Professional writers can make extra money, earn a living or even create a new career for themselves by becoming writing coaches or teaching others to improve their writing, the number one skill many job seekers need to sharpen.
A survey by the National Writing Project--the premier effort to improve writing in America, which is located on university campuses, serving more than 135,000 educators annually--supports the need for increasing writing education in American classrooms and among the general populace in the United States.
"The survey clearly demonstrates that the public understands that writing is a critical skill, one that must not be ignored," said Richard Sterling, executive director of the National Writing Project.
"Americans also recognize that to teach writing well, teachers need access to quality professional development.
These findings underscore all the recent reports about the importance of writing-from business leaders and from educators themselves.
The word is out: writing must be an integral part of the curriculum.
" Recognizing the need in the marketplace for writing skills, professional writers can chose from a list of options to market themselves as writing instructors to teach people who are looking to achieve employment or advancement in their current positions.
Schools, city colleges and local universities are places for prospective writing instructors to investigate.
Do not be afraid to offer your writing instruction skills to educational institutions, even if you do not have a teaching credential or formal teaching experience because your ability to teach writing and communication skills to others is in the highest demand.
Often writers are invited to teach writing classes, especially writers who have written a book or have written for a long list of publications.
However, these invitations to teach do not drop from the sky into our laps.
We must seek them out.
If there is no position for which you can apply, use your writing skills to prepare a proposal that describes the course you would like to teach and discuss how you will go about teaching the course.
Extension departments at colleges and universities are often more receptive to outside teaching proposals from prospective instructors because extension departments usually are not required to make long-term commitments to its instructors.
As a prospective teacher, you must decide upon your focus, using your own interest and skill levels to determine what and how you plan to teach your course.
When writing your course proposal, remember, the title of your proposed course will help you to sell the course to the persons in charge, usually a committee that must agree upon new course offerings.
So, treat your course title the same way you treat the proposed title of any article you are submitting to a publication.
The title must be attractive to potential readers of a publication and potential students of a course.
Readers and students are sources of income for institutions and publications.
In either case, your title must be intriguing enough to attract attention, even if it is renamed later, which is what usually happens.
Include in your proposal a list of your publications with abstracts or article summaries, publication contributions, publication names and dates.
Also list your speaking engagements to show your experience in front of groups.
Lead with the speaking experience in front of classes, if any.
Don't forget to list small gathering where you have spoken to book clubs, church groups and social organizations.
They all count, especially if your list of publications is thin or dated.
Update your resume, include some published clips, and send it to a school.
If you decide to prepare and email an e-proposal with hyperlinks to your web page or links to other internet documents about you, and your publications and career, also send a hard copy of the proposal to the appropriate person.
Some schools and organizations are not prepared to take advantage of all the features that an e-proposal can provide.
Do your research to make sure you target the right audience.
And, if you do not have a web page, consider creating one.
Do not limit your teaching realm to the classroom.
You can be a writing coach in your home, in your office, on the telephone or over the internet by appointment.
Teach groups of students or take students individually, whichever suits your style.
Basic writing and communication skills are needed by a variety of potential students.
Those skills may range from simple grammar or spelling lessons to the use of word processing software and internet research.
Do not try to include too much information in one course, whether you are in the classroom or your living room.
Pick a topic and cover it thoroughly.
Design your private classes in your home or office to suit your students' needs.
Some may need to learn to write press releases or advertising copy.
Others may need to learn how to write letters to raise funds.
Still others may need to learn to write formal reports and grants.
When advertising yourself as a writing coach or instructor, indicate lessons for which you can confidently offer competent coaching and training.
Meeting this requirement will increase your chances to obtain classroom opportunities to teach writing and also help you to gain status as a writing coach in your local or global community.