“I don’t know how you do it! I know they don’t pay y’all enough.”

What I WANT to tell them is I am very fortunate to work for a high-paying district in my state of Maryland. But I am unfortunately the exception, not the rule.

Here are the answers to the FAQs I hear about my own experience and what I’ve learned about teacher salaries and income levels.

So how much DO you make, Erika?

Even in 2022, discussing salary still carries a stigma. This “hush hush” attitude when it comes to discussing pay stems from anti-union propaganda from the 1950’s-1970’s as unionizing started to take hold across the United States.

These days, we are just starting to realize that keeping salary a secret is a ploy for companies, not some privacy protection for employees.

So, let’s talk about it! Not counting my extra income (I will discuss that later), I make between 90-100K per year working for Baltimore City Public Schools. When I started working for the district in 2013, I made $47K as a new teacher.

How long did it take you to make that much money?

Everyone’s career trajectory is different. Mine involved one year in New Mexico’s public school system five years ago. I only made 35K for the year, and I was one of the highest-paid teachers in my building.

When I returned to Baltimore City after that year, I was fortunate that I was able to negotiate to be placed back on my previous salary scale prior to leaving (I left to take care of a family member, which helped a bit in the negotiations). My salary was about 70K at that point.

In the last four years, I have been doing more and more work in instructional leadership, which often comes with additional pay raises and stipends for work above and beyond my teaching contract, which is how I’ve managed to get my salary up close to 100K per year.

Where is the best place to teach if I want to make that kind of money?

Before you Google this question, there are some things to take into consideration and some hard questions to ask yourself.

The national average K-12 teacher salary is about $65,000. However, this figure varies greatly by state, and even further by districts within a state. For example, teachers in Mississippi make $45K per year, on average. By comparison, teachers in New York can expect to make around $85K per year.

$65K sounds like a respectable place to start, right? Unfortunately, many new teachers won’t make anywhere near this amount until five or more years in education.

New teacher salaries can vary even more depending on your state or district and are often nearly half of what the average 5–10-year experienced teachers are making. So, if you are new to the field or considering entering education, you may need to brace yourself for an adjustment in salary, at least for a few years.

It is important to note that the figures I am about to share below are the average salaries for teachers with at least five years of classroom experience.

The highest-paying states for educators are New York ($85K), California, and Massachusetts (both paying around $82K).

The lower-paying states with salaries less than $50K per year are Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Florida, South Dakota, Kansas, and Arizona. These states also tend to spend less per pupil on education statewide.

What about the cost of living?

It is important to reiterate that starting teacher salaries are much lower than many of these figures and are often far below the actual cost to live in many states.

The only states currently with starting teacher salaries above 50K are the District of Columbia and New Jersey ($55K and $51K, respectively). The living wage for D.C is around $70K and $56K in New Jersey.

There are 34 states in the U.S. that have starting teacher salaries of less than $40,000 per year.

Here is a ranked list of the 10 states in the U.S. with the highest average teacher salaries (as of 2019):

1. New York – $92,222
2. Massachusetts – $88,903
3. California – $87,275
4. Washington – $81,586
5. Connecticut – $81,185
6. New Jersey – $79,045
7. Rhode Island – $76,852
8. Maryland – $75,766
9. Alaska – $73,722
10. Pennsylvania – $72,428

If you are deciding on a new place to teach or are new to teaching and haven’t yet put down roots in your community, you will want to ask yourself how far you are willing to relocate or commute for a higher salary. What tradeoffs are you willing to make for a higher salary? Fewer benefits, longer commutes, extended school year programs, etc. are just some of the trades you may need to consider for a higher salary.

But what about “step” raises?

Most school districts increase teacher salaries yearly either based on “time in” or “effectiveness measures.” Some even use both to determine raises for teachers each year.

“Time in,” raises, also known in many places as “step raises” are automatically given for each completed school year of service. Your human resources department or teacher’s union can provide clarity on exactly how and when these raises are given.

“Effectiveness” raises are more controversial but are also becoming more popular for school districts that continue to perform poorly on state testing. Some of these districts also offer regular step raises, but most choose one or the other. These raises are typically determined by some combination of teacher evaluations, school-wide data, and student achievement data. If your district determines salary raises in this way, make sure you talk with human resources or your union representative to make sure you are very clear on what the requirements are to earn your raise each year.

What about career advancement opportunities?

Much of the work being done at the national level around teacher pay and retention is around career advancement. When looking into a new school district or even re-evaluating where you stand with your current school district, you will want to familiarize yourself with the process for moving up the career ladder within that district.

Baltimore City Public Schools offers more career paths than many other districts in Maryland, with new teachers able to move along salary “pathways” based on coursework and portfolio reviews that are specific to each pathway. My district also offers a “model teacher” pathway for teachers who can demonstrate excellence that not only affects students in their classroom, but in the entire school building.

These pathways are challenging to navigate for many. They often require a certain degree of patience and skill with documentation and creating digital portfolios, but the effort is well worth it for many teachers in my district who want to remain in the classroom/school building but need to improve their earning potential.

Should I get more degrees/certifications so that I make more money?

Not necessarily. Very few states pay teachers enough of a salary boost to justify the time and money spent to earn additional credentials. Most teachers enter the field with a master’s degree either complete or in progress.

National Board Certification is becoming more popular as states are increasing incentives and salaries for National Board Certified teachers (NBCT), but the cost for the program is still more than what many districts are offering to pay.

However, if your career trajectory involves instructional leadership or even school leadership, additional credentials that are required for those positions are worth it. Not all teachers want to leave the classroom one day, but for many, this is a natural progression of our careers.

The average salary for instructional leaders (from instructional coaches to school administrators) ranges from $80,000-120,000 depending on the state and role.

If you are considering instructional leadership or another role in education to make more money, make sure you take the time to talk with other teachers who have made similar career moves. They can offer insight into the process, which certifications are necessary, and what the return on investment would be for those additional certifications. They can also share valuable information about what you can expect from these roles in terms of work-life balance.

Leaving the classroom does NOT automatically mean you are “getting your nights and weekends back.” Administrative and leadership roles often require just as much time and energy, just a “different” kind of energy. I can’t count the number of teachers who were burnt out and thought that working for the district office would solve their problems, only to dislike the demands of those jobs even MORE than they were weary from the classroom.

If you are still struggling to set boundaries for your time and energy as a classroom teacher, that issue will follow you into other positions even if you leave education altogether. Make sure you are still prepared to set those boundaries and time-management systems for non-classroom settings if you are considering a vertical career move. The skills taught in the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek course are useful for not just in the classroom, but also teachers moving into other job titles!

I don’t want to leave the classroom or move to another district. What can I do to make ends meet?

Prior to COVID, about 20 percent of teachers held second jobs during the school year.

Today, that number is estimated to be as high as 50%, if not higher, according to a 2021 national survey conducted by the Teacher Salary Project. Inflation mixed with many families losing at least partial income during the pandemic has exacerbated the problem.

I have always held at LEAST one second job since I started teaching in 2013. Making a higher salary means higher taxes. This means that many of my yearly raises are “eaten up” by the new tax bracket in which I find myself. As a result, a second job is often needed to make up for the difference in my take-home pay.

