Mastered: Bloggers doing it for themselves

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So I had a feeling 2014 was going to be a big year for blogging and I was right. Some of my blog buddies have achieved huge things this year, for starters, look how many fashion bloggers are writing books. Not e-books, but big printed things full of that weird stuff called paper. Susie Bubble is working on her second book (if you count Style Feed which she contributed to), while Sasha Wilkins/Liberty London Girl has just sent her convivial cookery book to print. (Could she be the next Martha Stewart? Don’t underestimate her). Meanwhile, Alyson from That’s Not My Age announced her book deal last week, she’s penning a style book for women over forty. And how cool is Kit Lee and Shini Park’s DIY book, Adorn? Like their Instagram feed in print form, it’s stuffed full of their signature styling and DIY tricks.

On the beauty side, Tanya Burr launched a make-up line earlier this year and this one I love, Jane Cunningham at British Beauty Blogger just produced her third beauty box with Latest in Beauty. All 2000 boxes sold out in 24 hours. Yes way! Jane’s blog even crashed under the weight of all the clicks. But wait, are you surprised? Because I’m not. I think people buy her boxes because they know how thoroughly she researches products so there’s a big trust there. What Jane also proves is that if you’re a blogger with an audience and you have the balls, then you should pitch your killer ideas to brands and make them happen. You may have to try one, two, three, or thirty attempts, but clearly blogs have clout and brands want access to some of that credibility.

This all brings me neatly to tout my own project. I recently worked with Mastered, an online fashion tutorial company, to produce a course on how to elevate your blog so you can work with brands you love on projects that you have pitched. This is where I think we are now. Bloggers are content creators so why not take those skills to the people who can pay for them (if you want to monetise your blog, of course)?

The Fashion Blogs: Making Money From Brand Collaborations course is a mixture of video, written content, exercises, tasks and case studies to encourage bloggers to come up with original projects that are relevant to their niche and the brands they want to work with. I’ve particularly focused on building meaningful, long term relationships with relevant brands as I think those are the most fruitful collaborations. As part of this course, students get individual feedback from the experts, access to a personal business coach and a chance to share work and network with their course mates online. There are other courses on fashion-related subjects including fashion illustration, couture embellishment and millinery.

My course has just gone live so for more info, watch the trailer below, and to find out how to get a one-hour free trial of my course, click here.