May 27–30, 2010
Presented by Linda Solomon
Hollyhock Coast Wellness Retreat, Cortes Island, BC

Opportunities abound online for writers. Learn how to take full advantage of digital media and make it work for you. This is a nuts-and-bolts survey of writing, reporting, interviewing, and editing online. The Poynter Institute of Media Studies has found that people reas as much as they ever have. But they read differently—they scan and dive. So, how do you get readers to dive into your story?

Examine the basic rules of writing online, and take it further. Find out how to manage an interview, how to write an opening paragraph that will captivate your audience. Find out what it takes to build a reputation as a blogger, get your ranking up on Google, make use of social networking tools, and turn your name into a brand. Grab readers and keep them. There's a media revolution! Jump in now.

The focus will be helping people learn how to maximize online writing to:

1. Shift more traditional writing to writing appropriate for online audiences
2. Learn how search engine optimization (SEO) works and how to make headlines and stories search engine friendly
3. Get an overview of the software available to individual bloggers.  Discuss pros and cons of contributing to a larger site.
4. Debate the value of "free" and understand it in the context of an industry in transition.  How building a reputation online increases access for a writer or a journalist, or even a publisher and why this has real monetary value.
5. Get better at using social media tools to widen the audience for a publication or individual blog.
6. We will write and post in the three days and look at how these techniques impact readership.  This is a hands-on workshop designed to empower people with vital skills for navigating the digital world.

TUITION: $465 CDN (meals & accommodation extra) / 3 nights

Request a reservation online

Linda Solomon is a pioneer in the local media revolution. She is the founder and publisher of the Vancouver Observer, an online news site that has regularly scooped big media conglomerates and produced award-winning stories with a team of over 150 bloggers and reporters.

www.vancouverobserver.com