Online Writing Classes – Worth Your Time?

By Julie Rowe

It seems there’s been a baby boom in online classes.  Where just a few years ago, there was only one or two RWA chapters offering classes (KOD & Outreach International were among the first), there are now at least fifteen chapters offering online classes and workshops.  And that number is growing.

As the owner/moderator of the Announce Online Classes loop, I’ve been promoting classes from RWA chapters, and a few other reputable groups, for over a year now.  When I started in January of 2006, I was posting maybe 20 class listings for any given month.  Now, I’m posting anywhere from 25 to 35 classes every month.  That’s a lot of different classes to choose from…every month!

For the writer interested in learning from successful writers in every genre of romance and experts in a variety of fields, from psychologists to ex-FBI agents, the selection of online classes couldn’t be a better deal for you.  Fees range from free (for chapter members) to $35 or $40.  Which, when you consider some “professional” university-type writing courses cost into the hundreds of dollars, is an incredible deal. 

I’ve personally taken as many as three courses at once, and while it was a bit of a juggle to keep up, all three were courses that offered me unique information from writers I respect.  I felt the lectures, interaction and general availability of the instructor was worth its weight in gold.

There’s great value in the flexibility of online classes, too.  These classes are taught over an email loop, where everyone sees every email sent to the loop, so students learn from each other as well as the instructor.  And, if you just don’t have time to participate, you don’t have to.  You simply archive all the emails and read them at your leisure at a future date that’s more convenient for you.

Instructors and RWA chapters are also becoming more and more creative with the types of classes they’re offering.  Topics like conflict and plot are being taught from unique angles and targeting specific genres.  Writing related classes, on topics like couples therapy and how a real special forces soldier is trained, are cropping up in droves…and they’re proving to be very popular.  I recently took a course on selling to Woman’s World magazine.  Woman’s World publishes romantic short stories of 1000 words in every issue, that’s 52 stories a year, and they pay $1000 per story.  The instructor, Kate Willoughby, has sold 6 stories to them and proved to be an enthusiastic and knowledgeable instructor who provided excellent information and answered all manner of questions from a class of over 100. 

It’s this kind of success that’s the true advantage of online classes.  Anyone with a computer and internet access can take an online class taught by expert, best selling authors, and no one has to leave their house to do it.  All for under $50.

Worth it?  Oh, yeah.

A double Golden Heart finalist in 2006, Julie Rowe has written fifteen books in nine years.  All writers are welcome to join her email loop Announce Online Classes (announceonlinewritingclasses-subscribe@yahoogroups.com).