Exam details:
This course includes 9 written assessments that you complete as part of your course work and then forward to your tutor. This course has been divided into 3 learning periods.

Once your tutor has marked and graded your work they will send it back to you with their comments.

Completion of your course:
Upon completion of this course you will be awarded a Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Education Direct) Writing a best seller Certificate.

Additional Resources

Writing a Best Seller

Do you dream of in-depth plots, far-away worlds, and intriguing characters vying for the lead in your first best-selling novel? Do you yearn to see your name on jacket covers, plastered on bookshop windows and gracing the pages of the latest magazine? Would you love to be signing autographs on the inside cover of your latest book, surrounded by legions of fans eager for a glimpse of your next blockbuster? If this sounds like you, then you need this distance learning Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Education Direct) Writing a best seller course.

If you seriously want to be writing a best seller, then you need to know how to go about it. The Australian College of Journalism and Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Education Direct) Writing a best seller course will show you how to do it and how to do it right.

Recently merged, these companies are now able to provide you with greater training opportunities. The Australian College of Journalism has provided specialist courses for over 20 years, and over that time have become a well known and respected distance education provider. And Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Education Direct) is the world's leading provider of consumer-based distance education.

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A definition: best seller

A bestseller (or best seller) is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on a list of top-sellers. In everyday usage, the term bestseller is not usually associated with a specified level of sales, or considered of superior academic value or literary quality, it simply implies great popularity, similar to blockbuster for films and chart-topper in music (although, in film and music, these measures are generally related to sales figures or units sold). Therefore, bestsellers are to a degree self-defining, in that identifying a book as a bestseller may be enough to establish it as such in the public mind.

Bestsellers are usually divided into two main categories, fiction and non-fiction. Particularly in the case of novels, an involved chain of literary agents, editors, publishers, reviewers, retailers, and marketing efforts go into "making" bestsellers.. (Source: Bestseller: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

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Key areas of learning - Writing a best seller

The technology debate Promote yourself to success So you want to write a best-selling novel? Plotting your novel The characters in your story Research, setting and mood	The self-publishing option Structure, pace and suspense First page, first chapter Editing and polishing your novel Marketing your novel Writing effective dialogue
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The benefits

If you are ready to learn new skills, improve existing skills, make more money, get a better job, launch or advance in a career or start your own business, Thomson Education Direct can help you, as it does thousands of people, year after year.

Study at your own place. In the comfort of your own home, while traveling to or from work, or even while you're on holidays. It's up to you.
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At a price you can afford. Courses are competitively priced, allowing you to afford the course you want.
With an experienced organisation. Since 1921, Thomson Education Direct has provided quality home training for over 600,000 people.
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Study at home to get the training you need and the job you want, without leaving your front door. Today, distance learning is recognised as one of the most convenient methods of education.

Extra learning materials included in the Writing a best seller course

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subjects covered

The technology debate

The age of information technology
Writing for the Internet
Why readers like the Internet
Editing by computer
Do writers need to work on computers?
How do you edit on-line?
Electronic publishing
About e-books
E-book software
How can I convert my own documents to e-books
Some worthwhile Internet sites for all writers

Promote yourself to success

The waiting game
Networking with other writers
Mentors, workshops and conferences
Building a reputation for reliability
Using a critique/editorial service
Keeping records & backup copies; financial records & taxation
Your next book
How to make a living while you're waiting to be rich & famous
Self-promotion - talking about what you do
Dealing with rejection; professional DO's and DON'T's

So you want to write a best-selling novel?

Writing best-selling fiction
What is a 'best seller'?
The characteristics of genre fiction
Mainstream and literary fiction
How to decide what type of book you should write
Some opinions about writing and getting published
An editor's view of what will sell - 'Turn-offs' for an editor; categorise your novel

Plotting your novel

The best way to plot your story
The beginning; that vital idea
Taking an idea and shaking it
Your plot at a glance
From cluster to outline
Your timeline
Who is telling the story?
Having the end in sight
Background, minor characters and subplots
Is my idea best suited to a novel or short story?

The characters in your story

Starting with a character
Character tags
Creating a character file
Describing your characters
Third person narrator
Character motivation
What comes first, the characters or the plot? Characters in a situation
Don't make your characters all good or all bad
he difference between major and minor characters
The viewpoint character; the first person narrator
Bringing your characters on stage; naming your characters

Research, setting and mood

Putting your characters on-stage
The setting of your novel
Some tips on researching
Your 'contacts' book
Writing historical fiction
Do your research
Researching for novels with a medical background
Mood
Police procedure; science fiction, fantasy and futuristic
A trick to make your background come alive
The physical background; what interests readers?
Don't give your reader a chance to flip pages

The self-publishing option

Producing your own book
The production process
Writing, editing, design and printing
Structure of a book
Australian books in print
Selling your book
Terms of trade
Using a distributor
Glossary of acronyms and terms
Useful addresses
Your rights and responsibilities Copyright

Structure, pace and suspense

The suspense meter
How to create suspense right from the start; the difference between suspense and conflict; ways to create suspense
How to maintain tension and conflict
Checklist for conflict, pace and tension
Playing on emotions; anticipation and fear
Controlling pace through scenes, writing scenes
Four ways to keep your story moving
The structure of a scene; tying up loose ends

First page, first chapter

What does a first chapter have to do?
Using the 'Five Ws'
How to describe your characters
Your first chapter checklist
How to end a chapter
The importance of your novel's opening

Editing and polishing your novel

Is your novel ready to send away?
The novelist's ABC: active voice, beginnings, cut, don't assume, endings, facts and your files, group support, info dumping, judgement, keep it simple, lead, middles, natural style, overview, paragraphing, question technique, rewriting, soapboxes, tenacity, understanding, viewpoint, wordiness, 'x' marks the spot, you and your career, and zeal

Marketing your novel

Submitting a manuscript
Copyrighting
Writing a synopsis
A sample query letter
Pitfalls in writing for children
Writing in an outmoded style
Would I make a good children's writer?
Writing for teenagers
Should I have an agent? Partials v a full manuscript
Best-selling fiction for the juvenile market
What you should know about writing for children
Stories for children can be a variety of lengths
General tips for writing children's story books
Other ways to make money from being a children's writer

Writing effective dialogue

The importance of good dialogue
What is 'good dialogue'?
How do you write effective dialogue?
Different types of speech tags
Building tension through dialogue
Dialogue and humour
How to check that your dialogue works
Accents, slang and cliches
How to make dialogue and narrative work well together; interior monologue

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Enjoy studying at home, at a time that suits you. Maximise your potential now by taking the next step and furthering your education with distance learning!

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