The Last Sale…
Ever….
And we will not change our minds. This is it. This week.
Why the about face on sales??? We said in June we would do a regular sale the last full week of each month up until the end of the year.
Well, total failure.
What is success to us? Having writers take the workshops or classes to keep learning. What the regular sales did from June until now basically caused the writers who are taking workshops and learning to be cut more than in half. So the sales don’t help more writers take classes, they instead cut the number of people taking classes and learning. And that is the only reason we do these workshops is to help writers.
I asked a couple people why this happened with the sales, people who understand the thinking of sales in the real world. It seems that when there is a regular sale, people tend to wait for the sale to happen. Then, when it comes around, if they are busy, they just go “I’ll get it next month.” And then that pattern continues. I bet a lot of people reading this did just that.
Well, for sales for WMG Teachable classes, this is the end. There is no next month. We started the sales 2.5 years ago in the depth of the pandemic and are ending them this week.
Last day is Sunday, October 30th. The code to get 50% off is:
TheLastSale
Other major changes…
I will have the November regular workshops up in a couple of days, but there will only be six of them. (Cut down from 12.) I am sorry you didn’t get to the workshop you were wanting but it will be classic.
The six Regular workshops that will continue to get my feedback on assignments are:
WRITING INTO THE DARK
TEAMS IN WRITING
WRITING WITH DEPTH
KILLING THE CRITICAL VOICE
ADVANCED DEPTH
APPLIED DEPTH
Those are the six classes Kris and I feel are worth making sure people get off to a good start.
The workshops that are going to Classic Status in a few days are:
Covers101, Heinlein’s Rules, Speed of Writing, Writing Short Stories, Writing Sales Copy, and Media Kit.
Six workshops that will no longer take my feedback on the assignments.
Again, the six November regular workshops and the six new classic workshops will be available in a few days.
And yes, no worries, we will continue to add in new workshops. And the start of the year we will be doing the ADVANCED nine-week workshops I have talked about.
A REMINDER…
The Decade Ahead workshops will be starting up again on January 1st in a brand new format. Basically, they will be done like the Motivational Monday classes have been done, something every Monday for the entire year to think about for the decade ahead. Everyone who is already signed up for the Decade Ahead and has been signed up since the pandemic will be included automatically. You can still sign up now in this last sale.
So for one week, until Sunday October 30th, for the very last time, everything on WMG Teachable is 50% off.
Just hit purchase on the class you want, then on the next page put in the code and you should be able to get the class or workshop for half price.
The code is:
TheLastSale
I will announce here when I have the Regular November workshops and the new Classic workshops up on Teachable.
19 Comments
Heather Hatch
Oh. My. Goodness.
Just back from the hospital.
I will miss being in class regularly, very much.
But if it must be, I’ll find a way, a few times a year.
Thank you for the whole.
Kate Pavelle
Hi Dean! The rationale of people postponing makes sense. Also consider your audience. That core percentage of writers who were going to learn online probably have a lot in their Teachable profiles already. Those of us with Lifetime Subscriptions have, no doubt, titles we haven’t touched yet. I sure do, and I chew my way through those I need at the time, or the ones where I feel a lot of resistance (on the theory that if I resist it, I probably really need it.) I hate to admit the obvious, but I’ve caught myself doing online lectures as a way of procratination my writing, so that had to stop.
The immediate market could be saturated to great extent.
However, with your reach, and only if you want to, I am sure you can think of ways of reaching writers that have known you for, say, only less than a year.
In my case, what will help me the most is the Novel Challenge. I’ve written a novella a year before, I’ve written four novels and two or three novellas, but never have I done six novels. I think that will help the most. Can I choose a start date early next year? I have project due before the year is over.
dwsmith
Kate,
You can start any time you want on the challenges. No hurry. A couple people over the last few years bought a challenge on sale and then ended up waiting a year to start. No big deal. Whatever works.
And not saturated at all. We have 4,600 writers who have taken a class on teachable. This October classes, in the regular workshops, we have seven writers taking the 12 classes. Trust me, not all 4,600 plus writers have taken those twelve classes that would jump a career forward by years. In fact, I would bet almost no one has taken all 12 of those classes. There will be a higher number who have taken all six regular classes in November.
We are working, behind the scenes right now to organize teachable in way that will help writers find what they are looking for. Kris and I will have that done by the first of the year plus a ton of new stuff that will be fun.
Linda Niehoff
Ok challenge accepted. I will take all 12. I’m working my way through the 21 that you’ve posted as foundation courses previously (using my subscription so I don’t always sign up for the “live” classes). I’ve done 9 of those 21 so far (6 1/2 of the 12 listed above). And am halfway through 2 more (I paused to take Sales Copy then got delayed by stuff this fall like travel and parents’ health etc). My original goal was to have all 21 done by December. I’m going to try to have them done by Spring now. Then I’m going to do the 7?? you’ve listed as “craft focused” in the past. I copied and pasted both lists from a previous blog post. I keep both lists on my phone and check them off as I do them. Very rewarding and inspiring to see the progress. And I’m still doing a story a week so I practice each new thing I learn that way. But… I accept the challenge. I’m adding those mentioned above to my list because… I want to jump my career forward by years. Time’s wasting!
dwsmith
Got a hunch you will be happy you did them. I glanced at the list a couple months ago and turned to Kris and said, “Could you imagine if those had been available when we were starting off?”
She just laughed and said, “It would have saved us more years than I care to think about.”
I agree, and that is why we are doing these, to save writers time, frustration, and years.
