In today’s Publetariat Dispatch, author Virginia Ripple offers tips on where writers can get low-cost and free training.

I’ve blogged about using a training  budget before, but sometimes you may find your budget is hovering  around $0. What do you do then? Spend time trolling through other  author’s blogs, especially those who offer eBooks (and other types of  media) covering topics you’re interested in, and prowling over social  media networks. There are three things to be gained from this.

1. Free information from the blog itself–  Most blogs are free to read and easy to subscribe to by RSS or email.  If you’re a savvy reader, you can pick up how-to info from author blogs  whether the author is trying to teach their readers or not. Sometimes  it’s obvious, like from http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/”>Kristen  Lamb’s blog in which she teaches on how to build a killer author  platform using social media. Other times it’s a matter of noticing what  the blogger is not saying. Same goes for other social media  like Twitter and Facebook. Find authors you want to learn from and  follow them. Read enough blogs, tweets, status updates, etc. and you’ll  learn an astounding amount about whatever it is you’re interested in.
2. Discounts are there to be had— I’m one of those people who rarely buys anything as soon as I see it.  I hate buyer’s remorse. That means I’ll wait around until the book or  service I want goes on sale. For instance, I really wanted to by http://www.problogger.net/”>Darren Rowse’s http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/”>31  Days to Build a Better Blog as soon as I saw it on his site. However,  there were no excerpts to read to know exactly what was in the book and I  wasn’t sure my budget would handle yet another bad buy. (FYI this eBook  is one of the better training buys I’ve purchased in several months.)I  waited to buy the eBook until I read a tweet that said a group called http://www.thesitsgirls.com/”>the  SITS Girls were signing up women bloggers to take the 31 Days to Build a  Better Blog challenge and Darren was discounting the price of the eBook  for all those who signed up. Jackpot! Not only could I get the eBook at  a discounted price, but I would have a large group of women to work  with. Waiting can be hard, but it’s worth it when you get what you want  at a price you can afford.
3. Sometimes a freebie is just a click away — Another author I truly admire is http://www.jakonrath.com/”>J.A.  Konrath. He has found a way to make very good money on his eBooks  through Amazon’s Kindle store, so, naturally, I follow http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/”>his blog closely. He also has an eBook called http://www.amazon.com/Newbies-Publishing-Everything-Writer-ebook/dp/B003I6496Y“>The  Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, which, like 31 Days to Build a Better  Blog, I really wanted. The price wasn’t bad, but, again, no excerpts.  Then I discovered that Joe has made the eBook available for free on his  website. (Thanks, Joe!) Voila! A little research and I had my eBook for  free in a version I can read on any laptop, computer or eReader. That  won’t be the case for every book or training series you might want, but  it’s worth a little “foot work” to see if it’s out there (and not a  pirated version!).

Finding what you need can take some time, but it’s worth it for good training.

Where have you discovered a great deal?

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Edge of Eternity blog.