How To Self-Publish Homeschool Curriculum: 5 Steps

Deciding to self-publish homeschool curriculum is a tremendous way to not only bring your expertise to a wider audience, but use your voice for the good of the next generation. 

According to the Washington Post, home schooling has risen from a fringe idea to the fastest-growing form of education. This results in ample opportunity for new homeschool curriculum to be published, marketed, and purchased. 

If you are an aspiring author with a desire to make a positive impact in today’s school system, it’s time to discuss your gateway into homeschool curriculum—self-publishing!

Homeschool curriculum: what’s covered 

• How to write your own homeschool curriculum?
• How to sell your own homeschool curriculum?
• How does self-publishing work?
• How much does it cost to self-publish?

How to write your own homeschool curriculum?

Writing homeschool curriculum in a way that targets your audience’s specific needs means engaging in the appropriate research and focusing on your unique skill set. Curriculum covers an array of topics, from literature to politics to business. 

Where you fit depends on your unique background and expertise. Follow these five steps to help you make money publishing curriculum on Amazon.

1. Consider your long-term goals 

Before setting out on your self-publishing journey, it’s crucial to look at your long-term goals. Do you want to write a specific textbook and then move on to other book genres? Do you want to write homeschool curriculum for the foreseeable future?

In college, I had a professor who taught the abstract, nuanced art of argumentation. We studied his textbook on the topic (and many of us showed up at his office door after class for further learning).

He is brilliant in his field, and most of his books focus on rhetoric. He loves this topic, and while he does deviate into other, semi-related fields, this is his focus. You could follow a similar path, writing curriculum on one key topic for an array of students.

2. Conduct market research 

This phrase may feel scientific and a bit overwhelming, but there are organizations that can help you with your endeavors. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends you seek to answer several questions with your research. 

Try to find answers to the demand for your textbook, market size, market saturation, and pricing of your textbook:

• Demand: Is there a desire for the textbook you want to write?
• Market size: How many homeschool teachers would be interested? 
• Market saturation: What other options are similar to yours? Ex: previous textbooks or recorded video lessons.
• Pricing: What do those in your market currently pay?

Answering these questions will help as you begin marketing your textbook later on. For example, if you want to write a book on how to do your own taxes, your market saturation will likely be low, and your demand high. 

But, if you want to write a history book on early America, your market size could be high but your demand will be low (there are many textbooks on American history).

3. Assess your areas of expertise 

Remember my college professor I mentioned earlier? He had been on faculty at my college since before I was born, speaking and teaching on rhetoric and a few other fields of interest. This is his area of expertise. It is what he pours his life into. You may not be on faculty at a college (or maybe you are!), but chances are high you have a specific area of expertise. 

When determining what homeschool curriculum to write, ask yourself: 

• What could I discuss at length?
• What questions do others bring to me?
• What is my educational background?
• What have I learned outside of education? 

You may not have a PhD, but that doesn’t mean you don’t hold the credibility to write homeschool curriculum. Your individuality alone sets you apart to present topics in a fresh way. 

Alright, you have set your long-term goals. You know the market and what types of books your readers need. You understand the current demand for your book. You have pinpointed your areas of expertise. Now it’s time to move on to the final two steps.

How to sell your own homeschool curriculum?

One of the easiest ways to sell homeschool curriculum is by self-publishing on Amazon. Amazon is a streamlined process that allows you to put your book into the marketplace and receive significant royalties. Amazon also makes it easy for homeschool teachers to find and purchase your curriculum. 

4. Plan and write your curriculum 

To sell your curriculum you must first write the textbook. Just as there are various plot structures to play around with, there are many ways to organize a textbook. 

Before writing your curriculum, plan ahead by answering a few questions: 

• What age group am I writing for?
• How long should my chapters/sections be?
• What format is simplest for learning and retention? 

If you decide to write an overview of world history, planning to write chronologically will help students retain dates and grasp the time period of events. 

If you decide to write a book on public speaking, you may want to consider writing shorter segments and focusing much of the textbook on teaching the student ways to practice what they learn. A good example of this is Chip and Dan Heath’s book, Made to Stick. 

Once you plan your book, it’s time to sit down and write. Don’t neglect to hire a book editor before you upload to Amazon and click publish!

5. Self-publish your book

There are many ways to self-publish your book, but perhaps the most straightforward avenue is to work with a company who walks writers through the path to publishing success. 

Here is a condensed checklist of what to ensure you cover as you self-publish your curriculum:

• Hire a professional editor 
• Work with a great cover designer 
• Create standout marketing materials 
• Write copy for your Amazon details page
• Build a book launch team
• Market your book

Once you self-publish your book, you are officially an author of homeschool curriculum. Well done! Don’t forget to continue your marketing efforts to increase your sales, bring in passive income, and allow a wider pool of students to benefit from your work.

Curriculum marketing tips

You can make use of the general marketing tactics described above, but you can also lean into the specific niche you are writing to—the homeschool market. There are many homeschool conventions where you can market your book.

If you have a background in public speaking, inquire whether you can join a panel discussion or lead a workshop. Bring your books and offer it for sale at your book table. Cities often host extra-curricular groups geared for home schoolers as well. These can include sports teams, theater groups, and more.

Let’s say you wrote a textbook on 14th century literature and discover a local homeschool group is putting on the play, Robin Hood. This is a perfect time to ask the director if you can come in and speak to the students. Bonus points if parents purchase your book for next year’s curriculum!

How does self-publishing work?

If the above intrigued you, it’s important to note that self-publishing enables you to write and publish your book on your own timeline, without the guidance of a traditional publisher. This means you retain complete creative control.

While writing curriculum may not feel as creative a publishing path as writing a novel, there are many creative aspects of the self-publishing journey. When you decide to self-publish your curriculum, you get the final say over your book cover design, book marketing materials, and even the date of your book’s release. 

Self-publishing works in your favor in that it allows you to publish faster and bring in higher royalties as well. First, while you forego your author advance (money the publisher agrees to pay you at the sale of your book), your royalties are typically much higher than they would be with a traditional publisher. 

Second, self-publishing helps you get your message out into the world in a timely manner. Especially for trending topics and important changes in the world, it’s vital that homeschool curriculum (or any curriculum) be up to date. Students need to learn current information from quality textbooks, and when you self-publish homeschool curriculum, you play an important role in fulfilling this need.

How much does it cost to self-publish?

Drumroll please…because you can self-publish a book at zero financial cost! Amazon allows you to upload and publish a book for free. Plus, with resources such as Canva, you can create all your marketing materials at no cost. Canva even offers a plethora of book cover templates you can use for inspiration. 

That said, it may be worth considering investing a bit in self-publishing your homeschool curriculum. If you conducted credible market research and engaged in strong marketing efforts, you’re likely to earn back your investment anyway. 

Investing in your book is investing in your future self. If you’re unsure how to appropriately invest in your book or where to turn to for guidance, you are welcome to chat with our team of experts via a free call. 

Homeschool curriculum: take your next step

Now that you know how to write and self-publish your curriculum, it’s time to take your next step and actually outline your textbook. If this sounds overwhelming, not to worry! Simply use our free Book Outline Generator to help you get started. Fine-tune your generated outline and then get to writing. It’s time to publish your homeschool curriculum!