I do have some tips and tricks for working a second job while teaching so that you don’t burn yourself out completely while trying to provide for yourself and your family.

First, work to your strengths.

Make yourself a list of all the skills that you can use to make extra money. These can be related to teaching, or something different! My list reads something like this: K-5 tutoring, article/op-ed writing, resume editing, baking, fixing up old furniture.

Which direction you go in depends on your comfort level and the time that you can invest into your second job. If you only have a few extra hours on weekends, you may want to lean toward something you can do from home like writing articles or upholstering furniture for clients. If you only have time after school during the week, tutoring may be a better option for you.

Universities often love to hire K-12 teachers to teach pre-requisite or remediate coursework. These courses can be in-person or online, and often only meet 1-2 days per week. Some even offer Saturday courses that you can teach just once a week.

Whichever direction you choose to move in for your second job, make sure it’s something you can sustain while teaching. If you are new to teaching, you may want to wait a few months into the school year to start working another job on the side to give yourself time to adjust and determine how much time and energy you will truly have to commit outside of teaching.

If you have some years of experience in the classroom and you are looking for ways to streamline that secondary income, making a list like the one I made for myself is a great way to see where you would prefer to put that time and energy.

Some teachers prefer to do something that is completely unrelated to teaching as their second job to get a “mental break” from the education world. Others still prefer to work to their strengths as educators and take on jobs that involve students or education in one way or another, ranging from writing about teaching for websites like this one, or training teachers for a curriculum company or educational technology firm. There are pros and cons to both, it really depends on your own needs and capacity for extra responsibilities.

Also consider: what side jobs have worked for you, without affecting your ability to serve students?

In my ten years as an educator, I’ve held many different jobs to make ends meet. Some worked out wonderfully, while others didn’t work very well for me.

Some of the non-teaching jobs I’ve held have been ridesharing, ghostwriting, personal shopping, and pet sitting. The pros of these jobs involved the mental break they gave me. Each of these jobs requires a different skill set than teaching, which at times was what I needed. The cons were around the time it took to make the money I needed to make. These types of jobs often pay close to minimum wage, which means more hours are put in to make the same amount of money.

Over time, I noticed my desire to streamline the type of work I do outside of the classroom increased. As a result, I started to seek out education-related jobs that pay per contract or stipend. I’ve worked as an adjunct professor, a curriculum implementation specialist, and as a private tutor.

The pros of these types of jobs are higher pay with typically more flexible time commitments during the school year (or none if you choose to only work those jobs during the summer months). The cons can come from having trouble balancing multiple priorities while dealing with the changing pressures of the school year.

Today, I still work for a curriculum company during my summers where I get to travel and work with educators all over the continental U.S. I also still tutor 1-2 clients at a time when needed for a tutoring agency throughout the summer and some months of the school year. This works best for me as I can front-load the extra income that I need, put it to the side for when I need it during the year, and focus on my school and my students during the school year.

Whether you are looking to earn more as a current teacher or are considering joining the field but cannot conceptualize how to make the salary work for you, the questions below are a great starting point in your decision-making process.

Of course, the ideal situation would be fair compensation for teachers nationwide so that none of us have to work multiple jobs.

Hopefully, however, the strategies and information I’ve shared with you will help you navigate making the money you need and deserve until the rest of the country catches up.

Works cited

• Teacher pay by state 2022
• Teachers often work a second job outside of the classroom | EdSource
• Almost one-third of new teachers take on second jobs | NEA
• Best states for teachers 2022
• Here’s how much every US state pays its teachers and how much they spend on each student
• The ins and outs of teacher salaries
• Upping the ante: The current state of teacher pay in the nation’s large school districts

The post “I want to be a teacher, but I can’t afford it.” appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

I’ve always used these terms interchangeably, but my knowledge and usage of those words shifted in late 2020.

The world was still in the thick of the global Coronavirus pandemic, and I had finally gotten around to reading a valuable book that had been hidden in a pile of junk since early 2019. The book called Believing Bigger, by Marshawn Evans Daniels, coaches readers on how to discover their purpose and unlock their true potential — skills I desperately needed to master as a four-year teacher.

While many sections in Believing Bigger stood out to me, it was a brief section about purpose and calling that spoke to me the most.

I learned that while purpose in life is set in stone, there are many different callings one can have throughout a lifetime. The author defined calling as the place where purpose has an opportunity to shine.

The book inspired me to deeply reflect on my life and determine what I felt my purpose and calling could be.

When I took a look at my life, I knew without any hesitation that my specific purpose is to teach. It’s in my blood, it’s in my veins, and it’s a major part of who I am.

Reflecting had surfaced many memories from my youth. Surprisingly, many of those memories were filled with me teaching someone else in some capacity.

One particularly prominent memory was from eighth grade. I recall being tasked to teach my classmates about a few aspects of the civil war. I had learned about the war independently and was eager to share what I had learned. All I can fully remember about the experience was that I left feeling encouraged. At the end of my ‘lesson’, my peers had told me that I was a good teacher.

They were some of the first people who saw that I had the gift of teaching.

Another memory I recollected had occurred in high school. I had just finished learning a Bible verse and decided that I would share my perspective and understanding of it with my grandma. Her response emulated that of my peers. I remember her saying, “Wow, Tecora you are an amazing teacher.” I realized from these memories that I had already begun walking in my purpose and stepping into many callings well before I’d even earned a teaching license.

It is so important to remember that our calling (what we teach and where we teach) can change. Our purpose will remain the same, no matter where or how we choose to use our gifts.

It was fitting for me to be reading the book at the time I did because for four years, my career identity had been locked into that of being a sixth-grade English teacher. I did not realize that my skills as a teacher were actually a vehicle that could figuratively take me to different places. Unbeknownst to me, these skills could be applied to areas outside the walls of my school building.

As teachers, we possess many skills — managing, de-escalating situations with children (and sometimes adults), sympathizing, advocating, leading, directing, encouraging, inspiring, counseling, budgeting time and resources, and of course teaching. In reality, the list of superpowers teachers possess is endless.

Yet rarely do we ever hear, and dare I say, believe that we can use those superpowers in careers and fields outside of education. I’m not sure if the reason behind this doubt is due to a sense of loyalty for the profession or fear of the unknown. But I’m here to be a voice of encouragement and tell you that if you are searching and have an inkling for more, it is worth exploring.

For me, the global pandemic served as a catalyst that opened my eyes to just how much knowledge I possessed that wasn’t merely middle-school language-arts related. I was liberated and enlightened enough to acknowledge that I can do many things.

I can teach students in a classroom and teach adults how to write budgets. I can model for students how to use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, and I can coach adults on how to craft engaging elevator pitches. I can teach a student how to read fluently and teach a group of teens how to budget for a new car. I realize more and more each day how teaching lends itself to so much.

What are some skills you possess that could lend themselves to other forms of work outside the classroom?

Perhaps you’re nervous right now because you can’t fathom using any teaching skills in another way. Perhaps you can’t even imagine your calling ever-changing. Take heart, teacher.

In transparency, I am still learning to accept that teaching does not have to be a limiting profession. There is an attachment to the traditional view of “teacher” and the roles we can perform. Many of us (myself included) forget that teachers come in so many forms.

