Writera Bureau

[smartharsh]

I was looking for some writing help online, came across this website.

(http://http://www.writersbureau.com/)http://www.writersbureau.com/

They provide courses to improve your writing etc.

Dont know how good they are, do anyone of you has any idea about it??

[MichaelB]

According to the website, they're accredited by the distance learning quality-control council, and have been in operation for 20 years.

HOWEVER, typing "writers bureau" into Google brings up the autocomplete search "writers bureau scam". Apparently (http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2007/11/bull-of-the-week-watchdog-bans.html) they have run misleading ads, and there are several anonymous internet users (http://board.sitcom.co.uk/thread/9450) who have cited bad experiences with the course.

On the other hand, this writer (http://indianfreelancewriters.blogspot.com/2009/04/writers-bureau-course-review-and-faqs.html) liked them. So it's really a matter of looking up what others have said about them: did they think it was worth it? From what I've seen the overwheming message seems to be "it's only worth it if you have tons of motivation, lots of free time and almost no experience as a writer."

Also, since the course is £270, I would do lots of research and think long and hard about whether or not you want to do it. As was mentioned in that Indian writer's article, much of what the course gives you is available for free online if you know where to look.

[AXJ]

Zing.

Yep, sounds scammy to me. IMO good writing can't really be taught in a course. I know people who have spent tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars getting an MFA in Creative Writing from an established college but still never (ever) getting published. And TBH their work isn't really any stronger for their education, IMO. I've seen bettter work posted here on NiH by people with no formal creative writing education at all.

Go look up the educational background of your favorite authors. I think you'll find that most didn't study creative writing formally. I see a lot of writers with Literature degrees, but not many with MFAs.

Personally, I think you're much better off keeping your money and instead hanging out someplace like this, posting up your stuff, and listening to what people have to say with as open a mind as you can manage. I know my writing has gotten significantly better thanks to this.

[Dwiesel McAllister]

^Ditto.