Nonfiction book proposals: A hands-on workshop

Nonfiction book proposals: A hands-on workshop

Time:
Friday, October 9th, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Location:
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Charles View Ballroom
Speaker(s):
Brooke Borel
  Freelance science writer, journalist, and author
Organizer(s):
Brooke Borel
  Freelance science writer, journalist, and author

So you’ve found a killer science story and you want to write a book. How do you even start? This three-hour workshop will break down the steps for writing a nonfiction book proposal. We’ll cover how to decide if the story is truly book-length, how to figure out if it’s a fresh and saleable idea, what to look for in an agent, book proposal mechanics, and more. If you already have a book idea, be prepared to workshop it in small groups. If you don’t but are simply curious about the process, come anyway — anyone at any stage is welcome.

#SciBookProps

Requires advance online registration and $30.00 pre-payment.

Meeting schedule

Jump to:
Friday, Oct. 9
Saturday, Oct. 10
Sunday, Oct. 11
Monday, Oct. 12
Tueday, Oct. 13

Key to icons

Friday, Oct. 9

11:00 am to 5:00 pm

NASW Board meeting
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Aquarium room (closed meeting)

12:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Check-in
Main lobby, Hyatt Regency Cambridge

1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

$ How to make awesome science video: A hands-on workshop
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Thomas Paine room
$ Nonfiction book proposals: A hands-on workshop
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Charles View Ballroom

6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Check-in
MIT Walker Memorial, 142 Memorial Drive (Buses depart from Hyatt)
F Knight Science Journalism welcome reception
MIT Walker Memorial, 142 Memorial Drive (Buses depart from Hyatt)

9:00 pm to 10:30 pm

W Diversity Mixer
Hyatt Cambridge Regency, Paul Revere Room
Saturday, Oct. 10

7:30 am to 8:00 am

W Meet and greet for newcomers/students
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Crispus Attucks room

7:30 am to 8:45 am

W Continental Breakfast
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom

7:30 am to 5:30 pm

Check-in
Main lobby, Hyatt Regency Cambridge

8:00 am to 8:45 am

NASW membership meeting
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom

9:00 am to 10:15 am

W Ethics in today's science writing landscape: A community conversation
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

$ Personal headshot photography
By appointment

10:15 am to 10:45 am

W Break
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom Prefunction

10:45 am to 12:00 pm

W Covering public controversies about science topics: From GMOs, to vaccines, to climate change
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Paul Revere room
W DIY publishing — Does it yield?
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Charles View Ballroom (top floor of hotel)
W Use with no abuse: How to acquire, borrow, quote and reproduce without copyright infringement
Cambridge Hyatt Regency, Thomas Paine room
W What every editor needs to know
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, William Dawes room

12:00 pm to 1:30 pm

W Lunch
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom

1:30 pm to 2:45 pm

W Embracing the B word: Branding and social media
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Charles View Ballroom (top floor of hotel)
W Funds for all: How to win an NASW Idea Grant
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, William Dawes room
W Other stories: Exploring alternative narratives
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Paul Revere room
W Using art to communicate science
Hyatt Cambridge Regency, Thomas Paine room

2:45 pm to 3:15 pm

W Break
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom Prefunction

3:15 pm to 4:30 pm

W Data journalism for every scale and skill level
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom AB
W Four writers sat in a bar:  Humor and voice in science writing
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Paul Revere room
W PIOs: How to pitch a story (without being annoying)
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom D
W Power Pitch 2015
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom C

4:30 pm to 4:45 pm

W Break
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom Prefunction

4:45 pm to 6:00 pm

W Fact-checking: How to get everything perfectly right always
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom D
W Sex, death, and privacy: Reporting in the first person
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, William Dawes room
W Sexism, science-writing and solutions: Charting the future
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Paul Revere room
W The fair contract project
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Thomas Paine room

6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

F Awards reception
Hyatt Regency Cambridge, President's Ballroom
Sunday, Oct. 11

7:00 am to 8:15 am

F Continental breakfast
MIT Kresge Lobby (Buses depart from Hyatt)

7:30 am to 11:00 am

Check-in
MIT Kresge Lobby

8:15 am to 9:30 am

F Lighting up biology: The quest to see every molecule in every cell
MIT Kresge Auditorium

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

$ Personal headshot photography
By appointment

9:30 am to 10:30 am

F Pluto's close-up: The latest from the New Horizons mission
MIT Kresge Auditorium
F The tiny cell with a big gene "app store"
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center

