The notes you take in class can be used for more than just passing the subject. On the Internet, there are platforms where you can sell your notes. Today we are going to see how to monetize that material that every student generates - to a lesser or greater extent - throughout each course.

In recent years, platforms have emerged where users can upload all kinds of documents and earn money every time someone downloads them. Most of them are aimed at college students, who thus get extra money for something they usually do: take notes in class.

The process to sell your study notes is simple. You register, choose your university, and the degree you are studying, upload your notes, the platform makes them available to the public and you earn money every time a user downloads them.

What kind of material can I share?

Anyone that you consider useful for the rest of the students: notes, papers, exercises, or solved exams... As a student, you know better than anyone what can help your classmates. 

How much do you earn selling notes?

It depends on two factors: the platform you choose (each one monetizes differently) and the quality of your notes. The better the material you offer, the more positive feedback and downloads you will have. Generally, they all reward fidelity in some way, so I advise you to study each one carefully, choose the one that suits you best and focus on it instead of scattering your notes throughout the Web.

Unybook

Unybook offers the user free or paid downloads (after viewing an advertising video). Here your profit is determined by your user profile, which establishes different percentages depending on the profit generated by the material.

To earn money with your notes in Unybook you must contact them in advance and wait for them to evaluate your profile. You can upload files without telling them anything, but in that case, you won't charge for downloads. The files must be sent in PDF format.

You can request payment in Unybook from €15 by bank transfer or through Paypal. The request must be made between the 1st and 5th of each month since they are processed between the 6th and 10th.

Stuvia

At Stuvia they work with the pay-per-download model. Every time you upload a file, you assign a price to it, which is what the interested party will have to pay to download it. Commissions are paid by you, so consider that price as gross income and not as the total that will come to your account.

Stuvia has a reputation system whose goal is that users who are more engaged with the community get more downloads. Reputation is based on your activity and the score is given to you by those who have downloaded your files. Therefore, ensure that your notes are of good quality (including a good presentation and ease of reading) to attract positive votes.

The minimum payment is €10 that you will receive by bank transfer. In some countries, you can request payment by Paypal.

Docmerit

Leaving the exclusive university platforms we find Docmerit where you can sell your notes, thesis, ebooks textbooks, and more documents.

Docmerit has the same Stuvia system: pay per download. The file is uploaded, a price is assigned by the person who uploads it. 

You can put any type of material for sale as long as it is your exclusive authorship: excel templates, forms, theses, business plans, monographs, syllabi... in short, any document you have made with a minimum of quality. The supported formats are Word, PDF, a few others. While other students download that file, this website automatically converts them into PDF files. Docmerit pays by Paypal. 

Wrap up

Although at first glance everything may seem very easy, document sales platforms are still marketplaces where you will have to share the visible space with dozens of users. It is not as simple as putting the material on sale and forgetting until it is time to get paid.

If you have a blog you can post your support material (for example, manuals, templates, or infographics) and refer there to those who are interested in getting it.

When uploading any material, make sure that the presentation is good and the content is clear and well structured (no one is going to download a poorly done document twice and you will also get a negative vote). Before putting it up for sale, think about whether you would pay for its download. If the answer is no, you already know that you will have to give it another turn.