Our program, Breaking into Print, lives up to its name. Unlike writing courses you may have taken in high school, college, or adult education programs, Breaking into Print is dedicated to teaching you how to write, market, and sell your writing to editors for publication. 

You begin your training by learning that you are writing not for yourself but, rather, for your reader. You learn and practice techniques to “hook” and hold your reader, from your title to your last line. 

You learn to write both fiction and creative nonfiction, using techniques from one form to enhance and strengthen the other, and you may pursue this intertwined training for the entire program. One of the advantages of learning both basic forms of writing together—fiction and nonfiction—is that it prepares you for assignments from many more publishing markets. 

Or, you may choose to narrow your focus to fiction or nonfiction exclusively. It is your choice.

When you’re ready for it, your next choice will be the writing niche, or kind of writing, you wish to pursue. There are 19 distinct genres of fiction and 73 categories of nonfiction, and each has its own requirements. 

Within the general requirements of each genre or category, there are specific editorial guidelines of each publication. Our annual directory, the 744-page Best of the Magazine Markets for Writers will give you all of this information, up to date and in detail. 

Learn the techniques and secrets used by professional writers

Since you’re writing for publication, you’ll need to know the correct form for submissions, how and when to write an effective query letter, where and to whom to send it, how to protect your rights, and other professional techniques that will distinguish your submission from an untrained amateur. 

Our program will train you in all of the professional techniques you’ll need to get your writing published. It includes more than 75 skill-building exercises, 50 tips on writing techniques, and 12 major send-in assignments in creative writing. Of these 12 assignments, 8 may be suitable for submission to editors after they have been edited and critiqued by the student’s instructor, and revised by the student. 

In fact, hundreds of our students and graduates have sold one or more of these revised assignments to publications as diverse as Kung Fu Tai Chi, Horse Illustrated, Grit, Camping Today, AMC Outdoors, True Story, and Good Old Days.

Of course, we can’t guarantee that you’ll be published.  But we’ll give you all the training you need to get published, plus our promise:

By the time you finish our program, you will complete at least two manuscripts suitable to submit to editors. You’ll also write a character sketch, plans for six stories and articles, and eight complete manuscripts.