I have recently been inspired to start working on my idea for a children’s fiction series — I know this isn’t part of my goals for 2020, but sometimes it’s okay to give in to temptation. But as I have never written a novel for children, I decided it would be wise to learn more about writing for these readers. And that’s when I found Reedsy’s ‘Children’s Books 101: Writing for the Right Age Group’ free course.
Before finding the course, I had heard of Reedsy — the AuthorTuber Shaelin from ShaelinWrites has collaborated with Reedsy to create writing-tip videos for writers, which offer great advice. So, I knew this course would be worth doing.
But, as I explored further, I discovered that there were more free Reedsy writing courses available. And this is what I want to share with you today.
The Reedsy writing courses are divided into six categories: writing, editing, design, marketing, publishing and distribution. And each category has a range of courses:
- Writing — 17 courses
- Publishing — 11 courses
- Marketing — 17 courses
- Editing — 5 courses
- Distribution — 2 courses
- Design — 1 course
Each course has 10 lessons that should take no more than five minutes a day to complete. When you sign up for the course, a lesson will be delivered to you once a day. So, you should complete each course in 10 days.
As you can see, there are many courses to take, but I will only be doing the following courses:
- How to Write YA That Sells
- How to Write for Middle-Grade Readers
- How to Plot a Novel Using the 3-Act Story Structure
- Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love
- Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character
- Children’s Books 101: Writing for the Right Age Group
- The Ten Commandments of Writing YA (Young Adult) Novels
- Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine
Writing
- Inside a Traditional ‘Big 5’ Publisher
- What Do Literary Agents Do (and Do You Need One)?
- How to Write a Query Letter That Agents Can’t Resist
- Behind the Microphone: How to Create a Great Audiobook
- Traditional Publishing 101
Publishing
- How to Find Your Target Readers
- How to Get Your Book Covered by Mainstream Media
- How to Build an Amazing Author Blog
- How to Market Your Children’s Book
- How to Create the Ultimate Book Marketing Plan
- How to Set Up and Grow Your Author Mailing List
- Book reviews and How to Get Them
- How to Validate Your Book Idea
- How to Run a Price Promotion
- Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Algorithms
- Book Marketing 101
Marketing
- The Mechanics of Writing Dialogue
- Story Editing for Authors
- Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites
- How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro
- Novel Revision: Understanding the Craft
Editing
- Kobo Hacks for Optimising Sales
- Pricing Books for an International Audience
Distribution
- Book Design 101
Design
So, there you have it — my list of the Reedsy courses I plan to take. I will also review each course after I have completed each category, so stay tuned for that.
Have you taken any of Reedsy’s courses or plan to? Let me know in the comments below.
Stay safe and keep writing, folks!
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