Your book contains more stories than the ones on its pages. Learn how to write and publish companion essays that draw readers to your work.

For fiction, nonfiction, and poetry alike—companion essays cross genres.

Companion essays are written by an author before, during, and after a book is launched to create awareness of both the writer and the book. These essays showcase the writer’s voice, storytelling, and craft, leaving readers wanting to read more and buy the book. The form is essay, but this type of writing is valuable to writers across genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.

Also called book-adjacent writing, companion essays can address a wide range of topics: the book’s themes and craft; historical or cultural context; reflections, research, and ideas that extend beyond the book; or experiences from the writer’s life. These essays aren’t excerpts, summaries, reviews, ads, reading guides, or a justification for the book. Companion essays are powerful in themselves—informative, entertaining, and surprising—and connect the reader to the author and book in unique ways.

Publishers, publicists, and agents encourage (and expect) writers to write and publish companion pieces to support marketing and promotion, build readership, and expand the author’s platform. Whether your book is completed, accepted, or a work-in-progress, the best time to begin thinking about and drafting these essays is early in the writing process. 

We’ll look at published examples to see what makes a successful companion essay. You’ll develop strategies for generating your own companion essay ideas, and we’ll discuss where these essays can be pitched and published and the how-to’s of the submission process. Participants will receive the presentation slides with links to each essay and outlet discussed.

In this insightful 2.5-hour course, you will:

• EXPLORE what makes a compelling companion essay and how it connects to a book without summarizing or promoting
• GENERATE companion essay ideas drawn from your book, collection, or work-in-progress
• LEARN HOW companion essays use topic, structure, voice, and purpose to reach readers
• DISCOVER publications that publish companion essays, and DEVELOP a strategy for pitching and publishing companion essays

This seminar is ideal for writers who…

• want an effective way to connect readers to their new book, collection, or work-in-progress 
• want to increase their visibility and build their platform
• have a book or collection at any stage of development 
• want to learn how to write and publish compelling companion essays

Closed captioning is available. ✔

Think you might miss class? No worries, replays will be available 3 business days after the final session. ✔

ABOUT YOUR Instructor

Knowledgeable and well-prepared, passionate, encouraging, and an empathetic and kind teacher, Andrea A. Firth is a writer, editor, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She teaches creative writing and the literary magazine publishing process for Chill Subs and other digital education platforms in courses packed with information and lots of examples.  

An editor for The Brevity Blog and cofounder of Diablo Writers’ Workshop, Andrea has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Saint Mary’s College of California. Her writing focus is personal essay, and she was a finalist for the Missouri Review’s 2021 Perkoff Prize in Nonfiction. You can read a selection of her published work at her website.

Student Testimonials

“Andrea’s classes are stimulating, well structured, and informative, and her experience and skill as a writer and teacher have been extremely valuable.”

“Andrea is a warm and welcoming teacher. She creates a safe environment to ask questions and explore your skill as an emerging writer. Her knowledge and insights are keen, kind and above all useful. I look forward to more.”

“Andrea’s class was everything I hoped for and much more—detailed, organized, and packed with information.”

“As an educator, Andrea Firth delivers. She’s articulate, energetic, passionate, and personable.”

THE FINE PRINT

We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.

Before the class, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee.

Please keep in mind that no refunds or credits will be issued after class begins.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

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