ONLINE CLASSThe Author's Guide to Social Media: How to Grow a Following of Devoted Readers
With Lauren Kay
📍 WhereZoom
🕒 WHENThursdays, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23 & 5/30
7PM - 8:30PM EST
💲 HOW MUCH$650
($550 early Bird)
🧑🤝🧑 WHO12 Writers
About the Class
In today's digital age, building a strong author platform is crucial for published and aspiring authors.
Before my debut was published last June, I had under 500 Instagram followers and a mere 73 TikTok followers. My posts kept hitting that infuriating 200-view cap — even when they had tons of likes and comments!
For weeks, I poured over questions like these:
How often should I post? Do I have to show my face? What time of day is best for posting? How long should my videos be? Should I hop on trends? What hashtags should I use?
Turns out — I was asking the wrong questions.
After obsessively studying successful accounts, analyzing my own post performance, and testing hundreds of different posts and formats — I broke free from that 200-view jail, ultimately growing to over 40,000 TikTok followers and 35,000 Instagram followers.
My journey gave me a completely new understanding of the algorithms, content creation, and reader conversion — and why you need to follow a different set of rules to see success as an author.
Course Takeaways
Through a hands-on approach combining lectures, data-driven insights, and student workshops, you will learn how to ideate, test, and analyze your performance to see results and will finish the course with four pieces of workshopped content.
You will get a behind the scenes look at my analytics, top posts, and content planning system.
You will learn what strategies don’t work (such as content that solely focuses on promoting your book) as well as a breakdown of the key strategies that do work and lead to sales. I’ll teach you how to find and analyze top author creators — using their content to inspire and improve your future posts (without directly copying — which doesn’t work, anyway.)
We’ll work on discovering your unique social media ‘voice’ — and discuss why authenticity leads to virality.
You will leave with a toolbox of strategies for the emotional side of the game — from avoiding burnout to overcoming the fear of showing your face on the internet (to strangers — but often even more terrifying — to your friends & family!) I will also teach you how I downsized my 40-hour content-creation weeks to just 4 hours — and now average 2 million views and thousands of new follows each week.
Who is this class for?
Aspiring and published authors across all genres, both those aiming for traditional publishing and self-publishing. Whether you’re starting from 0, looking to grow a following to add a competitive edge while querying, or doing well and looking for tips to supercharge your growth — this class is for you.
Note: This class is not suited for those seeking instant viral fame or specific follower milestones. Success on social media is a marathon, not a sprint, requiring patience, persistence, and a strategic mindset.
Class Structure
During each of our 90 minute meetings, I will present a lecture and then we will workshop 3 students’ recent posts. The lecture portions of these classes will be recorded and shared if you are unable to attend.
There will also be weekly content creation assignments on WetInk, where you will receive peer and instructor feedback.
Course Syllabus
Week 1: Intro to the Algorithm, Targeting Future Readers, and Taking a Data-centric Approach
Week 2: Content Creation: Nailing the Hook, Delivering Value Instead of Direct Promotion, and Filming / Editing 101
Week 3: Deep Dive Into Successful Content Strategies of Top Author Creators, Time Management, and Avoiding Burnout
Week 4: Building a Loyal Community + Converting Followers into Readers & Subscribers
Meet Your Instructor
Lauren Kay is an author, creator and educator. Her debut novel We Ship It came out with HarperCollins in 2023. Her goal is to end gatekeeping in publishing and to provide writers with actionable advice, insider’s information, and a supportive community.
You can find Lauren on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where she has built up a following of over 75k writers.
Lauren lives in Brooklyn with her husband, toddler, and cat Sneezy. When she’s not working, you can find her surrounded by six half-empty Coke Zero cans (which definitely doesn’t drive her husband crazy!)
Feedback from My Query Bootcamp Students
December 2023Jessica Holme, Mystery Writer
Thank you so much for the course; I truly appreciate it. The amount of detail and effort and thought that has gone into this is amazing. I’m actually blown away by how helpful and detailed this is.
Stepping into the publishing world was nerve-wracking for me, especially as someone who is neurodivergent. Sometimes, the nuances and rules of the industry can feel vague, making it difficult to navigate correctly. Your support throughout this journey has meant the world to me.
December 2023Kourtney Howell, Romance Writer | @kourtneyrhowell
The content was better than I could have hoped for! The topics for finding agents and query letters were the most helpful. I love the Slack community and plan to use it for as long as I can! The resources were extremely helpful, and I’ve even started using them as I plan my second novel.
December 2023Celia Seupel, Sci-Fi Writer
I am deeply impressed by the excellence of your course! If I ever got anything out of TikTok, it’s stumbling upon you and your remarkable talents.
Each individual video is just the right length, clear and cogent. Each one offers an important and useful skill. The order of the segments works well and helps to build a solid understanding of the agenting process.
The resources are bountiful and so helpful. Even with the success of your own queries and book, I don’t know how you found so many useful sources. And typical of your thoroughness, you have given good directions on how to use each one.
November 2023Emma Goddard, Romance Writer | @emmalgoddard
Query Bootcamp is the perfect resource for writers looking to take the next steps in their publishing journey. Every module is so detailed and thoughtful, and Lauren shares such valuable insights about the industry. When I first began writing I spent countless hours trying to piece together the querying process and I so wish I had a course like this to find all these tips in one place!
November 2023Auri Muir, Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction Writer | @aurimuirwrites
I am so thankful to have the opportunity to participate in query bootcamp with Lauren. Even though I already started querying and had a letter drafted, the course helped me improve my letter and methods in ways I never would have been able to do on my own. I also think Lauren is great at helping with positive energy and motivation, querying is so hard to do alone.
Update: Auri got multiple agent offers and signed with an agent for both her nonfiction and fiction books!
November 2023Mary Kate Patterson, Romance Writer
“If I had set out to learn everything that Lauren has included in the Query Bootcamp, it would have taken me months. She’s broken down the query process into short easy to digest videos and made a super complex process easy to understand. I’m so glad I have this knowledge as I move into the querying process!”