Today I have an odd one for you that requires a little out of the box thinking. This company has a few really cool ways to make money writing and it’s not difficult to break into it even if you are new to freelance writing in general. It’s called Tuts+ and it’s got great potential.

This is not a site that offers a list of articles for you to write. It’s an education site that needs experts to write their content for them. That is your job and if you do it well you will be well compensated for the work.

What is Tuts+?

Tuts+ is primarily an educational company that specializes in the creation of tutorials, ebooks, and courses to teach people various skills within the technology and business world. These include everything from web design and coding to finance and marketing topics. There are also courses on do-it-yourself projects and classes.

Tuts+ is thriving and, according to their website, reaches more than 5 million people per month. That is an impressive market any way you look at it. This company has become one of the top go-to companies for training and development.

The methodology here is simple: You want to learn a skill so you sign up for an account with the company. You look over the options for your desired skill and choose to read an ebook, take a video course, study a tutorial or any combination of those methods. There is a brief free sample and after you have selected your products you buy them. Then you learn the material and the process is complete.

Getting started at Tuts+

Sign up with the company for your free $14 day trial and look around. Normally I would not suggest this but it really does help to look at the free offerings to get a good feel for the place. If you cancel before the 14 days is up your card will not be charged.

Take a course or two to get the best idea of what Tuts+ is looking for in material. There are plenty of free ones that will allow you to learn something new while you are investigating the place. Pay attention to things like tone, length of the tutorials and the flow of the content.

This will also help you in determining what it is that you would be writing about in terms of subject matter. If you have expertise in things other than writing this would be a great fit as you will be able to write about those areas and be paid well for your experience and knowledge.

The first approach to money: Become a Tut+ Author

One way to approach Tuts+ is to write articles about the various courses that the company uses to introduce the course to prospective students. These articles are designed to give the prospective student enough information to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy the course. There are also necessary marketing articles and after you have written a number of introduction articles then you may be asked to write some of the marketing articles.

This is a great opening into the company and you can get started right on their website by pitching an article to them. Just click on the link to teach at Tuts+ and follow the instructions on the next page.

The second approach to money: Create a tutorial

This is a little more involved than writing an article. Okay, in reality it’s a lot more involved but it goes along great with many of the articles written here about focusing on your previous skills and experiences outside the field of writing. It also pays well.

Essentially what you are doing here is creating a long how-to article that will teach a particular skill to a student through written material. It needs to be greatly detailed, aimed at the skill level of potential students and give them everything necessary to complete the advertised task.

This is one area where Tuts+ excels in teaching their students. Often adults need to learn a particular, but limited skill set. They don’t need a wide variety or in depth information. As an example, a tutorial on how to set up a Word Press website would be a particular skill that a student might need to learn but they don’t need to take a time consuming class that teaches coding, Java etc. A tutorial on how to set up the Word Press website is just what they need and will save them both time and money. This extends to virtually every aspect of every business. People want a singular skill without the extras piled on with it.

You pitch a tutorial in the same manner that you pitch an article.

The third approach to money: Teach a course

This is a lot more involved but it pays better as well. You create a video course and teach a class in it. Again, this is a great way to merge your existing skills into your new freelance writing career. Please don’t limit yourself to writing on this. Look at your past work experience, hobbies and any other skill or specialized knowledge that you have obtained over your lifetime for tutorial and course ideas. Check out what is offered already and see if you can add to what is there.

These courses are pitched in the same manner as the articles and tutorials.

How to Pitch

At the bottom of the Tuts+ page there is a link to Teach at Tuts+. Follow it and you will see a nicely laid out page with two options, Teach a course or create a tutorial. Select one and you will land on a page asking for information about you. The pages are similar and you can pitch more than one idea at a time. From there you will wait until they contact you. It’s short and simple to get started with Tuts+.

Pitching articles is a little more involved. There are two ways to do this. The first is to send them an email with your pitch. This is probably the easiest way to pitch an article. The second method is to enter the search term “Articles” at the top of their page. Then scroll down to their latest request for articles and click on it. Follow the instructions presented. This is generally the best way to pitch your first article. Afterwards you can just email them your pitches to make the process easier.

Getting paid

This is the good part. The average payment is around $100 for a short tip tutorial and $250 for a standard tutorial. There is a sliding scale from here and it’s not unusual for those who have been with the company to exceed $1000 a month in earnings. There is more money to be made in video courses and ebooks so it’s worth it to get involved with this company on an in depth basis.

That’s all there is to Tuts+. It’s certainly a company worth investigating if you are looking for a long term online writing company that pays well. This is also a great way to get involved with technical writing and lay a firm foundation for future technical writing gigs.