Where Can I Publish My Course? A Comprehensive Guide

Creating a course is just half the battle. Finding the right platform to publish and distribute your educational content significantly impacts your reach, revenue, and overall success as a course creator. This article explores various options for course publication, helping you make an informed decision based on your specific needs.

Understanding Your Course Publication Options

The digital education landscape offers numerous paths for course creators. Each platform comes with distinct advantages, potential drawbacks, and unique audience characteristics. Your choice ultimately depends on factors like your technical expertise, marketing capabilities, revenue goals, and the nature of your course content.

Major Course Marketplace Platforms

Marketplace platforms provide ready-made infrastructure and built-in audiences, making them attractive options for many course creators, particularly those just starting out.

Udemy stands as one of the largest course marketplaces with over 40 million students worldwide. The platform handles marketing and technical aspects while providing access to a massive audience. However, this convenience comes with significant revenue sharing – Udemy takes between 50-75% of your course sales depending on how students discover your course. Pricing constraints also limit premium positioning, as most courses sell between $10-20 during frequent platform-wide sales.

Skillshare focuses on creative and practical skills with a subscription-based model rather than individual course purchases. Instructors earn based on minutes watched, which can benefit engaging content creators but may challenge those teaching complex subjects requiring focused rather than lengthy instruction.

For business-oriented and professional development courses, LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) offers a prestigious platform with corporate audience reach. Access requires invitation to publish, establishing a quality threshold that enhances credibility but limits accessibility for new instructors.

Specialized Learning Management Systems

For more control over your course experience, dedicated learning management systems (LMS) platforms offer customizable solutions without the constraints of marketplaces.

Teachable provides a user-friendly platform for creating, marketing, and selling courses with your own branding. The platform handles payment processing and technical infrastructure while allowing pricing freedom and direct student relationships. Pricing models include monthly fees plus transaction costs, with advanced marketing tools available on higher-tier plans.

Thinkific offers similar functionality with stronger focus on course design and student engagement features. The platform emphasizes building learning communities and provides robust analytics for understanding student progress and engagement patterns.

Podia takes an all-in-one approach by combining courses, digital downloads, and membership features in a single platform. This versatility particularly benefits creators with diverse product offerings beyond standalone courses.

Self-Hosted Course Options

For maximum control and ownership, self-hosted solutions offer complete autonomy over your course business.

WordPress with LearnDash or LifterLMS plugins transforms your existing WordPress site into a fully-featured course platform. This approach provides complete customization freedom and eliminates ongoing revenue sharing. However, it requires greater technical knowledge or development resources for implementation and maintenance. Learn more about the benefits and challenges of self-hosted course platforms in this comprehensive comparison of WordPress LMS options.

Custom-built platforms represent the highest level of control and customization. Major course creators sometimes develop proprietary platforms tailored to their specific needs, though this approach requires significant development investment and ongoing technical support.

Emerging Distribution Channels

Beyond traditional course platforms, innovative distribution channels continue to emerge.

Community platforms like Circle, Mighty Networks, and Discourse increasingly incorporate learning features. These platforms emphasize relationship-building alongside educational content, particularly beneficial for courses requiring strong community support or accountability.

Some creators leverage existing content platforms like YouTube for free content distribution, using those platforms to build audience while monetizing through complementary offers or premium content hosted elsewhere. This “freemium” approach builds trust through accessible content before inviting students to paid offerings.

For visual or hands-on instruction, platforms like Patreon or Substack enable direct supporter relationships for ongoing educational content. These membership models work particularly well for creators regularly producing new content rather than selling fixed-length courses.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Course

The ideal publishing platform aligns with your specific course characteristics and business goals. Consider these critical factors in your decision-making process:

Audience access vs. revenue share represents perhaps the most significant tradeoff. Marketplace platforms offer immediate access to established audiences but take substantial commission percentages. Independent platforms provide higher revenue per sale but require self-directed marketing to generate traffic and enrollments.

Technical complexity vs. customization freedom presents another important consideration. Hosted solutions offer turnkey setup with limited customization, while self-hosted options provide extensive customization at the cost of increased technical requirements.

Pricing control and positioning varies significantly between platforms. Marketplaces often impose pricing constraints or expectations, while independent platforms allow premium positioning and flexible pricing strategies including subscriptions, payment plans, or tiered offerings.

Ownership of student relationships differs dramatically between options. Marketplace platforms typically restrict direct communication with students and control the customer relationship, while independent platforms enable direct communication and relationship-building opportunities.

For many course creators, the journey involves progression through multiple platforms. You might start on marketplaces to validate concepts and build initial audience, then transition to independent platforms as your course business matures. This multi-platform strategy can maximize benefits while minimizing drawbacks of any single approach.

Learn more about developing a comprehensive distribution strategy for your courses on our course promotion strategy guide where we discuss platform selection as part of a broader marketing approach.

Platform-Specific Optimization Strategies

Once you’ve selected a platform, optimizing your course for that specific environment becomes crucial for success.

For marketplace platforms, understanding algorithm factors and search optimization becomes paramount. Effective keyword research, compelling thumbnail design, and strategic course positioning significantly impact visibility. Regular content updates signal relevance to marketplace algorithms, while encouraging positive reviews and high completion rates improves ranking signals.

On independent platforms, conversion optimization takes center stage. Creating compelling sales pages, implementing effective email sequences, and developing upsell pathways can dramatically improve enrollment rates. Pricing psychology and offer structuring require careful testing and refinement based on your specific audience.

Self-hosted solutions demand attention to technical performance and user experience. Page loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and intuitive navigation directly impact student satisfaction and completion rates. Regular technical maintenance prevents disruptive issues that might compromise learning experiences.

Beyond Traditional Course Platforms

Innovation continues expanding course distribution possibilities. Some emerging approaches include:

Enterprise licensing arrangements where organizations purchase access for employees or members. This B2B approach changes distribution dynamics and often enables premium pricing beyond individual consumer thresholds.

White-label arrangements with organizations that rebrand your course under their identity. This approach leverages existing audience relationships while reducing personal marketing requirements.

Mixed-media distribution combines traditional courses with complementary formats like books, podcasts, or live events. This approach creates multiple entry points to your educational ecosystem while diversifying revenue streams.

Conclusion: Making Your Platform Decision

The “right” publishing platform depends entirely on your specific situation, goals, and resources. Many successful course creators maintain presence across multiple platforms, leveraging each for its particular strengths.

Rather than viewing platform selection as a permanent decision, consider it an evolving component of your educational business strategy. As your course catalog grows and your audience develops, your optimal distribution approach will likely evolve as well.

Remember that the most brilliant course content remains valuable only when it reaches the right students. Thoughtful platform selection creates the crucial bridge between your expertise and the learners who need it most.