Dear teacher friend, please hear me, doing K-12 public/private schooling is not the only way to teach!  We have permission to use the skills and strategies applied in our classrooms every day to other areas of our lives.

So I close with a challenge and a few questions:

Challenge: Intentionally budget time out this week or next to list as many of your skills and strengths as possible. If you struggle to identify skills, ask a close friend, relative, or trusted individual in your life.

Reflect: What do people compliment you on? What do you enjoy doing for or with others for free? How can you use the skills and talents you discovered in other areas of your life?

The post Your purpose and your calling as a teacher are not the same thing. appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

In the video below, you’ll hear me speak about:

• How I got the ideas for my books and started publishing
• Balancing full-time teaching with book writing
• What motivates me to write and how I use writing to improve education
• The decision between traditional and self-publishing
• eBook vs. print copy sales
• How to leverage book sales and consulting opportunities
• How my writing and creative process works
• My advice for those who want to write and publish a book
• The importance of promoting your book on social media

I’ve written in-depth on this topic over on the Publishing a Teaching Book page, offering advice on writing your book, getting it edited, choosing a publisher, getting the word out, and more. If your interests lie more in publishing a children’s book, check out this guest post from Kathleen Wainright on how she successfully writes/publishes children’s books.

What questions do you have about educational publishing or writing a book for teachers? I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned, so ask away in the comments!

The post My journey in educational publishing: how to write books for teachers appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

• How I got into the education field
• Why I decided to leave the classroom and get into consulting
• The inspiration behind my blog post about big fish, little fish, and the separate ponds of education
• My blogging inspiration and how I keep a consistent blogging schedule
• How long it took before I had a community of readers (and what new bloggers should expect)
• My biggest takeaways from the TeachersPayTeachers conferencein Las Vegas
• The incident that inspired me to write Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Change Your Teaching
• How the book Awakened can help teachers develop a positive and resilient mindset
• The best education book I’ve read in a long time and that I wish every teacher would read
• The most important advice that I would give to a new teacher and to a veteran teacher
• 3 words I hope someone would use when describing me
• My latest project that I am super passionate about right now

If you haven’t subscribed to the free Edu All-Stars podcast on iTunes, I really encourage you to check it out. I love to listen to inspiring educators sharing their stories, and the audio format makes it easy to listen while exercising, driving, and cleaning up around the house.

The post Edu All-Stars Podcast: Talking teaching and blogging appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

I want to make a confession here. With each passing year, a growing part of me worries that not being in the classroom hurts my credibility as someone telling teachers not only how to improve their work but to ENJOY it more. Sometimes I hear a little nagging voice saying, You’re not in the trenches, so who are you to advise anyone on anything? What, you enjoyed teaching so much that you stopped doing it? And the world of teaching has changed so much, so quickly—what if I’ve become arrogant, out of touch, outdated, and irrelevant?

As a young teacher, I thought I’d be in the classroom forever. But that perspective changed in a single day in 2009. It was three months after The Cornerstone was published, and a local charter school principal invited me to conduct a workshop on classroom management. His teachers’ work schedule was the same as mine, so in order to accept, I’d had to ask my principal’s permission to to leave my students and use a sick day. That was the first red flag that being a teacher and a consultant might not be compatible for me.

I’d structured the day so I spent the morning giving PD and the afternoon doing individual classroom consultations, helping teachers apply what I’d taught them to their own unique situations. Two of the teachers actually cried during our consultations because they had felt desperately alone and were so grateful that someone was finally offering them some specific support and encouragement. I knew that sense of isolation well and cried with them. That was probably unprofessional, but I was touched. Deeply.

I drove away from the school that day exhilarated, knowing that I had just made a positive difference for not only my own students, but for an ENTIRE SCHOOL. This whole teaching teachers thing? Oh, yes, it was definitely for me. That I knew.

But I also knew immediately that I was not going to be able to help teachers on the scale I wanted to while still giving 100% to a classroom full of kids who were depending on me to show up each day. Some teachers can—and do—pull it off. But I know my own limitations, and it just wasn’t possible for me to be an excellent teacher AND an excellent author, blogger, speaker, consultant, curriculum writer, and all those other jobs I was trying to squeeze in between 10 pm and midnight.

I wanted to make the biggest difference I could for teachers and impact as many students as possible. And so I had to make a choice: to stay in the classroom and focus on helping 25 kids, or leave the classroom and potentially impact the way hundreds of thousands of kids learn.

And honestly, after 11 years of teaching, I was ready for the change. I thrive on new challenges—those of you who have followed me since the inception of this site in 2004 will remember that I taught in 7 schools in 2 states during those 11 years. Changing to a different role in education fit my pattern perfectly. I knew I’d miss working so closely with children, but I also knew I would love my work with teachers in the same way I used to love being in the classroom.

In my mind, I am still a teacher. I’m just not in the classroom. I view my role as an instructional coach and educational consultant as an honor and a calling. I believe that those who are in the classroom desperately need the support of instructional coaches and mentors–people who have been in the trenches, but now have the time and opportunity to support other teachers without needing to rush back to their own classrooms and put their own students first. I have the privilege of making the support of other teachers my #1 priority. Who could begrudge me of that? And why would I ever berate myself for it?

Ironically, now that I’m out of the classroom, I think I actually have MORE to offer teachers than when I was in it. A few years ago, my experience was limited mostly to my own four classroom walls: now I get to visit teachers and schools all over the country. I get to talk with teachers in small rural schools and problem solve with those in big urban districts. I work with high school teachers all the way down to PreK. I feel like I have a better understanding now of what it’s like to be a teacher because I get to spend more time than ever listening to actual teachersinstead of being isolated in my own classroom.

The posts and books I write aren’t telling anyone to stay in the classroom. I’m not sitting back on my couch in the morning relishing the fact that I get to work from home a lot and make my own schedule while telling teachers how to do their jobs. I’ve written extensively about how teachers can make the choice to leave and how to transition into other roles if they so choose, and just last week, I shared a 30 minute podcast about launching your own business as an edupreneur. A huge part of my job in empowering teachers is giving them hope and helping them find the right role in education so that they can enjoy their work and make a difference for kids.

I’m also not telling anyone how to do their job. I’ve always espoused the philosophy that there’s no one right way to teach. I try to share my experiences from a place of humility and from the position of a learner: here’s what has worked for me, here’s what I’ve seen work for other teachers, tell us what works for you. I don’t write about any mistakes I haven’t made myself, or any principles I haven’t had to learn in my own practice.

My goal is to share strategies I’ve learned and continue to learn about making teaching more effective, efficient, and enjoyable. And that “enjoyable” piece? It’s been my main focus over the last three years, and I’m pursuing it with even more intensity. I’m rapidly nearing the final draft of my book Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Love Teaching Every Day…No Matter What. I don’t think enough influencers are talking about how to make teaching enjoyable and inherently fun. I want to see more conversations about meeting the needs of the whole teacher, more consideration toward how school policies contribute to or detract from teacher motivation, and more realistic advice for how teachers can tap into their passion for their work and ignite that same passion in students.