10:30 am to 11:00 am

F Break
MIT Kresge Lobby

11:00 am to 12:00 pm

F Next in space: Spray-on microthrusters for miniature satellites
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
F The genome's mysterious UCE surveillance system
MIT Kresge Auditorium

12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

F Lunch With a Luminary I
Assigned Rooms at MIT Student Center and the Broad Institute; volunteer guides will direct. Pick up lunch first at Kresge Lobby
F MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center tour
MIT Building NW17, Room 218, 175 Albany St., Cambridge, MA (walking tour, 5 minute walk, departs from Kresge Lobby, pick up lunch first at Kresge)

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

F 2015 Patrusky Lecture: The Earth’s microbiomes
MIT Kresge Auditorium

3:00 pm to 3:30 pm

F Break
MIT Kresge Lobby

3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

F Can computer science help physicists resolve the firewall paradox?
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
F Lessons from the lives of older homeless adults
MIT Kresge Auditorium

4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

F Controversy in the "Goldilocks zone" as the search for habitable exoplanets intensifies
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
F Vaccines and vaccine hesitancy: Lessons for science writers
MIT Kresge Auditorium

7:00 pm to 10:00 pm

F ScienceWriters party
The Boston Globe, 135 Morrissey Blvd., Boston (Buses depart from Hyatt at 6:40, 6:50, 7:00, 7:20, and 7:40 pm; one bus departs from Fairfield Inn at 6:40 pm)
Monday, Oct. 12

7:15 am to 8:30 am

F Continental breakfast
MIT Kresge Lobby (Buses depart from Hyatt)

8:30 am to 9:30 am

F Applying science to poverty
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
F Money and medicine: Challenges and opportunities for science writers
MIT Kresge Auditorium

9:30 am to 10:30 am

F Gathering big data on tiny devices: A path to better medical diagnosis?
Kresge Auditorium
F Mercury, fisheries and human health: Local threats and global challenges
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center

9:30 am to 12:00 pm

F Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences tour
29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA; board bus at Kresge Lobby at 9:30 am for the 10-minute ride to the Harvard engineering campus.

10:30 am to 11:00 am

F Break
MIT Kresge Lobby

10:30 am to 2:00 pm

F Boston University Photonics Center tour
8 St. Mary's St., Boston, MA (board bus at Kresge Lobby at 10:30 am; 10-minute ride to Boston University)

11:00 am to 12:00 pm

F Air pollution and hurricanes: A connection?
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center
F How technology designers will dictate our civic future
MIT Kresge Auditorium

12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

F Lunch With a Luminary II
Assigned Rooms at MIT Student Center, Kresge, and MIT Building 4; volunteer guides will direct. Pick up lunch first at Kresge Lobby
F The ingredients for innovation in Kendall Square
La Sala de Puerto Rico, MIT Student Center. Organized by KSJ; participants register as part of Lunch With a Luminary; pick up lunch at Kresge Lobby.

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

F New observations and new ideas about cosmic inflation
MIT Kresge Auditorium

2:00 pm to 4:30 pm

F Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories tour
Board bus at Kresge Lobby at 2:00 pm for the 15-minute ride to BU's medical campus.

3:00 pm to 3:30 pm

F Break
MIT Kresge Lobby

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

F LabCentral tour
700 Main St., Cambridge (walking tour, 10-minute walk, departs from Kresge Lobby)

3:30 pm to 5:30 pm

F Merchants of Doubt film screening and discussion
MIT Kresge Auditorium

5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

F Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT tour
320 Charles Street, Cambridge (bus departs from Kresge Lobby)

5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Dine around Cambridge and Boston
Varies

8:00 pm to 10:00 pm

$ Story Collider
Oberon Theater, 2 Arrow Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Attendees are responsible for their own travel to Harvard Square. Admission at the door by will-call based on purchase at registration.
Tuesday, Oct. 13

7:15 am to 5:00 pm

$ Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tour
Buses depart from Hyatt Regency Cambridge

9:00 am to 11:30 am

F Biogen tour
225 Binney St., Cambridge (Bus departs from Hyatt Regency Cambridge)
F Dana-Farber Cancer Institute tour
450 Brookline Ave., Boston (Bus departs from Hyatt Regency Cambridge)
F Harvard Museums of Science & Culture tour
26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA (Bus departs from Hyatt Regency Cambridge)
F Johnson & Johnson Innovation tour
255 Main St., Cambridge, MA (Bus departs from Hyatt Regency Cambridge)
F Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research tour [CANCELED]

9:30 am to 12:30 pm

F Draper Laboratory tour
555 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA (Bus departs from Hyatt Regency Cambridge)
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