotion strategies by Pamela
• Customized tools built by Pamela to help you decide what to spend, how, and where to maximize the chance of reaching your goals
• Ongoing 1-1 opportunities to brainstorm your strategies with Pamela
• Feedback and discussion about your strategies with other retreat participants
• Post-retreat information and feedback from Pamela in dedicated Facebook group

• Fiction Writing Intensive Retreat

A three-day writer’s retreat focusing on the craft, art, and practice of writing fiction.

• Comprehensive workshops on creating tension, character development, atmosphere and setting, story structure and elements, creating tension, series writing, and more
• 1-1 critique session with Pamela on your 1^st50-pages
• Dedicated time to write
• Feedback and discussion about your work with other retreat participants

• Jumpstart that Novel Retreat

An intensive retreat to help you take your manuscript from woe to wow (or at least “the end!”).

• A critique of the first 50 pages of your novel by Pamela
• Mini-workshops on giving and receiving feedback, finishing your novel, deep novel revision, and more
• Dedicated writing/revision time
• Valuable critique feedback from participants
• Close-out feedback from Pamela on the revised first 10 pages of your novel

• Crime and Punishment Writers Retreat

Are you ready to take your mystery/thriller/suspense writing to the next level?

• Comprehensive workshops on creating tension, character development, atmosphere and setting, red herrings, story structure and elements, creating a “villain,” series writing, and more
• 1-1 critique session with Pamela on your 1^st 50-pages
• Dedicated time to write
• Feedback and discussion about your work with other retreat participants
• Wildfire season in Texas. Enjoy the bluebonnets and some peaceful time in the country with Pamela’s beautiful cow Dixie and white tail deer.

• Engaging Readers Through Your Online Author Presence

I get it. You don’t know how to or have the time to do a website. You hate Facebook. You don’t understand Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. You want a big publisher to swoop you up and do all your marketing and promotion for you. Unfortunately, I have bad news for you. The modern writer is largely if not completely responsible for their marketing and promotion these days, no matter how she is published. More bad news: your readers are online. They’re doing social media, and they’re buying books online. They validate authors (and everyone else) by Googling them. They’ll expect to hit your website and those pesky social media sites (and a lot more). But there’s good news: your online presence is largely free. You can prioritize your involvement and make your time investment efficient and effective. Best of all: your readers are always only one click away from buying your book online, with just a suggestion/nudge. It’s all about being in the right place, at the right time, in the right way, and I can teach you how.

• Maximizing Your Author Revenue Stream

How long and hard did you work to write your book? If you make the decision to publish it, don’t you want that investment of time and energy (and talent) to pay off in as many ways as possible? I sure do. That’s why I spin off as many types of products as I can muster out of each book I write. Paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks, foreign translations, speaking engagements, coloring books, film, and other products: your imagination is your only limitation these days. Together in this module we’ll explore how and where to pursue these opportunities, as well as how to prioritize, budget, and promote them.

• How to get Book Reviews in 10 Surefire Ways

You’ve published a book (or you’re going to) and you know that you need reviews. (If you didn’t know that, trust us, you do.) But that begs a million questions, give or take:

• What kind of reviews do you need?
• Where do you need them?
• From whom?
• How do you find reviewers?
• Should you pay for them?
• Does the rating matter?
• What about bad reviews?
• What if a review is taken down, can you do anything about that?
• How many reviews are enough?
• What about international markets?
• And more.

You get the picture. In this online course, you’ll get the answers from best-selling author Pamela Fagan Hutchins. With thousands and thousands and thousands of reviews, you’ll definitely want to hear how she does it.

• How to Score a BookBub Promotion and Send Your Book to the Top

You’ve heard about the online book curator/promoter BookBub. That they’re expensive. That they send books into the bestseller rankings. That they’re hard as . . . um . . . heck to land. You’ve heard right on all counts. So what is it that makes your book rise to the top of the selection heap? What steps should you take to make your book (and yourself) more BookBub-ready? What should you do if you’re turned down (repeatedly)? And, best of all, what should you do if you’re picked (squee!)? You’ll get these answers and much more from best-selling author Pamela Fagan Hutchins. She scored three BookBub promotions in 2015—when 7,631 authors comprised 12,308 Bookbub deals (and 20 million ebooks were sold)—sending her books to #1 in free books and top 50 paid overall.

• Finish That Book

How many times have you started a book, and how many have you finished? For most writers, these numbers don’t match up. In fact, often these books languish after a couple of chapters. How do you push through from “once upon a time” to “the end,” and do it in a way that doesn’t wreck you? While there are many ways, so they say, to skin a cat, in this course, Pamela Fagan Hutchins will teach you how to use the method popularlized by NaNoWriMo.org—one she has used for seven of her eight award-winning novels, and counting—to keep your muse on track until you’re ready to celebrate a completed first draft. Hot fudge sundaes anyone?

• Giving and Receiving Literary Critique

Writers, by and large, are introverts who are more comfortable alone with their keyboard or sharpened #2 pencil than with others, even other writers. But most writers plateau (and plateau early) without feedback from other writers, especially writers better than them. In this course, Pamela Fagan Hutchins will work with you on how to find critique partners, how to critique the work of others, how to deliver good and bad news, and how to receive and utilize input as well. It may be a leap or some of us, but there will be writer peeps to catch us on the other side.

• Good Habits of Good Writers

Have you ever wondered about the practices of successful writers: what makes them shine instead of flicker or burn out? Day by day, what are the things they do that make the difference? Sure, talent, luck, and an alignment of the stars count. But in this course, Pamela Fagan Hutchins will take you through fifteen simple paradigm shifts that could change everything for you in your writing career.