I can’t change ridiculous school policies, or repeal standardized testing, or reduce class sizes, or make any of the other systemic changes that would help teaching feel less insurmountable. But I can share practical resources to make the day to day stuff a little less frustrating and little more rewarding. If I can give you some ideas for making a connection with that seemingly unreachable kid or shave 20 minutes off a mundane task so you can focus on something more meaningful, then I feel like in some small way, I’ve made a difference. I’ve helped a teacher somewhere keep a smile on her face for her students and end the school day on a higher note than if she hadn’t read my words.

In my mind, I will ALWAYS be a teacher, whether those I help are little kids or other educators around the world. And so I choose to silence that voice in my head that questions whether I have the “right” to give advice to teachers about their work. This isn’t about advice. My job, as I define it now, is to empower, support, inspire, and encourage other teachers. I just don’t think there could EVER be enough people doing that…and I’m honored to take on that role.

The post Always a teacher: a reflection (& confession) on 5 years out of the classroom appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

A mutual friend recently introduced me to John and suggested that I participate as a guest on the show to share how I turned my passion for helping teachers into a career as an educational consultant. Though I’ve written several articles to help those who want to follow that path, I haven’t talked very much about my personal journey from classroom teacher to instructional coach and consultant, and I thought the Entreprenur on Fire podcast would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

The interview process in Entrepreneur on Fire is unique in that it really focuses on the stories behind the success of entrepreneurs: John highlights a failure and lessons learned, an ah-ha moment and the steps taken to turn that moment into success, and includes a “lightning round” where he asks five questions that extract nuggets of wisdom from his guests. It was so much fun to think back on what I’ve accomplished and also see how my mistakes and setbacks brought me to the place I’m at now.

Check out the 30 minute podcast (or view in iTunes) to hear my conversation with John about the following topics:

• How I transitioned from classroom teaching to consulting, and what my daily work now entails
• The way I used my blogging platform to propel my career as an author
• The caveat to following your passion and expecting the money to follow you
• The biggest failure I’ve ever experienced (a story I’ve never shared publicly before)
• How I learned the steps to founding my own publishing company
• The ways my passion and focus have changed over time—and how yours might, too
• How I got started creating materials for TeachersPayTeachers and what drives my success there
• Details on my fourth book Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Love Teaching Everyday…No Matter What
• The obstacles that were holding me back from becoming an entrepreneur and how I overcame them
• The best business advice I’ve ever received
• A personal habit that I believe contributes to my success
• An internet resource and book title that I’d recommend to those who want to be edupreneurs

I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to share so much of my personal experience with you all! I hope it’s helpful to those of you who are attempting to create change in education and support students and teachers in ways beyond your work in the classroom.  There aren’t very many resources out there and it can be very reassuring to hear from other people that YES, your dream is possible! Thank you for listening, and please feel free to ask additional questions in the comments!

You can find more resources on getting started as an educational consultant in the Edupreneurssection of my website, including tips for  becoming an educational consultant, how to publish a book for teachers, blogging tips for teachers, and advice for monetizing your teaching blog.

Check out my new courses to help you launch YOUR business as an educational consultant!

The post Entrepreneur on Fire: my journey from classroom teaching to educational consulting appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Anyone with an interest in children’s books is going to love the information that Philadelphia-based, National Board Certified teacher and author Kathleen Wainright has to share with us. Over the next ten days, she’ll be sharing info on different education blogs around the web in promotion of her new children’s book, Summer in the City. I’m proud to partner up with Kathleen and kick off her virtual book tour today by having her answer a few questions about her publishing experience as an independent author.

Developing the book’s concept

Summer in the City was inspired by my days growing up in the summer. I grew up in a close knit neighborhood. We could play outside almost anywhere because wherever we were, there was always someone who knew me or my family. We would spend our summer days at the historical Nile Swim Club (the first and only African American private swim club). When we weren’t at the pool, we were at the park or the candy store, or we were just playing outside…the entire neighborhood was our playground. My summer days were blissful!

In 2006, I was taking a children’s literature course to fulfill my requirements for a master’s in literacy. On the day I wrote this poem, we had been discussing poetry and my professor shared one of my favorite poems by Eloise Greenfield, Honey I Love, with the class. This poem has a sing-songy rhythm and she tells a cute story about the things she loves. Later that night, I just felt like writing a poem about something I loved….my summers growing up. I’ve always enjoyed writing poetry, so it is normal for something to just come to me once I have an idea. It was fun reminiscing about “back in the day”, the memories just fell out of my head and onto the paper. When I finished this poem and read it over a few times, I knew that it was going to be my first children’s book.

Writing the book

I wrote the poem that turned into the book in 2006. When I wrote the poem….it probably only took about ten minutes! What I would do, however, is go back from time to time and tweak it here and there. I guess you could consider that the initial editing stage. This went on for about 3-4 years. Once I decided that I was going to publish it on my own, it went through another round of edits.

Editing the book

Once I started sharing my story with people outside of my family, primarily with prospective illustrators, my book started to transform. One particular illustrator, Jerry Craft, gave me very insightful feedback that helped me to form an overall theme or message in the book: “growing up back in the day, we used our neighborhood and simple things to have fun instead of the technology used today.”

When I started working with my illustrator, Nancy Devard, she also had suggestions and we made a few edits together. There were some things that I was not willing to change. I wanted to make sure that my vision and voice remained in the story. What I found in the editing stage is that everyone has an opinion about how something should be worded or something that should be added or taken out. I was open to listening to the different ideas that were shared with me, but at the end of it all, I stayed true to my summer memories while tweaking a word or two so that children from all backgrounds could relate.

I did not particularly care for the editing process, lol! But I knew it was a necessary step in publishing the book. What I appreciated as an independent publisher was that I had total and final control over the changes made to the text. This is not usually the case when working with a traditional publishing company.

Illustrating the book

Nancy Devard, a Correta Scott King award winning illustrator, illustrated my book. I first saw Nancy’s work in The Secret Olivia Told Me written by N. Joy. I loved how she used the silhouettes throughout the book. This was in  2009. I read in her biography that she was originally from Philadelphia but I wasn’t sure if she still lived here or not. I felt very confident that if she were to read my manuscript, she would fall in love with my book and want to illustrate it because, in my opinion, it was that good. With her being from Philadelphia, I felt like she would be able to relate to the memories that I described in the story.

I did a search on the Internet and took a chance (well….several chances) and started to make the attempt to contact her. This wasn’t easy because there wasn’t much information on the web about her. When I couldn’t find a personal website or email, I started to reach out to the company that had originally published The Secret. I even sent them a manuscript hoping that they would love it and choose Nancy as the illustrator! In 2010 I still hadn’t heard from her and I guess a part of me really didn’t expect to so I just moved forward with “self-publishing” at the time.

I had a contacted a self-publishing company (which I would advise you NOT to do if you are ever interested in seriously publishing a book). They did the illustrations for my book and I hated them and knew that if I was going to publish this book, the illustrations had to reflect my vision. So, once again, it was back to the drawing board.

