Summary

The article suggests five alternative products to writing courses that aspiring writers can sell to their audience for income.

Abstract

The author of the article expresses skepticism about the ubiquity of writing courses being sold online, often at premium prices. Instead, they propose five alternative offerings that can provide real value and potential income streams for writers. These include editing services for various types of written content, creative coaching through platforms like Zoom or Facebook Messenger, merchandise featuring popular quotes or artwork, blog templates for WordPress or other platforms, and Medium templates to help writers navigate the platform's nuances for better visibility and engagement. The author emphasizes the importance of offering practical value and leveraging one's strengths in the writing industry to mentor others or create tangible products that cater to common needs among writers and bloggers.

Opinions

The author is critical of the overabundance of writing courses being sold, implying they are often overpriced and may not offer unique value.
Editing services are seen as a valuable offering, particularly for those with an established reputation, and can cater to a wide range of clients including students and website owners.
Creative coaching is presented as a lucrative opportunity to mentor others in developing their writing style, working on character development, and navigating the publishing process.
Merchandise is acknowledged as a potentially cheesy but effective way to monetize popular content, with platforms like TeeSpring and Society6 facilitating the creation and sale of custom items.
Blog templates are identified as a marketable product for those skilled in web design or with a successful blog layout, providing a turnkey solution for other bloggers.
Medium templates are highlighted as an underutilized resource that can be sold to help writers improve their discoverability and engagement on the platform, leveraging insights from the author's own successful articles.
The author suggests that these alternative offerings are more sustainable and less saturated than the writing course market, likening them to fresh pizza compared to the cold, chewy leftovers of overdone writing PDFs.

5 Things To Sell Instead Of Writing Courses

Outside the Box Ideas

The monthly newsletter from someone you follow rolls across your screen. For only $597, which is actually a $1600 value, these three PDFs contain more esoteric writing secrets than the Vatican Library. Springing to your feet, the desk shakes as you dash off to grab your credit card, right?

No, me either.

Everyone is selling a course. That’s a blanket statement, and those aren’t exactly true because not everyone is selling a course. I’m not, nor will I ever sell one unless it’s a course on how not to sell courses, of course.

Instead, here are five ways to potentially make money from that golden email list of yours, all while offering practical, real value instead of another copied copy of a PDF. Let’s do this.

1. Editing Other’s Stories

We’re starting with this one because it may be the least likely. It’s also something that might be better suited to someone who has established a name or brand for themselves. Think of your offering as a live, personal Hemingway App.

The essence of being a writer, William Zinsser posits, is rewriting. Rewriting is editing. Offer your services to those in need of an edit. This could easily target college students working on a final thesis, an About page for a website, or a Match.com personal. Different packages can help tailor how much time you would spend on each job.

2. Creative Coaching

This is a mentorship, really. People love to be coached and are willing to pay well for this kind of one-on-one help. Zoom, Facetime, or even Facebook Messenger would suffice.

There are so many opportunities in this realm. How many writers on Medium are searching for tips to find their voice? Helping others develop their own style, working through character arcs, or brainstorming story ideas is another idea.

Do you have experience with publishers or self-publishing? This is another avenue of coaching you could offer your services towards. What’s a coach do? They help the athletes get a game plan together for success. Find something you have strength in regarding the writing world and lead someone.

3. Merch

Offering merchandise can feel kitschy, cheesy, and other less-than-professional words. Still, this is a way people love to support others by doing. It works. With sites like TeeSpring and Printful (my personal favorite), you can create many different pieces at no cost, then host them elsewhere like your site. You set profit margins, so there are no surprises; you control the customer’s cost.

Do you have some articles or poems that have a large number of highlights? Have you written anything quotable? Get it on a mug, t-shirt, or poster. Society6 is a really great place to sell quote or word art posters. Even in 2020, you can’t go wrong with a mousepad or sticker. There are too many options to list.

4. Blog Templates

Many of us on Medium have external blogs that we write niche content for. Are you good at WordPress aesthetics? Do you have a great format that helps readers engage with your blog? These are marketable and could be big winners.

Maybe you’re not good at creating WordPress sites but know what works. Subcontract someone through Fiverr to create a template around your ideas, duplicate it four more times, then change some fonts and colors. You have a reasonable product.

The less thought people have to put in and the more value they think it’ll bring their site, the more inclined they will be to purchase it. Give them a reason in the seller’s description by linking your blog. All anyone needs to see is proof of concept.

5. Medium Templates

Selling Medium templates, Matthew? YES. I debated on including this one on the list but decided to give as much value as possible. It feels too obvious and underutilized. I’m selling myself out.

Sales are ultimately about solving small problems that many people have at one time — that problem: discovery. The arduous journey of being ‘found’ is a flag for a target market. It’s hard to believe that there aren’t more people selling these, honestly. This could be the easiest thing you create to sell.

Let’s say you’ve been curated numerous times, selected as a top writer, published multiple articles in large publications; people want your silver bullet. We know that’s not a thing. However, if you revisit all your popular articles, there will be certain commonalities.

Maybe the headers were the same words used in the first sentence, or there’s an image after giving real-life examples rather than between thoughts. Don’t underestimate how many people want to get an edge, if even just a little, on Medium.

These could be sold as simple documents with headers noted, paragraph breaks, image insert points, SEO info for the back-end, and footer ideas for engaging readers to sign up for an email newsletter. The more documents with different layouts that you can offer, the better. Offer tips on how to pitch publications too.

Pizza and PDFs

Or you can spend hours writing up courses and the same trite PDFs on how to be a better writer and try to stand out in a sea of cookie-cutter ships. Who am I to add competition?

Revenue streams are like gluten-free pizzas. They’re great while they’re hot, but the crust is chewy and exhausting once the cold sets in. Courses are now cold gluten-free crust. These five ideas will be too eventually. Get them while they’re warm. Hold the anchovies.