Demystifying Publication:
An online writing course

NEXT SIGNUP WINDOW: October 9-18, 2026 (25 spots available)

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR WRITING PUBLISHED?
(and what does “published” even mean?)

In this online course, Brendan Leonard will guide you through the process of getting your work published, whether “getting published” means in your favorite magazine or online publication, or creating your own email newsletter. Since 2004, Brendan has extensively explored the spectrum of publishing avenues: His books have sold more than 150,000 copies, and his writing and illustrations have appeared in dozens of publications, including Outside, Men’s Journal, CNN.com, and National Geographic Adventure. He’s also been self-publishing his work since 2011, selling tens of thousands of books and growing his Semi-Rad newsletter to more than 15,000 weekly subscribers. In this course, we’ll dive into why we want to get our writing out there, and the best ways to do it—which are not the same for every writer, or every story.

Get on the waitlist here:

HOW DO WE GET OUR STORIES OFF OUR LAPTOP AND INTO THE WORLD?

Do you have a story or a bunch of stories lying dormant on your hard drive or in a Google Docs folder?

Would you like to share your writing with readers, but you’re not sure who those readers might be, or the best way to reach them?

Do you dream of getting your work published, or starting a regular newsletter or Substack, but haven’t taken that first step yet?

Demystifying Publication is my online course that will help you figure out a path forward. Over the course of five weeks, you’ll complete a selection of short exercises designed to help you understand your options, and decide which might work best for what you want to do with your writing.

Through the five-week email course, you’ll learn why the publishing landscape is the way it is, the challenges writers face, how to write and send a solid pitch email to an editor, how to become a publisher yourself, and how to share your work with an audience (without feeling like you’re selling something they don’t need).

Publication can seem mysterious, or like black magic, but it doesn’t need to be opaque: Over the past 20 years, I’ve written hundreds of stories, from feature-length magazine pieces, to narrative essays, to books—taking something from idea to publication is what I do. In this course, I’m sharing what I’ve learned. Through the 10 email lessons and short videos, you’ll learn:

How to decide the best publishing avenue for your writing work
How to pitch an editor, what types of stories to pitch, and where to pitch those stories
Why self-publishing might be the best choice for a particular piece of your writing (or most of your writing)
Why story ideas might get rejected and how to process it when it happens
Deciding how much to take your audience into account
How to promote your work (without it feeling like self-promotion)

Hey! I’m Brendan Leonard.

I’m a former columnist for Outside Magazine, and my writing has appeared in National Geographic Adventure, Alpinist, CNN.com, Runner’s World, Climbing, Men’s Journal, Backpacker, Adventure Journal, and many other publications. I’ve written a dozen books and directed several award-winning adventure films.

Since 2019, I’ve been teaching a one-week writing workshop for a dozen students, and I’ve always wanted to make it more accessible and more affordable. So I started developing online courses so anyone can learn to write the best version of their story or stories—even if you can’t show up for a week of trail running and writing.

I share lessons I’ve learned from 20+ years of experience in a changing media landscape, 15 of those years running my own “brand” and writing directly for my own audience of 15,000+ subscribers. I’ve worked hard to figure out where and how to reach people, how to get their attention, and tell the stories I feel are important.

Through my Demystifying Publication online writing workshop, you’ll learn the nuts and bolts of how traditional publishing works, how to put together a quality pitch and send it to an editor, and how to decide if a self-publishing option is best for some (or all) of your work. It’s my hope that this course is empowering for everyone who completes it, and will enable you to plot your own path to sharing your work with readers, whether you want to write for a bigger-name publication or create your own online or analog space to tell your stories.