I began reaching out to Nancy again, this time believing and hoping that she would respond. At this point my vision for the book started to evolve. I knew that this wasn’t just a project. This was now turning into a career move. Not wanting to put all of my eggs in one basket, I began reaching out to other illustrators and authors. One day while talking to my neighbor about the book, I just happened to mention Nancy’s name…would you believe that my neighbor knew her family? She said she would put in a good word for me and about a week later, Nancy emailed me! I never found out if was because of my neighbor, I’m not even sure if my neighbor ever made contact with her family to even pass the message on. However, I did know that Nancy responded to my email and it was up to me to get her to accept a contract.

I first started talking to Nancy in August of 2011. She FINALLY agreed to work with me in December 2012. Let’s just say it took several meetings, a small project (initially she just agreed to do my cover art and urged me to begin shopping for a publisher again) and a lot of convincing that this project will be ground breaking! Once she agreed, I wrote up a contract. We agreed on the terms and we began working on the project. We met about once a month to discuss the illustrations and the layout of the book. Nancy worked as the graphic illustrator/designer; she prepared the images and the cover  for the printer. She fell in love with project as well. She did an awesome job of capturing “West Philadelphia” and classic childhood memories that anyone could relate to.

Publishing the book

Initially I was going to go with a self-publishing company. When they did the illustrations, I hated them and began looking for an illustrator on my own. I spoke with one illustrator, Jerry Craft, who really just filled me in on independent publishing. He didn’t know me, but he spent over an hour on the phone really just letting me know how to go about publishing a book on my own. I remember him saying, “if you are willing to put in the work you can do this on your own…and save yourself a lot of money!”

The short version of what I did was: Secured an illustrator and printing company. Purchased my own ISBNs. Developed a marketing plan and researched how and where I would  be selling my book. In the midst of that, I did tons of research, spoke to anyone who was willing to help and began building a network of people and resources. You need that network. You also have to be persisent and committed to a finishing the project.

Finally, I established my own publishing company, Willa’s Tree Studios, LLC. I also changed my thinking. I no longer considered myself a self-published author, I consider myself an independently published author (because it has a positive connotation–self-published sounds like a hobby). Most importantly, I just stuck with it. It was a very long process. It took a lot of patience and at times it was frustrating. Once I took away a deadline, however, it made the process less stressful and I just went with it.

Promoting the book

I am a teacher with a deep love for literacy. I am also a blogger. When I first began to blog it was for fun. Then it dawned on me. I could build a following while I wait for my book to be finished. As a blogger I became even more tech savvy, met some great teachers, and added many resources and individuals to my network. When developing my marketing plan I immediately knew that I could use my blog and social networking to my advantage.

The virtual book tour was on the top of my list. I also developed a Facebook fan page and began promoting my book on there a few months before the release date. My sorority sister designed my website and shared some information on how to brand myself as an author while also promoting my book.  When selling any item, packaging is everything! To come up with great ways to package my book, I put on my teacher hat and did what I do best! I planned a variety of activities that could be used with my book. I also had a good blogging friend, Rachel Reyna from Fisher Reyna Education, volunteer to create a reading comprehension resource that includes test prep comprehension questions! To promote the many uses and benefits of my book, these resources will be given away for free for every purchase made on TeachersPayTeachers. To promote sales from my website, I’ve included a game of jacks and a jump rope or jelly bracelets with every book ordered directly from www.kathleenwainwright.com.

Although electronic purchases are great and will assist with sharing my book around the world, I received great support and insight from author Kelly Starling Lyons who advised me to think locally before nationally. So as my book grows in popularity on the web, I will be doing a lot self-promotion throughout the Philadelphia area before moving on to touring across the country (dream BIG!). I will be working with libraries and schools to get my book in the hands of children throughout the city.

Advice for teachers or parents who want to publish a children’s book

I would advise anyone who is interested in publishing a children’s book to just do it!!! Whether it is to just fulfill a dream or to make a name for yourself as a published author, it is a process and definitely a learning experience. It also one of the most rewarding things I have accomplished. If this is something that you are interested in, start by doing some research on what the self-publishing process entails. I already shared the gist of it, but soak up as much information as you can. There are many blog posts, websites and books dedicated to informing others about how to independently publish a children’s book.

Secure a good illustrator. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but in all honesty, we do. Initially, the bulk of your budget will go toward your illustrations. Find a printing press early. Shop around first for quality, then for reasonable costs. Find out what the requirements are for submitting your book to be printed (i.e. what type of file, measurements, etc.). This will save you some frustration in the end. Finally, become comfortable with social media…Facebook is a marketing giant! There are many opportunities and resources available to those who are willing to network on the web. Take full advantage of any opportunity to talk about your venture!

Click HERE for a complete list of tour dates

I hope you’ve found Kathleen’s information helpful! I can relate to so much of what Kathleen wrote, and strongly agree with her advice to start your own publishing company. No one is more passionate about a book than its author, and so I believe the author should maintain control of his or her own book and keep the majority of the profits. You can check out the Publishing a Teaching Book page of this site to read about my experiences and advice on being an independently published author of teacher resource books.Thank you, Angela, for allowing me to share my experiences with you and your readers! I hope you all enjoyed learning a little about me and my journey toward becoming a published author. You can pre-order the book and the free companion teacher resources here. I look forward to the next  9 days of virtual visits as I continue to share my experiences and *freebies* that compliment Summer in the City! Tomorrow, Shawna from The Picture Book Teacher’s Edition, will be sharing her personal book review of Summer in the City. Don’t forget to stop by and get a reader’s view of the book along with a cute freebie!

Kathleen Wainwright is a dedicated teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. She received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and her master’s in education with a focus in literacy, from West Chester University, in West Chester, PA. Kathleen also teaches literacy courses to aspiring teachers at Temple University and developmental reading courses to incoming freshman at Delaware County Community College. Kathleen recently earned National Board Certification in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts (Early and Middle Childhood). She enjoys sharing her personal teaching experiences and educational resources in her blog, The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher (www.notsowimpyresources.com).

The post Advice on publishing a children’s book from a teacher who’s done it appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Here’s the thing. When you write stuff on the internet, you open yourself up for criticism. That’s just part of the deal, and I realize that. I feel extremely blessed in that the nasty anonymous comments and haters in general have been extremely few and far between. But there are always some nagging fears that hang on my shoulders when I post. It only takes one poorly thought-out statement for a post to go viral and have countless numbers of strangers descend upon the comments to tell you how stupid you are and how you should never blog again. That doesn’t happen often with education blogs, but it’s not unheard of, and I’ve learned enough from other’s experiences that mistakes made on the web are not easily lived down. And when your success in the field–as well as income–are based in large part on your online reputation, you don’t want to take it lightly.

So, some real honesty. Here are the things I’m afraid of being perceived as, and the questions I constantly ask myself to make sure I’m not:

Arrogant

I value humility so much in people, both as part of my faith and as a general characteristic. I think humility is especially important in blogging, as it’s very easy to seem like a know-it-all and that’s a huge turn off to readers. I worry that I might sometimes come across as condescending or that my way is the “right” way. When I go out of my way to avoid that, I feel like I am apologizing for myself and my views. It’s a big catch-22 for me. Does my tone communicate that I am a learner just like everyone else?

