I’ve been a freelance author and editor since around 2017. You can find out more about the projects I’ve been involved in here. This page includes links to various posts I’ve written on authoring ELT materials. I hope you find something useful!

Finding work as an author

I’ve written various posts on how to get into writing English language teaching resources for publishers. Here is my advice on finding work through LinkedIn, and here is a general list of publishers and packagers which provide opportunities for ELT authors.

My authoring work has come from plenty of different sources – examples of which I have summarized in this post. I mention that becoming a blogger can increase your exposure in the ELT writing world. I have gained work with publishers after they have read some of my posts, including this one about learning English through football, and this one on parents and online learning. Here are some tips on blogging for ELT writers.

I also mention how writing for ELT industry magazines can increase your exposure. I have also found that working for free at times has helped build my skills set and led to further opportunities down the line.

Advice for developing writers

Some of my advice posts for writers, such as those related to tech, are somewhat dated. However, some advice is still relevant, most of which is on writing samples. Here is how I approach writing samples for publishers. Here is how I have tweaked my sample writing over time to demonstrate reflective practice. I usually write a rationale along with my writing samples – this post includes an actual rational from one of my previous projects.

Here is a brief post on pitching ideas to publishers.

Here is a list of some text profiling and level checking tools which may be useful.

Materials writing news and views

From 2019-2023 I kept up a regular materials writing digest for those in ELT publishing, titled ‘news and views’. Here is a link to all news and views posts so far. These posts will return when I get a bit more time!

Reflective tasks for developing writers

I wrote a series of reflective tasks for new writers a few years back. Here’s a link to all tasks if interested.

Reflections on publishing projects

I like to reflect on what it’s like to work with certain companies. Here are some thoughts on working with Peachey Publications, who took our self-published Roleplays for TEFL resource on and made it profitable to this day! I’ve completed various projects with the excellent Ellii (formerly ESL Library) – see my review here.  

Most recently, I reflected on my role as Lead Author on a project with Pearson. One of the editors from this project is mentioned in my list of 11 great ELT editors, who I recommend to publishers when relevant.

Reflections on training and resources for ELT materials writers

Here’s my review of the MA module in Materials Development through NILE. There are various reflections on the course content dotted around on this blog, such as this one on the problem with images in ELT materials, and this on evaluating coursebooks. My MA dissertation linked to this module – I analysed the pronunciation materials in our in-house syllabus at the British Council. See here for the dissertation if interested.

My review of Dorothy Zemach’s self-publishing for ELT writers course. The book I published off the back of this was just a collection of (adapted) blog posts from ELT Planning – I took it down from Amazon after it covered the course fees as I felt bad about making money for old rope.

My review of Avallain Author training. Not the best investment for me personally as I haven’t written on the Avallain tool since!   

Here are some reflections on whether ELT Publishing Professionals membership is value for money.

Selected reflections on materials writing

I was really taken by Brian Tomlinson’s ideas on materials development during my MA. Here is a summary of a webinar on Tomlinson’s principles for materials development. Here is how I have put Tomlinson’s approach into practice in the context of teaching poetry.

Here is a summary of Jason Anderson’s webinar capturing somewhat recent trends in coursebook approaches, with my thoughts on how this relates to British Council materials.

I often reflect on coursebooks – their content, relevance, value, etc. Here is a short reflection on how the lesson guidance notes may support teacher development. Here is some mild pushback on coursebook critiques and a bit more on the coursebooks being sanitized.

Research in brief

A couple of my ‘research in brief’ summaries have related to materials writing. Here is one on a reading disruption of a textbook (Winter, 2018), and another on changing representations on LGBT in ELT coursebooks (Goldstein, 2021). This summary of research into the effectiveness of communicative and TBL approaches in East Asia (Littlewood, 2007) might also be worth a read.

Satire

Regular followers of this blog may know that I like to joke about materials writing. Here are links to my ongoing series on materials writing conversations. These are mostly imaginary dialogues, email exchanges, comment threads and so on between imaginary Pete and imaginary publishers. Highlights (might) include ‘The Packager’s Price is Right’, ‘Brief Creep’, and the Star Wars themed ‘Ghosted’.

I’m also up to installment five in my ‘Crusader of ELT Materials Writing’ blog story. The series follows a struggling materials writer called Geoff, who is stuck in an author’s version on the 1994 Sega Megadrive game Soleil (aka Crusader of Centy). This one is a tad niche.