Sharing What You Know and Making Some Dough

By Katriena Knights

As writers, we often find ourselves focusing on our writing as our sole source of income. While this is understandable, it can also prevent us from seeing other opportunities to add income streams, have some fun, and help other aspiring writers—or even other folks—while we’re at it.

If you’ve been writing long enough to have experienced some success, then you undoubtedly know some things you could pass on to other people who are trying to break into the business or who just want to improve their skills. You probably have other skills, too, that you could share with others. So why not teach a class?

There are many venues where you can teach, whether you want to strut your knowledge in front of a live audience or prefer to hide behind your computer screen. Some are specifically aimed at writers, while others offer classes of all kinds. Some pay after your teaching session, while others allow you to put a class online and earn a cut of the cost each time a student purchases it. Some don’t pay at all, but might serve as a good practice field before you jump into paying venues.

Places you may—or may not—have thought about for presenting classes include:

• Your local library
• Your local rec center
• Chamber of Commerce meetings
• Local writers’ groups
• Community colleges
• Conferences

Some online locations include:

• Savvy Authors
• Udemy
• Our own RMFW
• Online writers’ groups
• Online conferences

And one of our RMFW members has even posted a series on how to get a job teaching classes on cruise ships. Of course, nobody is interested in getting a free cruise to the Bahamas or whatever, so your mileage may vary.

Many of these places have websites where you can find a place to apply to teach a class. Some online places, like Udemy, allow you to upload your own classes and determine your own pricing. Most will have to approve your class before it goes live, though.

To propose a class, you’ll usually have to provide a general synopsis, a more detailed outline, a biography, and a list of your credentials, including other classes you’ve taught before. If you’re interested in pursuing this type of work, taking some extra time with your proposals will help give you the best possible chance to have your workshop chosen.

And don’t limit yourself to writing workshops. If you’re looking into your local library, take an inventory of your skills and see what you might be able to contribute. Branch out! Most writers have a wide variety of skills, so don’t forget about them. Our local Chamber of Commerce offers a monthly program discussing business skills like how to make effective presentations—many writers could provide a workshop on writing white pages or ad copy that would probably be well received in this venue. Use your imagination—get out a piece of paper and start brainstorming on what you might be able to offer for an individual venue. And after you’ve given a workshop a few times, you might consider converting your materials into an ebook, thus providing another source of income after you’ve taught people “live.”

Now that I’ve given you some ideas about how to spread your wings into teaching, I’d like to indulge in a moment of Blatant Self-Promotion. I’ll be teaching How to Write Memorable and Meaningful Sex Scenes at Savvy Authors starting tomorrow. They’re still taking registrations, so if you’re interested, drop by savvyauthors.com.

In the immortal words of Bartles & Jaymes (does anybody remember those commercials?) “Thank yew for yer support.”