Unfocused

My greatest passion is classroom management, and that’s the focus of my site. But my blog has always been way more than that: it’s a place where I can write about current issues in education, review educational books that have impacted me, share technology tips and tricks (since that’s what I do as an instructional technology coach), and so on. Sometimes I wonder if I am all over the place: deep posts, how-to posts, give-aways, tech stuff… is this confusing to people? Or does it keep the content fresh and interesting? 

Wordy

A lot of people hate long blog posts. Probably not any readers of this blog, because I don’t know how to write short ones. It’s just not my style. I wonder sometimes if people wish I would just shut up and get to the point. But if I say less, I worry that I’ll be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Would my posts be better if they were shorter?

Out of touch

I’m not in the classroom anymore. I can’t write things like this or this or this, (or THIS, sigh) and that makes me sad. One of the worst things I can imagine having said about me is “Angela’s some ‘big’ consultant in New York now. She has no idea what it’s like to be a teacher.”  Are my thoughts still relevant even though I am no longer in the teaching trenches?

Outdated

I left the classroom in 2009, and honestly, I cannot believe how much has changed in the education world since then. I never had an interactive whiteboard. The Common Core State Standards weren’t yet on any teacher’s lips. And I’ve grown so much professionally: there are so many things I wish I could do-over as a teacher, and things I know now that I wish I knew then.  I’m not sure it’s really possible for anyone to stay current with everything that’s happening in education. But do I know enough to allow myself to offer advice to others?

A sellout to corporations

I started accepting sponsored posts in 2012, usually once every 4-6 weeks. It’s a tough balance, because a) I want to share useful products and services with you all, b) it’s great to get paid for some of the time I spend working on the site and blog, and c) I feel bad turning down companies that are genuinely wonderful. I get approached all. the. time. about publicizing people’s stuff, and I turn down around 75% of the companies who want to be mentioned on the site. If I didn’t, you’d see products mentioned in every post, and that’s annoying. Are there too many sponsored posts? Are the sponsored posts I’m allowing actually useful and relevant?

A shameless self-promoter

I enjoy writing books. I don’t enjoy promoting them. It make me feel like the sleazy used car salesman stereotype. In real life conversations, I am hopelessly embarrassed when it comes to talking about what I do and my successes. I’m now at the point where I’m comfortable mentioning my stuff more frequently online, but I have to do it often. The web has changed–I used to assume that site visitors would check out other pages here. Now the majority of people who view my articles are strangers from Google or Pinterest who know nothing about me and might not ever look around my site. If I don’t mention or link to a related resource in the exact post I’m mentioned it, they’ll never see it.

Now that I’ve started selling teaching materials on Teachers Pay Teachers, I worry about my level of self-promotion even more. I know that some people blog almost exclusively about their TPT stuff and their readers are fine with it, but that’s not what this blog was created to be and that’s not the direction I want to go in. And so I wonder: Am I striking the right balance between letting you all know about the stuff I create, or am I too self-promotional?

That I’m ridiculous for thinking you care about any of this

Maybe you find the entire concept of this post utterly self-indulgent. Maybe you’re busy teaching and having a life and you really don’t think about me or my blog at all. I tend to over-analyze things, and this could be one of those times. But these are thoughts I have been grappling with for a very, very long time, and in the interest of transparency, I feel like I should put them out there. Some of you have been following me for nearly ten years (since the first mspowell.com days in 2003), and you’ve seen the changes. Ultimately, I wonder: has the evolution of this site been for the better?

I hope this post doesn’t sound like I feel sorry for myself or that blogging is a burden for me, nor am I fishing for compliments. I absolutely love what I do and I feel good about what I write. Really good, most of the time. These are mostly questions I have to answer for myself, and I do so on a continual basis. I just wanted to put these thoughts out there, so if you see a post sometimes that comes across as any of the characteristics above, I hope you will know that I wondered and worried and considered it deeply before posting. In the end, I use my best judgment, and it’s not always right.

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. You can tell me what you’d like to see more of, or less of. What’s working, what’s not, or what you’d like to see me add to the site in 2013. Thanks for reading.

The post Reflections on thoughtful blogging & selling out appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Who Am I to Give Advice?

I’m far from an expert on the subject of publishing books, but I’ve done it successfully three times and I’m honest about the process, so I tend to get a LOT of emails asking for advice. There are many ways to get your book published and make money selling books for teachers, and I’m happy to share what’s worked for me. I can’t guarantee that I’ve done things the “right way,” but I’m enjoying writing books and I’ve been making steady money doing so since 2008. Hopefully when you read my advice, you’ll find some ideas that resonate and will work for you, too.

Video: Advice for Publishing a Book for Educators

Dr. Will Deyamport III interviewed me about educational publishing. In the video below, you’ll hear me speak about:

• How I got the ideas for my books and started publishing
• Balancing full-time teaching with book writing
• What motivates me to write and how I use writing to improve education
• The decision between traditional and self-publishing
• eBook vs. print copy sales
• How to leverage book sales and consulting opportunities
• How my writing and creative process works
• My advice for those who want to write and publish a book
• The importance of promoting your book on social media

Who Said Anything About Publishing? Get Writing!

First things first: most people who worry about how to publish and sell their book haven’t even written the book yet. In fact, I’d say 95% of the people who email me asking for help are still stuck in the “I have a great idea for a book” phrase. My advice is always the same: write the book before you worry about anything else. There are an untold number of half-finished manuscripts languishing in desk drawers. Until you’ve got a book that is well-written (and well-edited), everything else is a moot point.

If you go the traditional publishing route, chances are good that a publisher is going to want to see a complete manuscript before deciding whether or not to publish it. Sure, established authors can just submit proposals, but if you’re an unknown, the publisher will probably not pay you much attention without a finished manuscript. At the very least, they’re going to want the table of contents and some sample chapters.

Having a few chapters done is not enough. How will you know what direction your book will ultimately take? Maybe the first few chapters will end up being redundant, or need to be placed in a different order. And it’s very likely that they won’t be your best work if you haven’t seen how they fit within the larger context of what you’re trying to say. You will probably want to change the title, subtitle, description, etc. before the book is done. So why try to market something that is incomplete and going to change?

If you decide to self-publish, it’s even more important to have a finished product because self-publishing is a much quicker process. You can have a stack of copies in your possession within days of sending the book to the printer, and Amazon will often list it within a week or two. All the self-publishing routes (Lulu, Smashwords, etc.) have similar requirements for formatting, etc., so you really don’t need to select your self-publishing option until the book is basically done.

So, in case I haven’t been clear: Stay focused on writing your book. That’s the hardest part, and once you’ve got that done, there will be tons of options open to you. The publishing industry is evolving so quickly that it’s becoming easier to publish a book with every year that passes, so there is absolutely no reason to stress out about how to publish a book that you haven’t even written yet.

How Do You Know What to Write?

I think everyone has a book inside them. And every teacher I know has a teaching idea or perspective that deserves to be shared with the world. Don’t doubt yourself! Write what’s on your heart. Write what has to be written. Write the things that you will lay in bed at night thinking about if you don’t get them out on the page. Don’t worry about how it will be received yet; that part comes during for the editing process. Right now? Write.

Editing Your Manuscript

You will need to have your book professionally edited before you submit it to a publisher or try to self-publish it. Remember, you want your very best work to be shown to the world. It’s also helpful to have the perspective of an outside party who’s not personally invested in your book. It’s better to get brutal honesty from your editor than from Amazon reviewers after the book is published. (Ouch.)

