ELT materials: topics that are coming soon
I’ve been a bit absent of late
I’ve been away … from my blog and social media. That’s due to a few factors, some good, some less so. It started with a bout of COVID. I’m fully recovered now and thankfully my symptoms were manageable and the enforced inaction probably did me some good. Then we had a family visit which kept me away from my computer for the best part of two weeks. Fortunately, being a freelance author meant that I could negotiate some date changes for deadlines so as to be fully present and have a holiday too. Then, last week was busy playing catch up with everything. I’m still doing a bit of that this weekend but I’ve interrupted my work flow to compile a list of things I’m going to be blogging about in the coming weeks. Because I’ve had plenty of time for thinking, and there is a lot I’d like to share. Here are nine ideas so far but I’m sure I’ll come up with more …
1. Principles of ELT materials
I’ve written several articles and blog posts on this subject and spoken at conferences about it too. It’s time to pick the subject up again and add new thoughts, my own and others.
2. How to find work as an ELT author
This is something I get asked about a lot. I thought I’d do a bit of homework, speak to people who are great at finding work offers and share some ideas and tips.
3. How to sell existing materials that you have created for your own classes.
This is something else I often get asked about, so I’ll gather information and hopefully come up with a few good pointers.
4. Copyright
I have a theory that this is actually a subject lots of people tend to hide away from and ignore. But it’s important, so I’ll continue to nag on about it, but hopefully make it all a bit easier to understand.
5. My week in writing
I love writing about writing and I’ve had some positive feedback about these posts, mainly from people considering moving into freelance writing and wondering what a typical week might look like.
6. Useful resources for ELT writers
We all turn to our preferred resources again and again when we write materials, but we all use different ones. So I’m going to reach out and ask for people’s favourites and write a couple of posts summarising how they can be used.
7. News and gossip from the ELT writing world
Lots of things are going on. They always are. But recently it occurred to me that conversations about what’s happening often don’t leave the confines of closed social media groups or private forums. So I thought I’d summarise some of the things I consider important.
8. Guest interviews with other ELT freelancers (writers and editors, illustrators, designers, indie publishers, etc.)
I think this could be popular. There are lots of us and our experiences are varied and often completely different from one another. If you are involved in creating ELT materials in any way and would be happy to be interviewed, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you! I’ll also share links to the fantastic interviews that some of my friends and colleagues have already done.
9. The rise and rise of packagers
I’ve already started some conversations about this on social media and it’s become apparent that this is a new term for lots of people. I’m going to reach out to individuals and organisations for their views and experiences of working as part of a freelancer-packager-publisher team. I think it’s fascinating and hopefully subscribers to my blog will too.
And talking of subscribers …
If you haven’t yet subscribed to this blog, you might like to, to be sure of not missing any of the above and more. If you have suggestions for other focus points for posts, send me an email or write a comment! I’m all about sharing ideas and I’d love to hear from you.
Have a great day!
Katherine