The Between the Lines series gives you access to four published authors who will walk you through different aspects of writing, editing, submission, and publishing. Whether you're writing fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, these workshops will present the detailed information you'll need to be a more successful published writer.

Each workshop is online and limited to 15 participants.

Scroll down to purchase the series or individual classes.

One full scholarship is available. For details on how to apply, scroll down.

Thursday, January 5 7pm Publishing: The Community and the Business

Steve Mitchell

This workshop will provide an overview of the publishing industry from the perspective of an author, a bookseller, and a publisher. You'll learn which publishing path may be right for you: self-publishing, small press or "Big 5." You'll learn book distribution and discounting models, how to approach a local bookstore, how to tell a good deal from a bad one. It's a crash course in publishing for writers.

Steve Mitchell, a writer and journalist, has published in Harpur Palate, CRAFT Literary, entropy, december magazine, Southeast Review, among others. His novel, Cloud Diary, is published by C&R Press. His collection of short stories is The Naming of Ghosts from Press 53. He is a winner of the Curt Johnson Prose Prize and the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Prize. He has a deep belief in the primacy of doubt and an abiding conviction that great wisdom informs very bad movies. He’s co-owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, NC and General Editor at Scuppernong Editions.

Tuesday, January 17 7pm Self-Publishing for Black Folks (and others too)

Ashley Lumpkin

From cost-prohibitive contests to agents and major publishing houses, the publishing industry can sometimes feel like an impenetrable force, especially for Black folks whose voices and stories are often “othered” or ignored. Self-publishing is one way to circumvent the gatekeepers and get these stories into the world. In this workshop we will discuss: the necessary steps between finishing a manuscript and sending it to the printer, best practices for formatting and printing the book, and common pitfalls to avoid. Participants will leave fully prepared to take the next steps toward getting their stories into the hands of their target audience.

Ashley Lumpkin is a Georgia-raised, Carolina-based writer, editor, actor, and educator. She is the author of five poetry collections: {} At First Sight, Second Glance, Terrorism and Other Topics for Tea, #AshleyLumpkin, and Genesis. Her book, I Hate You All Equally, is a collection of conversations from her years as a classroom teacher. A lover of performance as well as the written word, she has been a competing member of the Bull City Slam Team since 2015 and currently serves as its coach. She is one-fifth (and only Slytherin member) of the Big Dreams Collective and currently serves as a member-at-large on the board of the North Carolina Poetry Society.

Wednesday, February 15 7pm Submitting to Journals, Agents, and Publishers

Julia Ridley Smith

This workshop will help you prepare your work for submission, guide you in choosing where to submit, and provide pointers on the submission project, regardless of the type of writing you are doing. It will take you on the others side of the submission wall and help you understand how editors and agents work, what they are looking for, and how to work with them as your project moves forward.

Julia Ridley Smith is the author of a memoir, The Sum of Trifles (University of Georgia Press, 2021), and a short story collection, Sex Romp Gone Wrong (Blair, forthcoming, 2023). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Cincinnati Review, Ecotone, Electric Literature, Literary Matters, the New England Review, Southern Cultures, The Southern Review, among other places, and a new story is forthcoming in Copper Nickel. Currently a professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she previously taught at UNC Greensboro. She is former associate editor at Bull City Press, where she was the editor of Inch magazine, and she has more than twenty years’ experience in freelance writing and copyediting. Find her at juliaridleysmith.com and @JuliaTrifles.

Thursday, February 23 7pm  Editing, Alone and with Others

Deonna Kelli Sayed