I have no fundamental qualms against the writing guru. This is, moreover, a common sideline for the fiction writer, at various levels. Almost everyone who writes fiction eventually reaches the point where they want to publicly talk or write about it.
Sometimes they do this on blogs and social media at no charge to the reader. (That’s kind of what I’m doing here.)
Some feel they have so much to say that it justifies a paid book or course.
Nothing fundamentally wrong with that, either. I’ve spoken highly of the writing books of Jessica Brody and Johnny Truant, among others.
Sometimes, however, the fiction writer decides/discovers that aspiring writers provide a far more lucrative market than potential readers.
These are the gurus I would urge you to beware of.
How do you recognize them? They are almost always the ones pushing conspicuously high-dollar courses, “mentorships”, etc.
Over the years, I have landed on the mailing lists of a number of these folks. Just this morning, I received an email sales pitch for a $2,000 “mentorship” arrangement that, when you broke it down to its substance, was pretty thin gruel.
When assessing these various offers in the marketplace, use your common sense. Don’t spend hundreds of dollars for basic material/knowledge that is freely available on YouTube. Caveat emptor.
-ET