Developing and Delivering Excellent School Visits
Short course
Learn how to design and create engaging school visits that connect to your books and author brand in this short course.
- Learn how to prepare, plan and present an engaging and memorable school visit.
- Develop at least one new author event and master the skills needed to deliver it effectively.
- Expand your practical toolkit and pave the way to more and better paid bookings for events that delight students and teachers alike.
Run by tutors from Bath Spa University’s renowned MA in Writing for Young People, Developing and Delivering Excellent School Visits: A Professional Toolkit for Authors is designed for published and about to be published authors looking to enhance their ability to develop and deliver standout school events.
By the end of the course, you'll have created at least one new event and honed your skills in effective delivery, justifying day fees above £500 for your events.
You’ll learn what goes into a great school visit, from considering how to engage your audience to understanding the key event models. You’ll explore how to design engaging, interactive content that connects to your books and your author brand, whether working to a brief or coming up with your own ideas. You’ll also discuss how best to engage with schools to book and plan events, and what info sheets and resources you need.
By the end of the course, your practical toolkit will allow you to:
- Prepare, plan and present an engaging and memorable school visit
- Develop interactive events and supporting materials with a strong connection to your books and author brand, integrating this with your website and/or social media
- Reach and expand your readership through events
- Problem-solve common practical and logistical issues.
“School visits are a key source of income for many authors, but getting regular bookings and being able to charge higher-end fees while still delivering great value for schools often seems more Art than Science. This short course will both expand your understanding of how to develop fantastic events that tie-in with your books and author brand and enhance your skills in engaging and effective delivery.”
Alexia Casale, Lecturer, MA Writing for Young People
Overview
You’ll attend a series of short lecture-style presentations from your tutors, an external guest lecturer and an additional member of the MA Writing for Young People team, all of whom are published authors experienced in school visits.
The focus of Developing and Delivering Excellent School Visits: A Professional Toolkit will be on group discussions and workshopping. You’ll workshop strategies to ensure your future events tie in with your book and author brand, develop event ideas, and draft event plans. At the end of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to showcase your event so that your tutor and fellow learners can provide detailed feedback.
This course takes place online.
This course has now finished. If you'd like to be informed about future courses, please register your interest or email shortcourses@bathspa.ac.uk .
We're offering a special introductory discount for the first cohort of this course. You’ll pay £325 per person (discounted from £450).
It helps to bring your book to this course. If you have several, we suggest you pick your most recent or the one you want to build a new event around. If you can bring a copy of your short-form author bio this helps too.
You'll need a pen and notebook or laptop for notetaking. If you habitually use small props in events, do feel free to bring one or more along.
Meet the team
Alex Campbell
Alex Campbell is an established children's author who has written both young adult (YA) and middle-grade books as Alex Cotter. Her first YA novel, Land, was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016. She has extensive experience in delivering talks, workshops and events at a range of secondary and primary schools, along with festival and library events.
Alex is passionate about helping inspire other writers to develop their creative talent, from sharing innovative processes and prompts to tailoring techniques and collaborations that can suit a wide range of individual writing styles and workshops.
Rachel Hamilton
Rachel Hamilton is a former secondary school teacher and the author of seven books for young people. She has completed over 100 school visits talking about her work.
She has taught English and Creative Writing in schools and prisons in the UK and the Middle East, and her claim to fame is that she helped run the world’s highest writing workshop at the top of the Burj Khalifa.
Rachel has seven years’ experience as an editor and mentor. She enjoys interviewing fellow authors and has moderated discussion panels at several UK and international literature festivals.
Terms and conditions
Read the terms and conditions for taking part in this short course.
Contact us
If you'd like a bespoke course created for your company, would like to attend but can't make the dates listed above or have any queries, please contact us on shortcourses@bathspa.ac.uk .