Catherine
Very happy to have taken 10 of the 12 classes with feedback. They made a huge difference. Just used a media kit resource to submit to a kid’s reading list.
I guess it is a good reminder to take things as quickly as possible, because the chance might not come again.
dwsmith
Oh they will be available, but maybe not with getting comments from me and Kris. Glad they have helped. Great to hear.
Denise Gaskins
I’m definitely in the backlogged-learner camp, which means I wouldn’t be buying from the sale anyway. It was nice to think I’d get around to picking up something new at a discount someday — but I can still do that at regular price if I ever get through all the courses I’ve already invested in.
I’m so grateful for everything I’ve learned from you and Kris over the years, and for the additional stuff I’ll learn as I work through all the courses remaining in my dashboard. Thank you!
dwsmith
You are more than welcome. Remember, any questions, I’ll try to answer them.
Isaac Howard
Sale or not, thanks for the classes, they have helped an immense amount with my writing.
dwsmith
More than welcome, Isaac. Glad they are helping.
Balázs
Hello! I had no other chance to buy credits or workshops or anything, just these sales. I used these and I’m very grateful for them. They helped me lot. It will be harder next time to buy something, still, I am happy I had the chance to buy some basic workshops while these sales lasted. Thanks for the sales!
T. Thorn Coyle
Hi Dean,
Can you say a bit more about the content and structure of the Decade Ahead classes? I’ve really appreciated Motivational Mondays, but they don’t feel as substantial as what I thought you and Kris had planned for Decade Ahead, so now I find myself slightly confused about exaclty what’s on offer with that.
I’m considering taking it, but want to double check what your take on the Decade Ahead classes are.
Any info helps!
thanks – Thorn
dwsmith
Our focus is going to be a ton more substantial than what started in January 2020. With 52 weeks of classes, some more than four or five videos on a topic, it will help writers be able to focus on a weekly basis out of their own tight little worlds and out ahead into the coming decade. That’s why we switched to this format of one thing new a week for 52 weeks. A ton more than we had planned before, and honestly, at the weekly pace, we will cover things we would have never planned or thought of covering before.
You know what it is like… Something new comes up, has ramifications for years if not off into the future, and we can deal with it right at the start. Not planned, so the skeleton of the class is planned which would have been all we would have done before, and it will be a lot, I promise. But now, with this new structure, it will be massive. Realize a regular workshop is 6 weeks long of five or six teaching videos a week. This will be basically nine of those six-week workshops. I would call that substantial. (grin)
T Thorn Coyle
Thanks! That helps!
Alexander
Too bad that the sales are ending; I was looking forward to purchasing some of the Quick Solutions workshops at half price, but the ones I wanted weren’t available yet.
I’ve used all the information from the courses I purchased during the sales. I’m very grateful for the knowledge; they have helped me a lot. I definitely feel as if my writing skills would be a great many years behind if not for you and Kris sharing these pieces of storytelling tricks and best practices.
The sales made it possible for me to take more courses than I otherwise would have without the sales going on. Anyway, thanks for doing the sales for as long as you did! I have become aware of so much, and have much to review and keep returning to to jog my memory every so often!
Heather Hatch
I keep returning, checking on the fun Kickstarter stats and hoping it was just a bad dream; that that this post didn’t *really* say ‘End of Sales, Ever’….. Yesterday I kept coming back here, all through what had just become a sad, hang-dog day for me… just checking, to make sure Dean really meant it.
I am a new writer to the blog and WMG, and adult genres. I bought my first class in July. I made my own ‘schooling’ plan of future workshops that would have taken me through the middle of 2024, the ideal companion to accomplishing my personal writing dreams.
I hope to take part in one of the Great Challenges, in part, a chance to earn a lifetime workshop gift, so I can continue to enroll right down the craft list. The format and the philosophy have been of great support and training to me, like no other writing environment I have had.
Kristine and Dean’s unique and doable application of the modern writing life, paired with crucial teachings on perfectionism, revision, practice, indie publication and critical voice, have made all the difference. Habits, goals and streaks for the first time in decades, have stuck and strengthened.
So it really surprises me that there are so many who have been exposed to these opportunities, who do not continue to use them. Maybe it shouldn’t, because most of my writer friends have not actually been writing, at least, not as working writers. They journal or blog a bit, but they haven’t produced much since Covid began. And there is the real economic hit, too.
Whatever the reason, I hope there are readers who will practice by taking these workshops. I still can’t believe we lost such a great deal out of lack of interest. Aren’t there other yet-to-become professional writers out there, like me, who want more of this??
Well, I came over to the site today, to sort through/consolidate my wmg workshop choices and try to choose the ‘best-for-me’ class option before the sale ends, but the regular workshops seemed to be missing temporarily from the list. Perhaps Dean and Kristine’s site restructuring has begun.
Please, people, take these classes if you can. Even though Dean says they will always be here, nothing is or can be sure in this world!
Seize the day.
dwsmith
Thanks, Heather. As as writers take the classes in different ways, Kris and I are more motivated to help and do new classes and it goes on. That is partially what the sales was killing: Our motivation.
So thank you. Onward we go and Kris and I and Allyson are excited about the new stuff we are now going to be able to do.
Desikan
Thanks Dean,
For all the sale offers given in the last few years. It definitely helped me to afford them and got to learn the foundations of craft from the experience and wisdom of senior writers like you and Kris.
Also, thanks for adding additional pop up courses through the kickstarter campaigns.
Please continue to educate and guide us. Will continue to take new courses whenever possible.