Be Your Own Publisher: How to Start an Online Newsletter and Make It Pay with Michael Balter (via Zoom)

Some say journalism is dying—but are announcements of its death premature? There is no question that getting published is more difficult these days, but many journalists—along with writers of all stripes—are finding new ways to get their work out there. Some of the most famous and well established writers are now turning to online newsletters as their platform of choice. The advantages are many: Editorial independence, control of finances, and no need to convince an editor that what you want to write is worth reading. With an online newsletter, you are your own publishing boss. The creative possibilities are virtually endless, and with most online platforms there are no censors to tell you what you can and cannot write.

In this course we will take you through all the steps involved in setting up your own online newsletter, from conception to execution to building an audience to managing the financial side of being a professional writer. For those who want to do so, you will set up your own newsletter online, practice writing articles, stories, and other posts, and then—only when you feel ready—you will launch your work out into the world. This course is for everyone who writes or wants to write, and who wants the immediate satisfaction of getting published without anyone else telling you it is okay. The instructor, veteran journalist Michael Balter, publishes two newsletters of his own, one devoted to his own opinions and analyses of current affairs, and another which serves the Hudson Valley community in which he lives.

Michael Balter has been a working journalist for more than 45 years. He has written thousands of articles for many dozens of national publications, and taught journalism at Boston University, New York University, and City College of New York. For the past several years he has published his own newsletters, “Words for the Wise” and more recently “The Croton Chronicle.”