Here’s a Detailed Overview of the Course:

#1: What Does It Mean To Be Published? (5-minute read + 5-minute written exercise)

#2: OK, Why Is It Difficult To Get Published? (5-minute read + 5-minute written exercise)

#3: The Art Of Pitching, Part 1: Where To Pitch (6-minute read + 10-minute written exercise)

#4: The Art Of Pitching, Part 2: What To Pitch (6-minute read + 5-minute written exercise)

#5: The Art Of Pitching, Part 3: How To Pitch (5-minute read + 15-minute written exercise)

#6: What About Self-Publishing? The Pros And Cons/Is It Right For You? (8-minute read + 10-minute written exercise)

#7: Promoting Your Work (And Feeling Good About Doing It) (7-minute read + 5-minute written exercise)

#8: Considering The Audience (Or Not) (9-minute read + 15-minute written exercise)

#9: How To Deal With Rejection (7-minute read + 5-minute written exercise)

#10: Sticking With It (5-minute read + 5-minute exercise)

THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF:

You’d like to share your writing with an audience, large or small
You’re interested in getting your writing published on a website, in a magazine, or by a book publisher but don’t know where to start
You would like to develop a more regular writing practice and you think starting your own newsletter might be motivating
You’re interested in exploring both traditional publishing and self-publishing avenues

Get on the waitlist to be notified when registration opens:

HERE’S WHAT PAST STUDENTS OF MY HOW TO TELL ONE STORY WRITING COURSE HAD TO SAY

“I really loved this course. Brendan makes you feel like you can do it. Writing about an experience opens up other stories just waiting to be written.”

—Sandra M.

“Brendan’s writing course breaks down the steps of how to write a well-crafted story into easygoing bi-weekly lessons. Given his experience and body of work, it was great to get a peek behind the professional creative writer’s curtain with digestible tips and tricks to get beyond the intimidating blinking cursor on a blank screen.”

—Brie C.

“If you’re looking for the little nudge to sit down to write, this course is perfect. I’m an engineer trying to be better at writing family stories and this course broke down the writing process into manageable pieces.”

—David P.

“Creating art like writing can feel overwhelming and anxiety-inducing for me, but having the simple, focused structure of this course’s goal and content made it so much more achievable. The scaffolding of these lessons and the clarity of each exercise helped me actually finish a piece of nature writing I’d wanted to write for ages.”

—Suzanne N.

“This course was a really fun way to learn more about the craft of writing. Brendan’s lessons are extremely kind and encouraging, and I surprised myself by ending up with a mostly polished story by the end of the six weeks. Tons of helpful tips, and very enjoyable!”

—Ingrid D.

“I was feeling stuck and overwhelmed in my writing, and these lessons broke writing one story down into bite-sized chunks. The course is clear, supportive, and effective – all without taking itself too seriously.”

—Emma H.

“The How To Tell One Story course gave me the permission to believe I might actually be able to write “one story.” It was accessible, lively and encouraging, offering a calendar for progress that provided structured assignments with gentle discipline for growth and success.”

—Kim S.P.

“The freeing and overwhelming truth of writing is that there are no rules. Brendan Leonard knows this well. Thankfully, he’s written through enough adventures to help students like us avoid some, but not all, of the common pitfalls, rabbit holes, and mental blocks. Brendan’s course empowered me to hold writing less tightly, which has led to some of my best work.”

—Peter Bromka, alumnus of Brendan’s Freeflow Institute writing workshop,
published in The Best American Sports Writing 2021, Runners World, and Outside Run

HERE’S WHAT’S INCLUDED:

12 lessons, sent directly to your email inbox on Mondays and Thursdays
Each Lesson Contains:
- A short video from me (Brendan)
- A detailed text description of the lesson
- A couple funny and useful sketches to illustrate the concept
- Helpful links to further reading and resources
- A short writing exercise to help you get writing your story or thinking about writing
A free digital copy of my book, Make It: 50 Myths and Truths About Creating
A free copy of How to Self-Publish a Book for $125 (or Less)
Free downloadable resource bundle on traditional publishing vs self-publishing
Lifetime access to all the course content
Get all the course updates, new lessons, and bonus content FREE
No-Risk, Money-Back, 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

SIGN UP NOW, GET INSTANT ACCESS

Once you sign up, lessons will be emailed to you at 5:00 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. They live in your email inbox, so you can access them anytime, and go at your own pace.

So if you’re ready to stop waiting for “someday” to get here, let’s get started.