Recently a family member was looking for a course or a school for art instruction. This isn’t a beginner, but someone who wants to improve on skills already learned.
They did it the right way — they looked at the schools that were touting the best results.
Funny how even the best schools can disappoint.
It’s not as though the school they’d originally liked wasn’t good — it was.
It was that the student body, and maybe the teaching staff in general, were targeting very personal social issues as their creative focus.
Not my family member’s kind of thing. Definitely not the right gender, either.
So the search landed more locally, and this family member is now connected with a local arts community, where they will be of much more use with the referrals and search for a broader program that suits this person’s needs.
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It’s like that for freelance writing courses, too.
But I bet the last course you took wasn’t one you vetted, was it?
If you’re like me, you may have gotten lucky on your last freelance writing course. Maybe it’s because the person had a good reputation, or that you read through the syllabus and liked what you saw (and the instructor actually delivered).
But it’s not always like that, is it?
I took a course ages ago at the recommendation of another writer. The instructor, she said, was a published author. Since I was looking to improve my self-editing skills, I was all for it. And the price was certainly right.
But the course was oh, so wrong.
How did it go wrong? Let me count the ways:
- Multiple daily assignments (as in five or six daily)
- Terribly edited reading material that was long in page length, short on content (lots of repetition and bad spelling)
- Posting requirements that would have taken an hour or longer
- The inability to drop in and out as my schedule permitted
And that last one was the breaking point — my schedule was nuts, and I was hoping to do my coursework in the late afternoons/evenings. Not a chance — I had to be there on time or it wasn’t going to count.
None of this was explained in any of the follow-up to the course or I’d have saved my money.
I ended up dropping it. I knew about two pages into the first reading that this person had nothing to teach me. It wasn’t that it was basic information. Even that would have been welcome. It was that it was bad information. And maybe I’m picky, but a writer teaching writing to another writer should at least know how to spell and edit.
How do you go about finding a course that fits you without plunking down money first?
Here are some tips:
- For the most part, ignore the testimonials. There are actually course instructors who give you a course for free or at a reduced rate if you give a glowing recommendation. It happens often enough that I no longer give much weight to testimonials.
- Ask another writer. Preferably one who has taken the course or knows the course instructor. What did they like about it? What do they know about that person?
- Ask yourself: is the price right? Is this person’s price in line with what other courses like that are charging? Is the information outlined in the course syllabus information you could easily look up yourself elsewhere, or are you going to learn something new that no one else has done yet?
- Will the information help you improve your earnings? Is it a course in say conducting research, travel writing, or photojournalism? Will what you’re learning give you better business skills?
- Is the instructor the right one to be teaching this course? This is a biggie. Too many “instructors” are merely tossing up a website and charging you to learn what they don’t really know yet. I can think of two such instructors right now. Look at their background and their resume. Look for these things:
- Do they have the experience needed to teach this?
- How much of this have they done?
- Are they embellishing their resume (look for words like “award-winning” or overstatements of their actual background)
- Do you like their style so far? Dissect that sales page. If it’s a tone you can’t stand, it’s not going to get better when you pay for it.
Writers, what has to be there for you to take a course?
Have you ever taken a course that wasn’t worth the effort or money?
6 responses to “Finding the Right Freelance Writing Course”
What’s irritated me is when someone takes one of my courses, and gets the copy-righted handout, and then sets up a course teaching using my material without permission, including making copies of my workbooks/handouts without permission. And charges more than I did.
I have taken some wonderful courses that challenged me in the best possible way. They were usually by the writers who did the least touting of their own awards and achievements. They had a solid publication record in what interested me, though.
Someone actually did that? That’s unbelievable! Well, it’s believable because some people are just that damn brazen, but wow. I hope you sent them a cease-and-desist warning.
That’s what I look for, too. If the writer isn’t touting his or her courses every day of the week, they probably are busy creating a quality product instead of tooting their own horn.
I had a wonderful course by a well-known person that I felt I got a good bit from. And the price was fair, too.
Not only did they teach from my material without permission, they taught it at an organization from whom I parted ways. It was not pleasant, anywhere around. I owned my content and was an independent contractor with the company; they told me to stop being difficult and let it go. I did not. I’d stopped teaching for them because they paid later and later and less and less, and it was no longer worth my time.
So wait — they steal your content and tell you you’re being difficult by not letting it go? Okay, let’s switch out the people in this scenario.
Woodworker who’d just built a table for a company: You’re using that table without paying me for it. Either return it or pay for it.
Company: Now you’re just being difficult. You need to let it go.
Or this one —
Homeowner to an Air B&B guest: Uh, you need to move out now. This is our house, and you’ve stopped paying. Time to go.
Guest: Stop harassing me. I like it here and I’m not leaving. You need to just accept it or move out.
Both scenarios are ridiculous because it’s just not acceptable practice to screw someone over. But with freelancers, it’s okay?
Hell no.
Is it weird that I’ve never taken a writing course (outside of school, anyway)?
It seems that the bulk of what’s being taught—unless its some highly-specialized niche—can be found through other resources.
For the most part, you’re right, Paula. One exception I’ve found is when someone is teaching you their particular technique for getting work or negotiating, etc. If they’ve developed something that, over and over, has served them well, sure. It might be worth hearing about (might — depends on who it is).
But most info can be found online. For free.