We Need To Talk About TPT (and what it means for you)

When I was a brand-new teacher, I walked into my classroom expecting to find curriculum.

There wasn’t any. Not really.

So I made stuff. Every night. Worksheets, centers, games, whatever my kids needed. But no matter how late I stayed up, I couldn’t make everything.

So I had an idea. I’d put a few of the things I’d made into a little store on Teachers Pay Teachers. My goal was to make $20 a month. That was just enough to buy the resources I didn’t have the time (or honestly, the know-how) to make myself.

That’s it. That’s how Not So Wimpy Teacher started.

And I’ll never forget those first reviews. A teacher I’d never met, in a classroom I’d never see, telling me the thing I made helped her kids. I was hooked!

That was 14 years ago.

Back then, TPT really was teachers helping teachers. It was a place to share what worked, and a way for teachers to bring in a little extra money because teaching alone wasn’t paying the bills.

I’ve been a big supporter of TPT for a long time. I got on calls to help them decide on new features. I spoke at their conferences and events for free. I helped other teacher authors grow their stores.

And a lot of TPT’s marketing? That was us. For years, I ran ads that sent teachers straight to TPT. I sent you email after email pointing you there. So did thousands of other teacher authors.

A few years ago, TPT was bought by IXL. IXL is a big corporation that owns 16 different education companies, and TPT is just one on the list.

Things haven’t been the same since. The TPT I knew celebrated the teachers who built it. This version feels like it’s mostly about the money.

Simply put, our values don’t line up anymore.

They even started calling our work “TPT resources.”

They’re not TPT resources. They’re Not So Wimpy Teacher resources. Every teacher author on that site made their own.

Honestly? This feels like a divorce. Like I’m sitting at a table working out custody.

I’m heartbroken.

TPT taught me how to create curriculum. It gave me somewhere to put my creativity. I was proud to be part of it.

And I sent so many of you there. I told you it was a great place to buy. I meant it.

So I’ll be honest. Part of me feels guilty. Mostly, I’m just really disappointed.

Here’s what happened...

Right now, sellers like me give TPT 20% of every sale. I was always happy to do that. I felt good knowing I was investing in something that was growing for teachers everywhere. It helped teachers find what they needed, and it helped teacher authors bring home a little more.

But on October 1, with no warning, TPT emailed sellers about some big changes. Starting January 1, sellers have two choices:

• Go exclusive. Sell only on TPT. No selling on your own website, and no selling inside a subscription like Lesson Genie. In exchange, TPT’s cut goes from 20% to 22.5%.

• Don’t go exclusive. TPT takes 45% of every sale, plus 30 cents per resource sold.

Let me show you what that looks like.

Say you buy a $5 resource from a teacher author.

If she sells it on her own website, she pays about 4–6% in fees. She keeps around $4.75.

If she sells it on TPT and isn’t exclusive, she keeps $2.45.

Same resource. Same teacher who made it. Half the money.

That’s not teachers helping teachers anymore. It’s a corporation taking almost half of what teachers earn.

And the people paying that price are mostly women, in a profession that’s been underpaid forever. That part really gets me.

Going exclusive isn’t an option for me. Over 5,000 teachers use Lesson Genie, and I believe so much in what we’re doing there. I’m not shutting it down and leaving those teachers hanging.

And 45% is almost half. To cover it, I’d have to lay off people on my team (most of them teachers, by the way) or raise my prices by about 25%.

I won’t do either one.

So here’s what I’m doing:

• Some of my resources will stay on TPT. When they sell there, TPT gets 45% plus fees.
• I won’t be promoting TPT’s sitewide sales anymore. I won’t be sending teachers to TPT in my emails or social posts.
• I’m taking my bundles off TPT so that I can avoid having to increase the price by 25%.
• ​Lesson Genie is where my heart is. I’m putting even more into it, so it keeps growing and keeps getting better for the teachers who use it.
• If you’d rather buy resources one at a time, my website shop has you covered, with special promotions and pricing. (We are in the process of getting everything updated in the shop now!)

Please hear this part. I’m not doing this to punish anyone.

I’m still here for teachers.

To me, that means not raising our prices. It means not letting go of the hardworking people on my team. It means not walking away from Lesson Genie members. And it means not sending you to a company that doesn’t share my values anymore.

If you’ve bought my resources on TPT, they should stay right there in your purchases. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that happens. If something ever goes missing, you’ll need to contact TPT. That part’s sadly out of my hands.

I also want to say this clearly: every teacher author has to do what’s right for them. I’m in a place where I can take this major risk. A lot of sellers aren’t. For many of them, that TPT income pays for groceries and keeps a roof over their family. Some of them hate this change as much as I do and still have to stay. I support every single one of them.

Here’s how you can help…

If there’s a teacher author you love buying from:

1. Google their business name.
2. Find their website.
3. See if they have a shop there with the same resources.
4. Check whether they offer a subscription or membership.

Or just send them a DM and ask for the link. I promise they’ll be thrilled.

Every time you buy straight from a seller’s own site, way more of your money goes to the teacher who actually made the resource. It’s one of the easiest ways to support a small business.

And yes, I have a subscription too. It’s Lesson Genie, and I’m so proud of it. You get way more resources for way less than buying them one at a time. If you’re curious, you can try it for a week for $1. No pressure at all. (And you get to keep everything you download during that week!)

I also have a website shop where you can buy resources a la carte, just like you could on TPT.

When I left the classroom to do this full time, I made you a promise. I said I’d pour everything I had into making the resources you actually need.

That promise hasn’t changed. I’ll keep making resources that help your kids grow, help you feel confident in your teaching, and let you have a life after 3pm.

Thank you for reading all of this. It means more than you know. ❤️

Have a Not So Wimpy Day,