Paul Sellers' Woodworking Masterclasses: 665 Episodes, $16 a Month, and a $192 Year With No Discount

Key Takeaways:

Paul Sellers' YouTube channel showed 715K subscribers, 538 videos and 126,364,843 views on October 7, 2026. It opened on November 19, 2011
His paid site, Woodworking Masterclasses, offers over 100 paid projects spanning some 665 episodes, with a new episode every Wednesday, for $16 a month, $96 for six months or $192 a year
$192 is exactly twelve months at $16. Archived copies of the same page show the annual plan has been priced at twelve monthly payments since at least November 2019, when it cost $180
After Paul was injured in March 2024, the site told members that episodes were already filmed through mid-June. The weekly promise held because the work had been done ahead

Most creators who sell a membership offer a cheaper annual plan, and our own pricing guide tells them to. Paul Sellers' company has done the opposite for at least seven years. Looking at why that works, and what kept it working when he couldn't pick up a chisel, gives any craft teacher a useful test to apply to their own business.

Who Is Paul Sellers?

Paul Sellers is an English hand-tool woodworker and teacher who began in a small joiner's workshop in Stockport in 1965. He started a YouTube channel with his son Joseph in 2011, launched the paid Woodworking Masterclasses site in 2012 and opened the free beginner site Common Woodworking in 2018. That history comes from the Woodworking Masterclasses homepage, which also says he taught in-person classes in the US and UK for years before moving online. He writes regularly on his blog, posts on Instagram, and has written the books Essential Woodworking Hand Tools and Working Wood 1 & 2, listed on his books page. The membership site is run by Rokesmith Ltd, and Woodworking Masterclasses is its trading name. His teaching promises that you can make real furniture with a few hand tools and a bench. Free videos get people started, and the paid library is there for bigger projects.

What Does Woodworking Masterclasses Sell?

Woodworking Masterclasses sells one product: a Premium Membership that unlocks over 100 furniture and tool projects filmed as step-by-step episodes, with layout diagrams and cutting lists. A new episode from Paul's current project goes up every Wednesday. Membership costs $16 or £12 a month, billed by calendar month and cancellable at any time. The free tier covers project introductions plus some tool and technique videos. Below that sits Common Woodworking, which on October 7, 2026 listed 14 free beginner courses, from dovetails and mortise and tenons to a spoon, a three-legged stool and a hanging wall shelf. Its homepage ends with "Ready for more?" and a link to the paid site. So the path runs from YouTube to a free course to the Wednesday episode. The general FAQ says paid episodes run about thirty minutes each and "aren't available anywhere else."

Why Doesn't the Annual Plan Come With a Discount?

Woodworking Masterclasses prices its six-month and annual plans at exactly six and twelve monthly payments, so a member pays $16 a month whichever term they pick. Internet Archive captures show the same structure in November 2019 at $15, $90 and $180, and again in January 2023 at $16, $96 and $192. That runs against standard subscription advice, including ours. Our guide to annual vs monthly subscriptions suggests pricing an annual plan at five to seven times the monthly price. Woodworking Masterclasses charges twelve.

The company has never published its reasoning for this, so we won't guess at it. Its 2013 FAQ, though, shows it thought hard about what kept people subscribed. Back then a monthly payment gave you the current project to download and keep even after cancelling, while past projects were view-only and sold separately. The archived page explains the split: "If we did this AND gave full backward access we would render our monthly subscription redundant." Today's offer is different. A member gets the whole library online, and the reason to stay next month is the next Wednesday. A discount buys commitment. This business relies on the release schedule to keep people instead, and the dollar price has risen by one dollar since at least January 2017.

How Has the Membership Changed Since 2013?

The membership has moved from paying for the current project to paying for a growing library plus a weekly episode. The library grew from more than 25 paid projects in 2017 to over 100 in 2026, while the sterling price stayed at £12 a month in every archived FAQ from 2017 onward.

Date	What the site said	Price
May 2013	Current project to download; past projects view-only or sold separately	Not stated in FAQ
January 2017	25 or more paid projects, new episode every Wednesday	$15 or £12 a month
November 2019	Over 35 paid projects, some 250 episodes	$15, $90 or $180
January 2023	Same plan structure	$16, $96 or $192
October 2026	Over 100 paid projects, some 665 episodes	$16, $96 or $192

The rows come from Internet Archive copies of the FAQ and the plan page, plus the live pages. Project counts on the plan page stayed at "over 35" in captures up to November 2023, so treat those counts as copy that wasn't updated, not a precise history.

The Weeks Filmed Ahead

On March 21, 2024, Paul Sellers was injured in an assault while out cycling. A Woodworking Masterclasses announcement on April 5, 2024 said everything released since had been filmed beforehand and that the team "had filmed up until mid June," so his return to the bench "hasn't been due to pressure for content."

From the day of the assault to mid-June is roughly twelve weeks, by our count. For about three months, the paid product kept its weekly promise while the teacher it depends on recovered. One member commenting on the announcement told him to take his time, because "you have plenty of lessons that can be revisted." The library gave members something to do while they waited. Fr. Mike Schmitz's Bible in a Year shows the same idea from another angle: one recording that keeps serving listeners year after year.

A weekly release schedule is a promise. Your business should keep it even when you can't.

Built by Foundry builds and runs the business your audience pays for, with $0 upfront and a revenue share. You own it. Most of the time that's a subscription app with the library, the schedule and the renewal built in.

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The Wednesday Test

Here's the lesson to take back to your own business. Ask how many of your scheduled releases would still go out if you stopped working today. If the answer is zero, the business depends on you showing up every week. If the answer is several months, the business can keep its promise while you're away. Woodworking Masterclasses passed this test in 2024, and its pricing fits that strength. A member who might cancel at any time is held by next Wednesday's episode rather than by a discount. The free layers (YouTube, Common Woodworking, the project introductions) bring in new members without Paul having to post anything extra. The same structure fits other crafts where students practise for years. Our Proko profile found the daily drawing habit sitting in free tools. Hal Higdon's free marathon plans show the other half: the plan is free, and the paid product is what helps when a runner falls behind.

What We Can't See

Rokesmith Ltd does not publish its membership numbers or revenue on these sites, so we can't say how many people pay $16 or how many choose each plan. The project and episode counts are the company's own rounded copy. "Mid June" is the team's wording, so twelve weeks is an estimate. Prices and counts are as read on October 7, 2026 and may change. App Store searches for "Paul Sellers" and "Woodworking Masterclasses" that day returned no app from the company. Members watch on the website.

If You Teach a Craft on Camera

If you teach woodworking, sewing, drawing, cooking or any skill people practise for years, and you have 50K or more followers who come back every week, you already have what Paul's business runs on: a back catalog and a regular day. What's left to decide is whether the next episode is ready before you need it, and whether a member's progress lives somewhere they'd miss. Building that product is the first step. Running it every week after launch, from releases and support to pricing and retention, is what Built by Foundry does, and why we keep running products after launch.

See What We’d Build You →

Paul Sellers' Woodworking Masterclasses: 665 Episodes, $16 a Month, and a $192 Year With No Discount

Get Creator Revenue Insights

Who Is Paul Sellers?

What Does Woodworking Masterclasses Sell?

Why Doesn't the Annual Plan Come With a Discount?

How Has the Membership Changed Since 2013?

The Weeks Filmed Ahead

The Wednesday Test

What We Can't See

If You Teach a Craft on Camera

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