Writing Workshop: Can You Improve Your Writing Skills and Learn How to Get Paid Writing through Offline Workshops?

BusinessHome Business

  • Author Rikki Fawkes
  • Published January 11, 2011
  • Word count 803

If you enjoy writing but need to improve your skills and monetize your hobby, attend a writing workshop and become a professional, polished writer with marketable skills. But if you're strapped for time, sign up for an online writing workshop that you can attend at your leisure.

Learning how to become a more professional writer at a writing workshop not only gives you the freedom to accomplish your writing goals, it helps you earn income by marketing your skillset. Very few online writing workshops tell you how to make money writing online, but there are fewer yet that tie in both aspects of writing and give you the most for your money.

Let's explore how most writing workshops operate and determine the best avenue you can find for the money.

Writing Workshop Prices

Writing workshops sometimes cost an arm and a leg. Writers already often fall into the "starving artist" as it is, so pricing the workshops in such a high bracket might seem like a bad idea. But in fact, high prices eliminate the fledgling writers and only take into account the writers that are truly serious about their trade. However, that excludes writers who might be incredibly talented, yet don't have a month's pay to put toward their ambitions.

Some workshops, depending on availability and location, charge $400 for a simple workshop about how to write articles. Color me silly, but that seems a bit steep. It would seem to me that such information could be given for a far cheaper price. But then again, that's just me.

Writing Workshop Schedules

Most writing workshops are broken up into breakout sessions. That means there are five, ten or fifteen sessions going on at a time, and you have to decide which one you want to attend. They might each only appear once or twice throughout the day, so no matter how you work your schedule, you'll never get to hit all the sessions and hear all the speakers.

That seems unfair, considering that you've paid through the nose to attend the workshop, don't you think? You should be able to attend each breakout session, but since time doesn't allow that in many cases, the workshop managers have no other choice.

Workshop Material

Do you actually get the full learning experience for your money at most writing workshops? I highly doubt it. For one thing, there's always going to be some moron who dominates the question and answer session with queries that the speaker already covered in the presentation. Then there's the technical glitches because the speaker's PowerPoint slides aren't working. And of course, so-and-so hasn't come back from lunch yet, so we can't start the session.

After all this time is frittered away, there's precious little material left to cover. And if the question and answer session stops before you get the chance to raise your own concerns, what's the point?

And of course, there's the upsells. There's practically a guarantee that the speaker will spend the last ten minutes of his or her presentation talking about a new book they just published. If they're not skinning you enough already for the workshop, they're trying to squeeze your last dollar from your wallet to monetize their latest life story installment.

Are Writing Workshops Really Worthwhile?

Some writing workshops are quite worthwhile as long as the speaker stays on schedule and delivers all the promised material.

But better than attending a workshop in person for a hefty fee, why not opt for an online workshop instead? There are many more benefits to online workshops than offline ones:

  1. Watch the workshop on your own schedule: So if you want to get up and go to the bathroom or get a snack, stop the presentation to pick up the kids or go out for the evening, you have the ability to do so.

  2. Rewind or fast forward video clips, review material and pick up where you left off with the ebooks - all without any pressure.

  3. Pay less than ticket price: Most online writing workshops are videos of live workshops or personalized videos from the speakers themselves. They usually charge far less for an online presentation than a live one.

  4. Ask questions whenever you need to: Many online writing workshop presenters make themselves available through forums, email or chat. If that's the case, you can ask them a question about the workshop or get help through a personal route, rather than in front of a crowd.

  5. Learn how to get paid for your writing: Many workshops completely skip over the most important part of a writer's career - getting paid! And if they don't, they only suggest getting paid through publishers. But with online writing workshops, you can learn how to get paid using the Internet - and in many ways that won't cost you money.

Think about investing in a writing workshop online rather than in an offline one if you want to hone your skills better and really get your money's worth. Plus, you'll learn how you can get paid writing and make your hobby a working reality. One website in particular, [http://getpaidwriting.org](http://getpaidwriting.org), makes it easy to learn both - and for a very inexpensive price.

Article source: https://articlebiz.com
This article has been viewed 798 times.

Rate article

Article comments

There are no posted comments.

Related articles