The Nuts & Bolts of Publishing a Successful Freelance Writing E-Course

In Part I entitled, How to Publish a Successful Freelance Writing E-Course, I discussed the basic essentials every freelance writing e-course should have. To recap briefly, they are: i) selling you - putting your background/experience on display; ii) offers - as in, piling on the freebies (websites, e-books, software, etc.); and iii) money-back guarantee - offering this makes potential buyers more comfortable.

Now that you have these in place, it's time to include the meat: eg, the heart of the course.

What to Include in Your Freelance Writing E-Course

1. Concept: As in, what will your course cover? I believe in covering a niche; eg, How to Become a Technical Writer; How to Become a Medical Editor; How to Target the Legal Community with Your Freelance Writing.

Nicheing it makes your e-course easier to sell because you can get specific. Every discipline is different and has a different lingo. The more specific, concrete advice you can offer, the more valuable your course will be.

Exception: If you have years of experience as a generalist (a freelancer who's worked across various disciplines), teaching an e-course on freelance writing in general is something you can easily do. Why? Because you have the background to back it up. That's why it's important to sell you.

You can use simple case studies (eg, specific examples) from your past experience as learning tools in your e-course. Nothing sells like first-hand experience.

2. Organizing Your E-Course Material: Once you know what you're going to write about, then you have to organize the material.

How you organize your material is just as important, if not more so, than the topic itself because an e-course - or any educational venture - should present material in a learnable, usable format (eg, Step I, Step II, Step III, etc.).

Your e-course should at least cover the following: Marketing; Samples; Pricing; a Rudimentary Business Plan; & Freebies.

There is so much info that can go into an e-course that after you sit down to write it, you might discover that you have the makings of two or three courses. That's why it will take at least a couple of months to put one together.