Okay, Fine, Now Let’s Talk About Publishing

There are a lot of paths you can take to get your book into the hands of readers. The only one I would NOT recommend is using a vanity press, which is a company you pay to publish your book. That’s just not necessary in 2014.

One good option is to submit your book to some publishing houses in hopes of getting published. I’ve never gone that route as I wanted to have complete editorial control over my books and also did not want to share royalties with a publishing company. I hear that trying to get your book accepted in traditional publishing can be a lengthy, frustrating process, although it’s not nearly as painful for education books and I know quite a few teachers who have had their books published that way. There are a number of reputable education publishers who accept titles from new authors (including classroom teachers), so if you do your research, you may find something that works for you. You might want to check out Scholastic, Evan-Moor, Jossey-Bass, ASCD, Kagan, Eye on Education, etc. Although I do have connections with people at each of these publishing houses, I cannot recommend your book to any of them. I’m sorry!

Be sure to ask lots of questions about the royalty rate you will receive. There are some publishers (none that are listed above) that will pay teachers a very small flat rate for their book and then the company owns the content and never pays out another dime. You’d do far better selling your book as a PDF on TeachersPayTeachers or TeachersNotebook than taking a flat rate from a big publishing house. Don’t do it! You deserve to earn profits from your book every time it sells–and books in the education genre should continue to sell well for many years.

Another path is to start your own publishing company. This is what I chose to do. I started my own business for both publishing and consulting services and called it Due Season Press and Educational Services. I established a PO Box and DBA, bought a block of ISBNs, and set up an account with Lightning Source (which does Print-On-Demand printing and handles all book distribution.)  This was a relatively simple process that gives me full control over my books and cuts out the middle man: only Lightning Source and either Amazon or PayPal take a cut from my book sales. The other advantage is that I can do educational consulting and professional development services based on my books, all under one company that I own personally.

A third option–and probably the easiest, most common one–is to self-publish using Smashwords, Lulu, or another self-publishing service. Like starting your own publishing company, self-publishing also cuts out the middle man and maximizes your control and royalties. I don’t know a lot about the companies that offer these services, although I know many authors who have used Lulu and Smashwords, and most are pretty satisfied.

If you’re thinking about self-publishing, I highly recommend the book Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing by Catherine Ryan Howard. Catherine kindly sent me a review copy of the Kindle version and I was thrilled to see that she spells out exactly what to do if you want to self-publish your book (or more accurately, self-print: when you read the book, you’ll understand the difference). Her blog Catherine, Caffeinated is also extremely helpful and has all kinds of great tips for anyone wanting to self-publish a book. Both the book and the blog provide a lot of information about promoting and marketing your books.

What About eBooks?

Formatting your book for mobile readers is not optional. You need to do it, and it’s a terrific way to make more money from your books because the delivery cost is so much lower than with print copies. By the end of 2009, I was selling more eBooks than hard copies, and each year since then, the ratio of eBook sales to hard copy sales has increased dramatically.

I use a company called eBook Architects to format my books for Kindle (MOBI) and ePUB, although you can do it yourself (and the book Self-Printed that I recommend above will walk you through you through the steps.) I like eBook Architects because I know that the formatting has been correctly completed for every eReader device and there is a lifetime guarantee on their work, so if the formatting requirements change, they’ll fix the books.

Getting the Word Out About Your Books

Most writers (myself included) HATE having to promote and market their books. However, it’s a little known fact outside the publishing world that even if you have a big publishing house behind you, most of the promotion burden still falls on the author. Publishers rely heavily on authors to blog about their books, share them on social media, promote their book tours, etc. It’s a simple fact: no one cares about your book more than you, so you’ll need to be the one to help spread the word.

I’m assuming as you read this that your book is neither written nor published yet, which is actually good in terms of promotion. That gives you time to build up a platform for yourself and connect with others through a website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. That’s the subject of another article (I touch on it briefly on the Becoming and Educational Consultant page) but the number one thing to remember is this: share high quality content and do it because you enjoy doing so.

If you don’t give away good content on your website/blog, no one will be interested in reading your book. Potential readers need to know what you’re all about and how you write in order to be assured that the book will be valuable to them. Find a way to blog that is enjoyable to you: if it’s not, then you’ll feel like your book is a burden and you’ll get frustrated with the fact that no one is reading it.

Where Should I Sell My Books?

99% of my book sales are made online, either through my website or through Amazon. School systems and universities also buy my books, but they find me online, contact me online, and complete the transaction online. Book stores and teacher supply stores never factor into the equation.

There are literally millions of new books being published, and brick and mortar bookstores simply can’t stock them all. And in 2012, you really don’t NEED a book store to carry your book. Because they have the widest selection of titles and their prices are rock bottom, Amazon has the lion’s share of book sales (and it’s increasing every year). Use that to your advantage.

You may find that it’s worthwhile to visit teacher supply stores in your area to try to get them to stock your book, but it wasn’t worth it for me. I was told that my local store orders all its products a year in advance and I’d have to come back in 9 months to even make my pitch. I’m not interested in working within old-school systems like that and didn’t pursue it. That was in 2009, though, and perhaps things have changed. They also might be different in your area.

There are a few in-person opportunities that HAVE been fruitful for me. If you do consulting or professional development, that’s a great opportunity to promote your books and make sales. Education conferences can also serve as networking places and lead to sales. Try pitching to your school district and see if they’re interested in buying copies, as well.

When Do I Get Rich?

Probably never. But the great thing about writing education books is that they have a long shelf life. The hottest novel only makes the New York Times bestseller list for a short time and then it’s forgotten. But a good education reference book can continue to sell very well for a decade or more. I first published The Cornerstone in 2008 and every year it sells more copies than the year before. In fact, this is true of all three of my books: the more people who stumble across my website, the more book sales I get. And with 75% of teachers quitting within the first 5 years, there’s a whole new crop of potential readers coming up all the time. I don’t mean to sound glib about teacher retention, but there’s certainly no shortage of new teachers who are looking for ideas, and as a writer/publisher, this works strongly to your advantage.

The post How to get started writing and publishing a teaching book appeared first on Truth For Teachers.

Is it worth it to place ads on my site?

It can be, but you need to think very carefully about it. Ads are annoying to readers, so you should be compensated well for any advertisements that you place on your site. The idea is that you will have just a few ads that pay well instead of cluttering up your site with low paying ads.

By accepting ads on your site, you’re sharing your online reputation and  integrity, so think carefully about who you want to partner with. Having a company’s link on your site sends a message that you endorse and believe in that company, so be selective about who you work with. I did not accept any sponsors on this site for years, and then it took me several more years to get quality sponsors. I can say without a doubt that it was worth the wait. Set the precedent now that your website real estate is valuable. Sidebar and footer space is limited: use them to promote your own products or resources until you can attract worthwhile sponsors.

What affiliate programs can I use?

You can wade into the blog monetization waters through affiliate links. An affiliate program pays you a percentage of sales each time people click from your site to theirs and buy something. The most popular affiliate program is with Amazon. Each time someone clicks from an Amazon affiliate link on my site and buys a book I recommend (or any item, actually), I make a small percentage at no cost to them. It’s a wonderful program and you can make decent money with it.

