You have a teaching method sitting in a drawer. A book of exercises you’ve been using with your students for years. A collection of scales, etudes, transcriptions you’ve refined lesson after lesson. That material has real value — and you could be selling it online, directly from your own website. No marketplace, no commissions, no technical headaches.
What you can sell (more than you think)
When people hear “sell online,” they immediately think of Amazon, Gumroad, or Etsy. But the kind of product a musician or music teacher can create is far more specific — and far more valuable — than what you’ll find on those digital shelves.
Here’s what you can start selling today:
- Teaching methods and exercise books — That system you’ve developed over the years for teaching positions, intonation, phrasing. If it works with your students, it will work with others.
- Scores, compositions, transcriptions, arrangements — Transcriptions for unusual ensembles, arrangements of well-known pieces for your instrument, original compositions. Material that other colleagues are looking for and can’t find.
- Audio and video lesson recordings — A recorded masterclass, a series of video lessons on a specific topic, demonstration recordings of your exercises.
- Bundles and packages — Combine multiple products: method + demonstration audio + video lesson. The perceived value goes up, and so does the price.
- Specialized technical guides — “How to Prepare for an International Competition,” “Guide to Orchestra Auditions,” “10 Exercises for Performance Anxiety.” Your experience, organized and accessible.
The principle is simple: if you’ve explained it fifty times in person, it’s ready to become a digital product.
How to create a professional PDF
You don’t need to be a graphic designer. You don’t need expensive software. You just need a bit of attention to presentation — the same care you put into preparing a concert program.
For text-based content
The simplest path starts with what you already have: Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Write your content, format it with headings and paragraphs, then export as PDF. That’s it. It’s free, and the result is more than respectable.
If you want something more polished, Canva (free basic version) offers professional templates: you can create eye-catching covers, lay out content with columns and images, add your logo. All without writing a single line of code.
For scores and musical material
If you use MuseScore (free), Finale, or Sibelius, you already have everything you need. These programs export directly to PDF with professional quality. The score you see on screen is exactly what the buyer will receive.
Practical tips for a PDF that sells
- Cover page — Even a simple one, but with a clear title, your name, and a visual element. It’s the first thing the buyer sees.
- Table of contents — If the document is over 10 pages, a table of contents isn’t optional. It’s professionalism.
- Page size — Letter for the U.S. market, A4 for Europe. If you sell to both, prepare two versions or use A4 (it works everywhere).
- Page numbers — Small detail, big impression.
- Your name and website on every page — A discreet footer with your URL. Anyone who shares a single page will always know where it came from.
How to create an ebook (and when it makes sense)
A PDF is perfect for scores, technical sheets, and anything with a fixed layout. But for longer texts — a discursive method book, a guide, a manual — the ePub format offers a better reading experience: the text adapts to the screen, readers can change font size, and it works on any device.
How to create one
- Apple Pages (free on Mac) — Write your text and choose File > Export > ePub. Done.
- Microsoft Word — Write in Word, then use Calibre (free, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux) to convert your .docx to ePub.
- Calibre — Beyond converting, it lets you add a cover, metadata, and verify that the ePub is properly formatted.
PDF or ePub? The practical rule
- Scores, exercises with specific layouts, technical sheets → PDF (the layout must stay exactly as it is)
- Discursive texts, guides, long manuals → ePub (more comfortable to read on tablets and phones)
- When in doubt → offer both formats. Let the buyer choose.
What to write: concrete ideas to get unstuck
“I don’t have anything to sell” is the phrase I hear most often. And it’s almost always wrong. The material is already there — it just needs organizing.
- Turn your lesson notes into a method — Those pages you print for your students, those exercises you write by hand on staff paper. Collect them, put them in order, add the explanations you give verbally. You have a method.
- Gather the exercises you’ve been using for years — If you use them repeatedly with different students, they work. Group them by level or topic, write a couple of lines of instructions for each. You have an exercise book.
- Document your approach — The way you teach positions, your warm-up routine, your method for learning a new piece. Your experience is unique — and someone is looking for it.
- Transcribe that piece that doesn’t exist — If you transcribed or arranged something because you couldn’t find the right edition, you’re probably not the only one who looked for it.
The golden rule: if you’ve already made it for your students, it’s already a product. You just need to package it.
How to sell it from your website
You have the product. You have the PDF or ePub. Now the question becomes: where do I put it up for sale?
The PayPal button option
Many colleagues use a simple PayPal button on their website. It works, but the limitations are obvious: no browsable catalog, no shopping cart (the buyer purchases one product at a time), no product page with a description and preview, no control over the buying experience.
The marketplace option
Platforms like Gumroad or Sellfy handle everything — payment, download, invoicing — but at a cost: commissions on every sale (5% to 10%), the buyer leaves your site to purchase elsewhere, and the branding is theirs, not yours. You’re building on rented land.
The solution: a storefront built into your website
The alternative is an e-commerce module integrated directly into your website: a catalog with product pages, a shopping cart, a secure payment system — all inside your site, with your design, your logo, your messaging.
The advantage is threefold:
- The buyer never leaves your site — From the product preview to checkout, the experience is consistent and professional.
- No sales commissions — You only pay the payment gateway’s transaction fees, not a percentage to the platform.
- Self-service management — Add products, update prices, upload files from the same dashboard you use to manage the rest of your site.
Starting this month, websites powered by uwAdmin can integrate a product catalog with a shopping cart thanks to uwEasyShop, our e-commerce module. No external marketplaces, no commissions: everything inside your website, with the same simplicity as always.
Your next step
You don’t need to have everything ready tomorrow. Start with the material you already have: a method, an exercise book, a collection of transcriptions. Turn it into a polished PDF. Put it up for sale on your website.
The first product is always the hardest. From the second one on, the process becomes natural — because you’re already creating the material every day, in your work as a teacher and musician. You just need to take the extra step of making it available to the world.
Have teaching materials you’d like to sell online? If you want to find out how to integrate them into your website, let’s talk.