Reaching The Public for Academics
Reaching the Public For Academics
Are you an academic who is being constantly asked to “show impact” or “reach the public”? Would you like some ideas and help for how to do this in a way that is maximally effective and minimally annoying?
This series is for you.
I’m a former academic who got my PhD at Oxford but then dropped out of that world to become a public-facing writer, speaker, and video producer instead. I also have a background in popular media production, where I made short form videos for The School of Life’s YouTube Channel (which now has about 9 million subscribers). The videos I helped create are still reaching people in the thousands and millions today.
When my first book for the public came out with Bloomsbury, I cranked out TikTok and youtube videos and they went viral and were seen by millions. Through these efforts I’ve managed to support myself and sell my book, without losing my mind. Along the way I’ve written for major publications like The Guardian and Zeteo, gotten a “trade” mainstream book deal, run some actually-rather-fun events for the public, and more.
If you need to do (at least a few) of these things, join me for this four part series. It will be especially helpful to academics in the social science and humanities, and those with a radical or progressive bent.
Each is an hour long with a 30 minute Q&A after, on four key topics:
👨💻Reaching the Public with Articles and Opinion Pieces
MARCH 11 5-6:30 pm UK time
How do you pitch to an editor? What are they looking for?
How do you keep the public’s eyeballs on a page these days?
How do you get people to share your article?
Should you have a Substack, and if so what helps make it successful?
▶️ Reaching the Public with Video and Audio
MARCH 18 5-6:30 pm UK time
Should you make a podcast or short form video? Or both?
What does a good short form video look like?
Why are short form videos so successful these days?
How can you make short videos while feeling less cringe?
🎤 Reaching the Public with Live Events and Community-Building
MARCH 25 5-6:30 pm UK time
Why make live events? (Money, closer connections with the right people, buzz and more).
Online or offline?
How to keep people engaged and paying attention and not on their phones…
Turning events into long term engaged communities.
📚 Reaching the Public with Public-Facing Books
April 1 5-6:30 pm UK time
What’s different about a public-facing book compared to an academic book?
How do you find an agent/write a proposal/sell a proposal?
What can the public-facing book do for you in the long run?
How do you get your public-facing book to actually sell?
Come for the training and the tips and tricks. Stay for the complaining. I’ll record the sessions and leave them viewable for a while for those in the course, and we’ll build an online group that can remain a community of practice.
See you there!