The Homeschooler’s Guide to Book Publishing is running again this year, revised and expanded on a new platform. Like last year, your student will receive: 

• A walkthrough of the key stages in the publishing journey

• An overview of 10 unique jobs within the publishing industry
  

• Training on how to help launch a new novel into the world

• Access to an exciting middle grade fantasy novel
  

• Hands-on experience participating in a “launch team” for a real book

For the 2025 class, the course will now be hosted through the Chicken Scratch Books online portal, with all the content included in one easy place, including brand new videos and quizzes!

There are TWO versions of the course you can register for!

Each week will begin with a brief introductory video, followed by three main sections:

• The Publishing Journey
• The Job Highlight
• Book Launching 101

These sections each include a reading and a quiz, and make up the bulk of the course. The fifth and final section gives students the assignments for that week, which are tracked using Homework Trackers for students to win weekly prizes.

The content for each week becomes available on the Monday of the week. Students can complete the content at their own pace, whether they finish it all in one day, or spread it out over the entire week.

I will be available throughout the duration of the course to answer any questions students may have, either via email or through comments on the course website. I encourage students to take full advantage of this opportunity to pick the brains of a published author! Questions can be related to any aspect of writing and publishing, not just the course content itself.

There will be a live Q&A video meeting on June 21st at 12 P.M. Mountain Time which students can tune into. I’ll share some behind the scenes trivia about my stories and publishing journey, and students can ask any remaining questions they have about the Wingless Cycle, the course, or any other writing or publishing questions that occur to them.

For students who can’t make it to the meeting, I will try and make sure a recording is available for viewing afterwards. 

Can multiple siblings participate in the course?

Yes! The only catch is  the quizzes at the end of each section can only be taken once. If siblings are sharing the course, I recommend they tackle the quizzes together. Aside from that, there should be no difficulty.

Are there graded assignments in this course?

No. The quizzes at the end of each section will offer an automatic “grade” of sorts, but their main purpose is to help with reading comprehension. There are, however, a number of “book launch” assignments each week that students can complete in order to earn points toward weekly incentive prizes.

My child isn’t homeschooled. Can they still participate in the course?

Yes! While it was designed with homeschooling families in mind, there’s no reason why a keen student can’t tackle this course in their free time outside of school.

Does this course focus on self-publishing or publishing through a publisher?

This course teaches how an author gets a book published through the traditional publishing process: i.e. through a publisher. However many of the steps required in traditional publishing also apply to self-publishing. 

Will this course teach me how to write a book?

No. This course only focuses on introducing students to the book publishing process and the publishing industry. I do have plans in mind for creating a writing course in the future though!

I’ve written a book I want to publish. Will this course help me do that?

That depends on what you mean by “help.” This course will introduce you to the traditional publishing industry and provide information about the necessary steps an author needs to take in order to publish a book. However, this course is only intended to educate in a general way rather than provide a how-to for publishing a specific manuscript. The most important part of preparing a manuscript for publication is honing one’s writing craft through years of study and practice.