This is a quick follow-up to my post on how I approach sample writing. Here’s the original post. I just wanted to add one more thing – and it’s something Kath Bilsborough touched upon in her post about briefs. Kath… Read More ›
writer advice
Writing a rationale for your materials
In a previous post about writing samples for publishers I mentioned including a rationale. I can’t say for sure that publishers welcome this. Maybe they just want to look at your sample materials and judge for themselves whether you’ve got… Read More ›
Blogging tips for new ELT writers
I recently shared a tip on LinkedIn for materials writers who blog: Here are a few more suggestions for using your blog to good effect as a newbie materials writer. Note: these tips are mostly about finding work, interacting with… Read More ›
Self-Publishing for ELT Professionals course (so far)
I’m taking this training course on self-publishing through ITDI.pro. It’s four weeks long, and we’re going into the final week of input. It’s not necessarily close to the end though. I’d imagine they’ll be plenty to discuss in the forum… Read More ›
Materials Writing: Samples
Question from a reader: Can you give me some advice on how to write a sample? Ummm… The free ‘No Nonsense Guide to Writing’ from ELT Writers Connected includes a good overview on this topic (see page 27, written by… Read More ›
Text analysis, level checks, profiling, etc
A new subscriber, Gemma Archer, just asked about text profilers. I’ve shared this response as a comment but thought I’d paste here as might crowdsource some more ideas??? Help please 🙂 (Response) I use, or have used, text inspector (free… Read More ›
Get published! Working with Peachey Publications
It’s about time I did more than just praise Nik Peachey on LinkedIn and in Twitter posts! Another six months has passed, the royalties from ‘30 Role Plays for TEFL’ are in. They’ve covered a dentist bill, a crate of… Read More ›
Why I work for free (sometimes)
I take on materials development work for free sometimes. I appreciate that not everyone has time to do that, can afford to, or might want to. I choose to do it for different reasons. It might be for a good… Read More ›
Finding work as a writer
I haven’t shared any tips for new writers for a while, not since my post on how to find commissioning editors. So, here it goes. There’s nothing wrong with building connections at big publishers like Pearson, Macmillan, CUP, OUP, NGL… Read More ›
How to annoy commissioning editors (and find work)
Another ‘how to become a materials writer’ article has popped up – Kirsten Holt’s article for ETPro offers some more good advice for budding writers. Every time I read one of these posts I’m itching to chip in. I really… Read More ›
ELT Planning 