Publishing courses online is now more accessible than ever. In past years, to publish a book, you had to go jump through all the hoops of traditional publishing.
With digital publishing, the power is in your hands. The market is growing — now is the time to jump in.
The catch? You’ve got to be knowledgeable and self-motivated if you want to make a career out of self-publishing. Luckily, there are publishing courses online that can teach you all that you need to know.
There are lots of options, though, and not all offer the quality that you need. To help you decide which course is best for you, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best publishing courses online.
Self-Publishing 101
The first course we’ll take a look at easily has the most hours of content available for you to watch as you move through the course. Self-Publishing 101, offered by Mark Dawson, has 22 hours of course video.
On top of that, it also offers students an author-only Facebook group, transcripts and cheat-sheets for each video, and extra content for areas like Facebook Live and Facebook ads.
This course is fantastic for people who want a step-by-step tutorial of the entire self-publishing process — from writing the book itself to building a platform that actually directs people to buy the results of all your hard work. You’ll learn things like how to format your book, what to do in the first three months after you hit publish, and how to create an effective landing page.
The biggest focus is on building an email list and an author website, both of which are incredibly important for anyone looking to start a career as an author.
This course will set you back a little under $500 and is the cheapest on our list.
The instructor, Mark Dawson, is a USA TODAY best-selling fiction author who has published over 20 books, so he definitely knows what he’s talking about.
Self-Publishing School
On the flip side, Chandler Dawson’s Self-Publishing School is the most expensive one on our list, coming in at nearly $7000 for the VIP experience. However, you can still take this class risk-free. Dawson promises a money-back guarantee if you don’t completely love the experience.
So what will you get from Self-Publishing School?
While Self-Publishing 101 is for people who like a slower, methodical learning experience, Self-Publishing School is for people who want to see results quickly. Dawson says that the people who take this course will be able to write, publish, and launch a best-selling book in just ninety days.
A huge plus for this course is that it has the proof to back it up. Writers like Lise Cartwright and Azul Terronez, who have written dozens of books between them and created their own successful platforms, both swear by Self-Publishing School.
If you want a class that focuses more on the writing side of publishing, then this is right for you. It does include helpful content on marketing and promoting your book, but it’s especially helpful for people who need the guidance to write the book in the first place.
You’ll only get 6.5 hours of course video, but students in this class also get six one-on-one coaching calls, an extra “clarity call,” and optional topic-specific courses.
Authority Pub Academy
What if you’ve already been in the publishing world for awhile and are looking for a way to take your career to the next level? The next two classes on our list were created just for you.
Authority Pub Academy, the brainchild of Steve Scott and Barrie Davenport, is for authors who are at the mid-point of their careers. The twelve hours of course video will guide you through writing a book as well as building your author platform and creating a brand for yourself.
Creating a brand is especially important these days since there are so many people trying to make it big with Kindle publishing. You need to find a way to stand out from the crowd, and Authority Pub Academy will help with that.
Scott and Davenport have the numbers to back up their expert claims — between them, they’ve sold over one million copies of their dozens of books.
It’s far cheaper than Self-Publishing School at $597.
Your First 10K Readers
The goal of this class is right in the title — getting authors to their first ten thousand readers.
Like Authority Pub Academy, this class is aimed at people who already have some knowledge of the publishing industry and don’t want someone to talk them through the basics. It’s definitely not for someone who has never published a book before. You’ll also probably get the most out of it if you already have some marketing skills.
Your First 10K Readers, run by Nick Stephenson, relies on some pretty advanced marketing tactics to get you to your first ten thousand readers. It assumes that you’ve already published at least one book and want to focus on growing your platform, not writing a novel.
It’s a course made for fiction authors by a fiction author and is incredibly process-driven. For $597, you’ll get ten hours of course video, extra courses on specific marketing strategies, and access to a Facebook group for networking.
University of Baltimore
What if you’re not an author, but you still want to learn about digital publishing?
There’s much more to digital publishing than writing a book — there’s a lot of design that goes into products that look professional and polished. If you want to get really in-depth knowledge about both writing and design, the University of Baltimore offers an online M.A. in Integrated Design.
You’ll learn about graphic design, web design, and professional writing. By the end of the program, you’ll have earned a master’s degree from an accredited university.
Get Ahead With These Publishing Courses Online
We hope this list helped you find some of the best publishing courses online. With any of these classes, you’ll be well on your way to succeeding in digital publishing — whether you’ve never written a book before in your life or want to take your career to the next level.
What if you’re looking for a way to create a great product now, without taking a class?
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