• Following Your Dream: Writing, Publishing, Promotion

You’ve dreamed of writing a book. Maybe you’ve even started a draft or made it to the end, only to find yourself stymied by the “what next” question. Explore the scope of what’s ahead of you, and wrap you arms around your to-do list. Guaranteed to inspire even the most blocked writer.

• Power Revision: Taking Your Draft From Woe to Wow

Revision. We’ve all been there. We write a first draft, and we’re elated. We re-read it only to be appalled at how much it sucks. Fear not. You are in good company. While your task seems overwhelming, there are tried and true methods to rewrite and revise your book (focusing on the important elements of great writing), up to the detailed editing stage. This class is available in lecture format (2 hours) and workshop format (full day).

• Deep POV

Get inside your character’s heads and bring your writing to life by taking your point of view deep, down to the depths of your characters, but within the limits of POV rules. You won’t believe the difference deep POV will make in your character development and reader involvement.

• Finding Your Readers

What do you write? Who reads it? For that matter, who reads what, how, and where do they find it? The answers to these questions aren’t as hard as you think, and we’ll find them together in this session.

• Indie Publishing for Romance Writers

Did you know that romance makes up the largest category of ebook sales? Hugh Howey, he of Wool fame, opines that romance writers (and mystery/thriller and scifi/fantasy) are better off indie publishing. Come see why, and learn the ABCS of indie publishing a romance book.

• Indie Publishing for MysterySuspense/Thriller Writers

Did you know that mystery/thriller makes up the one of the three largest categories of ebook sales? Hugh Howey, he of Wool fame, opines that mystery/thriller writers (and romance and scifi/fantasy) are better off indie publishing. Come see why, and learn the ABCS of indie publishing a mystery/thriller/suspense book.

•  Saving Grace in 60-Days: Inspiration, Tips, and Tales from the Road With an Indie Author

Who knew indie publishing could be this much fun? Pamela Fagan Hutchins shares tips and tales from her 60-city RV book tour in the summer of 2013, where she promoted her debut romantic thriller, the Amazon-bestseller Saving Grace, as well as the mid-summer release of the second novel in the Katie & Annalise series, Leaving Annalise. With a revolving lineup of offspring driving the RV and her one-eyed Boston terrier in tow, Hutchins traveled around the country hosting author events at bookstores, meeting with book clubs and writers groups, speaking at public events, and doing television, radio, and print interviews, all while finishing her new release, What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?  NOTE: Reader version and Writer versions.

• The First Six Months: Creating Your Own Book Launch Marketing Plan

You’ve got a limited budget and only twenty-four hours in your day, and now you have to squeeze planning for and executing a book launch into them, too? Take a deep, cleansing breath. Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins is going to make it easier for you. With a timeline, cost considerations, and prioritized suggestions on how to launch your particular book, you’ll come out of this class with the tools and information you need to give your book the successful launch it (and you) deserves.

• How to Make Your Indie Book a Bestseller, aka “What kind of loser indie publishes, and how can I be one, too?”
  

Are you the Frank Sinatra of writing, determined to make your words into a bestseller, but, by golly, doing it your way? Pamela Fagan Hutchins, the indie author, USA Today bestseller, and Amazon, Barnes & Noble/Nook, and Apple bestseller, was, and she shared how she did it in What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? In this workshop, Pamela ladles up soup to nuts advice on topics ranging from pre-publication decisions to release strategy and online promotion. Come with an open mind and a burning desire to indie publish, leave empowered and inspired. Note: This topic can be a full- or half-day workshop, or one hour micro-topics on any aspect of indie publishing.

• A Little Goes a Long Way: Dialect in Dialogue

Do you ever pick up a book and seamlessly fall into the rhythms and idiosyncrasies of characters from a part of the world you’ve never visited? Pamela does. She loved Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood for drawing her into rural Louisiana and The Last Picture Show for pulling her into a small Texas community in the mid-20th century. With both books, effective use of dialect played a huge role in my enjoyment of the setting and characters. But the opposite can happen, too. A hyper-focus on authenticity can make the book inaccessible to readers from outside that region, because it’s just too dang much work to read.  So how do the good writers immerse us in the sounds of a culture without making us work for it? Come learn with Pamela and see why Kirkus Reviews praises Pamela’s mastery of writing dialog.

• Extreme Setting: Paint a High Impact Picture With Your Words

Don’t waste setting in your books with wooden words and cardboard sentences. Make the sand burn your reader’s feet and the shade of the mango tree cool their sweat. Learn to involve your characters and all five senses in painting a scene so real your readers reach for aloe vera and a hand towel.

• Deliberate Creativity

Cat got your writer’s tongue? Pamela Fagan Hutchins, the author of Amazon bestseller Saving Grace, shares her unique (and somewhat controversial) view of the creative process with fellow writers. Topics covered include stimulating creativity, mining your own life for creative inspiration, vanquishing your inner editor, establishing your own writing practice, speed writing, and overcoming writer’s block. Clear your schedule after her talk — you’re not going to be able to curb your desire to write.

• Colonel Mustard in the Conference Room With His Pants Down: Workplace Investigations

Real-life workplace investigator and mystery author Pamela Fagan Hutchins shares how art imitates life as she takes readers and writers on a guided tour of workplace investigations, comparing them to criminal investigations, and explaining how she incorporates what she knows into her award-winning books. You’ll laugh until your sides hurt and shake your head in disbelief at the bad behavior people engage in on the job, and get a glimpse into a field you probably didn’t even know existed.

Rates: travel-related expenses plus honorarium. Book clubs are gratis if local or video-streamed.