The only other affiliate program I participate in is Teaching Blog Traffic School. But there are many more, so ask around and see what options you have. Keep in mind that the FTC requires you to have a disclosure policy on your site which clearly says there are affiliate links on your site and you make money from them when people click through. Failing to do this can result in your blog being disabled by your server.

Is Google AdSense worth using?

Yes, absolutely. I was skeptical at first, but as my traffic increases, so does my ad income. What I like about AdSense is that it’s easy to customize the look and size of the ads and inserting them into the site is easy. There’s even a free WordPress plugin that does it for you, called Why Do Work? I also like being able to track clicks and money earned in real time.

How can I get sponsors to buy ads on my education blog?

AdSense is a good first step: I advise new bloggers to begin with that. The next step is to set up a sponsor/ad rate page. I waited YEARS to do this and within a few hours of having the page up, I began to reap the benefits and wondered what took me so long to get it together! Actually, I know why I put it off–I had no idea what to charge.

I’ll address that below, but the short answer is this: pick a set of rates just to get that sponsor page going. You can (and should) adjust it over time to see what the market will bear. But without an ad rate page, you don’t have a starting point for negotiations.

Once you have an sponsor/ad rate page up, you can query different companies that you see advertising on other blogs in your niche and send them the link to your page for more info. When your site really gets going, you’ll have lots of email inquiries about purchasing links and ads on your site. Many of them won’t be legitimate, and you can weed those out by simply sending them a link to your ad page. The ones who aren’t interested in having a real business relationship will disappear.

How much should I charge for ads on a teaching blog?

Unfortunately, there is no guide for this or set standard. It’s really, really hard to figure out what’s fair and reasonable with some many variables in place: the niche, the readership, the traffic, type of content, etc.

Product reviews, guest posts, and other blog mentions are the most difficult to price. I see huge disparities in what bloggers charge even between people with similar traffic rankings in similar niches. Some people within a well-paying niche like mommy blogging do product reviews for free, some charge $50-$100, some charge $500, some charge thousands (seriously.)

As far as sidebar ads…this is the most transparent article I have found on the topic of pricing sidebar ads. Basically it says that if you have 500 site visitors a day, you can charge $50 per ad per month. That works for this blogger’s niche. However, every niche is different and education is a low-paying niche, in my experience. According to this article, I should be charging $400/month for a sidebar ad and I can’t imagine getting any takers on that right now.

I price according to what I think my blog space is worth. The most expensive thing you can buy on my site is a blog feature which is an entire post about a company’s site/product. Very few bloggers even have a page with rates for this, and only a handful of them are in the education community, so I had very little to work with when setting my rates. So I thought to myself, “How much money would I need to make for it to be worth subjecting allll of my readers to a post about someone else’s product? What amount of money would justify trading in my own voice and perspective to focus on a sponsor?” The answer for me was, a LOT! So I set the price high and stated outright on my sponsor/ad rate page that I would only take one sponsored post feature every six weeks (so as not to inundate my readers.) And I’ve had enough takers to stick to that schedule. It’s worked out really well, because I want quality, not quantity. I would rather have one paid blog post every three months for a lot of money than one every month for a little bit of money.

Here’s the way I see it: if you charge more, then you need fewer sponsors, which means fewer ads and fewer paid posts on your blog. Readers like that, and they come first.

Watch out for illegal ad and sponsorship requests!

Many organizations want to purchase text links not so that people will click through and discover their product/site, but just to use your page’s ranking and reputation as a “quality back link” to improve their search engine ranking. (The more high-quality sites that link to a website, the higher thatwebsite will show up in Google’s index.) They’ll ask to do a link exchange or a 2 for 1 link swap, in which you place one of their links on your site and they’ll place two of yours on their site. Both scenarios are against Google policies because they are considered manipulating page rank: placing links that are unrelated to your content with the intention of making money or falsely increasing a site’s reputation. Avoid at all costs.

If anyone asks to purchase a link on your site and offers a ridiculously small sum of money, be skeptical. They’re usually not representing legitimate sites and clients. If they say a paid link can’t use a “no follow” tag, tell them that’s against Google’s policy, and you’re not willing to have your page penalized for their ad. (Again, this is about passing on your page “juice” to other sites and manipulating their page rank.) All paid links on your site MUST use the “no follow” tag. If you don’t know what that means or how to do it, get yourself informed. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, and it’s something you need to know about if you want to make money from your blog.

A side note here about paid links embedded in content: be very careful with these. You know what I’m talking about: those times when you’re reading a website and part of the text is a link, but not to a real resource: it’s a link to an ad. Readers don’t like that. There are whole companies set up to embed content links in your site and you can register through them and make money, but your readers will notfeel comfortable clicking links on your site. They won’t know whether they’re going to another page on your site or to an off-site ad. They also won’t know if you linked to a resource because you like it or because you were paid to do it. Even if you use the bottom of a blog post to disclose the fact that you have paid links in your post (which you must do by law), readers don’t know WHICH links are the ads. Therefore, they won’t want to click ANY links, which means less click-throughs and traffic for you. My advice is to always keep paid links separated from content, clearly identified as sponsored links.

Do I have to disclose that I have ads on my site? Why?

YES! By federal law under the FTC, there MUST be a page on your site which tells that you accept ads and have affiliate links. If you get paid to include a link in a post or review a product, you have to tell your readers in that post. To me, this is common sense: you don’t want to mislead your readers, and it’s a policy I put in my place for myself long before 2009 when it became the law. Readers should know whether you are linking to or writing about something because you find it valuable or because you got paid to mention it. Trust is important, so always disclose any sort of compensation you get!

How am I supposed to learn all of this?

It’s a lot to take in, I know! I don’t mean to seem all scare-mongering about what the consequences for failing to follow Google or FTC guidelines for ads, but there are so many bloggers that haven’t heard about this stuff and need to know. It’s really important to read social media and marketing blogs to stay current with what’s going on. I don’t proclaim to know everything about the policies and legalities out there, but I’m sharing what I’ve learned so far. Keep in mind that information changes all the time, and ultimately each one of us is responsible for our own content and practices, so stay informed! Pretty much everything I know about monetizing a blog I learned from Googling. So if there is anything on this page you want to know more about, do a search and read other articles on the topic. The more perspectives you have, the better!

Remember that blogging is only one aspect of your revenue stream

Don’t expect to be able to pay your bills from being an education blogger. It’s not that kind of niche. Focus on creating great content that teachers enjoy reading and using. The ads and sponsors will eventually become a little bit of extra income each month, the icing on the cake. When you combine your ad and affiliate program income with resources you sell on sites like Teacher’s Notebook and Teachers Pay Teachers, THEN you can make good money.

Eventually you may be asked to write posts or columns for other websites, and those can slowly turn into offers for paid writing gigs (although most pay very, very little.) You might also be able to turn your expertise into a book, webinar, or professional development practice and do educational consulting, and you can definitely earn a living that way. There are lots of different possibilities for creating a solid income by creating and sharing things of value for teachers. Keep your focus on making great resources and maintaining your integrity, and the doors will open for you.

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