Would you be interested in a course like this?

[Author2Author]

Okay- honestly not promoting anything but doing some market research!

A colleague/friend and I who are authors are thinking of setting up an e-course.

We are thinking of running a course on how to write a non fiction book- from deciding on the topic, to the final synposis and initial chapters- plus how to also get started in writing specialist features for a range of publications.

As I said, just mulling this over and wondering if there is a market. Any views?

You need to do a google search as there's hundreds of online writing courses. Faber do them, as do the Guardian, as do...you get the idea.

I know- but this is different- it would be tutored- submitting work and having feedback- not just being sent materials.

Really, there's loads that offer this. How are you going to make yours stand out?

It would be the "e-course" equivalent of a day's workshop but as a course over 4-6 weeks, with tuition.

Thanks. yes we know there is other stuff around but we would be coming at it as published authors giving 1:1 tuition via the course.

Lots of the stuff out there is very poor quality- I know because I did a course, many years ago now ,affiliated to the OU, and during my research found that many writing courses were very poor standard.

Lady a quick look at Faber shows that they only do Creative writing courses.
This course is for non-fiction books.

There's still tonnes of them. What experience do you have? How can you market this to make it stand out from all of the others? There is a market, the vast majority of people want to write a book but there's a lot of companies already doing this. Some are complete rip off merchants though but some are run by well known companies.

I definitely would be - I don't do fiction. But it depends on how much time and money is required from me!

The fact that there's loads of them means there's clearly a market for it. You'll just have to pitch yourselves as being worth more than your competitors.

I don't want to say too much about us here, but we are both authors of 2 books each- non fiction. Between us we have years of experience in teaching, training, coaching, and both currently earn a living as writers.

You should go for it. There is a market. Your experience and knowledge will give you the advantage. Best of luck.

Thank you. We want to sell it with it having a really personal touch, not some off-shoot of a large distance-learning company. I've worked as a distance tutor in the past and also been tutored through the OU so I do have a handle on quality and expectations.

So mentoring? It sounds like part of your aim so you could promote this as well?

I am hoping to do teh guardian one in sept so I would say YES!

The course would be nothing like the Guardian UEA one- which is £4K!

This is going to be a 4- 6 module course over the same number of weeks. It would take people through the basics of getting together a synopsis and sample chapters, and the right publishers to contact.

It would be 1:1 mentoring along with course materials and assignments.
We might also bolt-on an optional module for getting into journalism and being able to write features off the back of the non fiction book topic.

Well, why don't you try it and see? Tutor your first 6 or 7 people and then review how it went for them, whether you're charging the right amount, whether you're covering your costs, etc.