March 5 – April 2, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm Eastern
Course: Marketing 101
with April Michelle Davis, NAIWE’s Executive Director
Cost: $124
Marketing 101 teaches the fundamentals and theory of marketing your business. The main topics to be covered include the following:
- marketing ideas
- setting business goals and obtaining them through marketing
- branding (create your brand and use it to the fullest)
- developing and limiting social network connections
- overcoming cold calling fears
- developing processes for success.
Class Overview
- Marketing Goals
- Marketing Activities
- Branding
- Social Networking
- Cold Calling
March 23, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm Eastern
Webinar: Penning, Pitching, & Promoting a Murder Mystery Series
with Marcia Rosen, NAIWE’s Public Relations and Book Marketing Expert
Cost: $30
Marcia Rosen and Claudia Riess are authors whose mystery series are very different, so comparing their writing processes highlights the common components of the genre. In addition, Marcia’s experience in the business sector of publishing can help take your series from release to recognition. The primary goal of their presentation is to help writers at any stage of their series development, from the germ of an idea to wanting to jump-start a series with a book already written. During the Q&A period, prepared and spontaneous questions are welcome.
Marcia is the author of 13 books, which include two mystery series plus Murder at the Zoo, The Woman’s Business Therapist, and My Memoir Workbook, and is working on a cookbook, recipes and stories with her son for his café in New Mexico. She has frequently been a featured speaker. For close to 20 years, Marcia has worked with numerous writers to help them develop, publish, and successfully market their books and for 25 years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency.
Claudia is the author of eight novels and numerous articles and essays. She has worked in the editorial department of The New Yorker and has edited a number of art history monographs. Stolen Light, the first book in her art history mystery series, was chosen by Vassar’s Latin American history professor for distribution to the college’s people-to-people trips to Cuba. To Kingdom Come, the fourth, will be added to the syllabus of a Midwestern university’s syllabus of a survey course on West and Central African Art. She’s been featured on a variety of podcasts, blogs, and Zoom events.
March 27, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm Eastern
Webinar: Hook Your Readers: Using Advanced Tools to Sell More Books!
with AutoCrit, a NAIWE Benefit Partner
Cost: $20
Is your opening strong enough to seal the deal? Where does your book or book series fit in the marketplace? Join us for a deep dive into AutoCrit’s suite of tools and author ecosystem to learn how data-driven revisions can turn “maybe” into “must-buy.”
Stop guessing and start polishing. Give your manuscript the professional edge it needs to stand out in a crowded market.
April 16, 2026
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern
Webinar: Taking Next Steps: Growing an Independent Writing or Editing Business
with Ruth Thaler-Carter, NAIWE’s Networking Expert
Cost: $30
Many NAIWE members have been in business for several years, but nowadays, some might be feeling a little bored or burnt out, some have lost clients due to AI, some are experiencing stalemate, some seek new challenges — and all of us want to see our businesses not just survive but grow and expand. In our April webinar, longtime freelance writer/editor/proofreader Ruth E. Thaler-Carter will provide suggestions for taking an independent communications business to the next level and position ourselves for growth through new directions.
Ruth has been freelancing since high school and full-time since 1984. Over the years, she has expanded her writing business to include editing, proofreading, and speaking, and a diversity of topics. She has great insights into how to develop new skills and services to make an independent business go beyond static and toward sustainability.
She is the Networking member of the NAIWE Board of Experts, among several other association memberships, and will include perspectives on how active networking and membership can contribute to growing an independent communications business.
January 7 – February 25, 2027
Time: 2:00 pm Eastern
Course: Macros 101
with April Michelle Davis, NAIWE’s Executive Director
Cost: $199
Do you often perform the same tasks in Microsoft Word? How much time do you waste doing repetitive tasks at the beginning of each project? At the end? How about just in general throughout the editing process?
In this 8-week course, you will learn how to maximize your time by putting those repetitive tasks in a macro, allowing you to push one button and they are all done!
Some of the tasks that can be put into macros to speed up your process are auto formatting documents (font, size, color, margins, spacing between paragraphs, and double or single spacing documents), find and replace, adding comments, deleting comments, exporting comments, and other advanced concepts.
In addition, you will learn more than one way to create macros so you can create them in the way that is easiest for you!
Class Overview
- Macro Basics
- Find and Replace
- Introduction to Visual Basic
- Formatting a Word Document
- Find and Replace Macros
- Comments
- Combining Macros
- Advanced Macros