Why I Won't Buy Courses from Successful Writers

And what do I do instead?

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I subscribe to someone I love to learn from. 

It’s someone who already succeeded in writing online. 

The next day I suddenly start getting tons of mails trying to sell me a super-expensive writing course. 

It’s supposed to teach me how this writer wrote every day on Medium 2+ years ago and made 5 figures a month. 

What?!!

Thanks, but no thanks! 

Courses. That’s how these writers make money now. Not by writing. 

Because most of them never adapted. All platforms are different now, especially Medium. 

None of them is showing recent results. 

But I won’t buy these outdated courses. Honestly, I don’t wanna hear about the 5 figures they made monthly from Medium before 2023. 

We’re in a different reality right now. And we have AI in the scene. None of them talks about it. 

There’s a big pink elephant in the room and no one talks about it. 

Let’s just ignore it. 

Or worse: blame it for ruining the writing craft. 

Why? 

Because they’re busy selling overpriced courses about what’s been working years ago. 

Fair enough. 

I respect that. 

I just won’t buy their courses, because:

• they’re super expensive — that’s what they’ll teach you: to sell high tickets. 

• they’re outdated — they’re based on successes in the past that cannot be replicated in today’s environment 

• everything inside is already available in these writer’s stories online 

How do I know that? 

Because I already bought some of those courses *guilty* 

But I love these writers. 

And I love their writing. 

That’s why I don’t think it was a waste of money. I still got some takeaways. 

I just feel they’re highly overpriced and somewhat overrated. 

So what do you do instead? 

Two things:

1. Learn from big writers 

2. If I ever want to buy, then buy from newbies 

3. Test and learn

Confused? 

Here’s the thing: You can still learn from big writers. 

But you don’t need to buy their courses to hear what they have to say. 

All you need is to see what they do.

Learn from big writers

I’ll say that again: 

Don’t listen to what they say, find out what they do.

I research them. 

I find their profiles and read their early writing. I map their strategies. Then I decide if I can apply any of the tactics for myself. 

Buy from newbies who have small successes

That’s what you need to buy if you’re into buying. 

Why? 

Few reasons:

• There’s a lot of knowledge that’s actually applicable

• Prices are reasonable 

• There’s more value packed inside. 

As new writers, they try to walk the extra mile and exceed expectations. I love that. 

Test and learn

I build my strategy on data. I love proof. I work to prove every concept.

Most of the advice is not directly applicable. 

You need to adapt it to your own style, niche, and audience. I learned that in my 9–5. 

That’s why I decided to walk this path of learning by doing. 

I walk the talk. 

Here’s what I learned from my writing journey so far on Medium:

I Analyzed My 200+ Medium Articles by Lifetime Earnings!
And I had some shocking discoveries...yanagy.substack.com

Thanks for reading!