14 Free Things For Writers
Do a little poking around and you’ll find good stuff for free for writers and editors. Here’s a list of stuff I like:
- The 3 Keys to Making Your Writing Pay! - free ebook by me and a free subscription to our newsletter.
- Read RSS for Writers.
- 30 Days to Better Business Writing – excellent! Now available on Kindle!
- Free Online Classes for Writers
- 9-week screen writing class by Steven Barnes
- 50 Awesome Open Source Resources For Writers And Writing Majors – I’ve used NotePad+and like it.
- Free ebooks - really at FictionWise – and not just fiction for free. Free to join too, and yes, you can buy other ebooks there as well. This is a Barnes and Nobel company. Suspect it may be worth watching. When I figure out how to give a way an ebook there I’ll let you know.
- WordPress – the blogging software is totally free. I use it and their famous 10 or 15 minute install works – took me about 30 minutes the first time, but it works.
- PayPal – totally free to set up an account that lets you get paid from around the world and let’s you pay the same. Sure, there are some fees, but they are less than many places. Plus PayPal has shopping carts, and all sorts of other tools for selling online and off.
- Royalty Free Photos – most of the photos you see on this blog, including the Free tag here, come from Stock.xchng. Some require specific credit be given, many don’t. Plus an article here with more free photo sites.
- Image Program – GIMP has a great reputation for helping you create and work with images. Some say it works as a PhotoShop replacement. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will.
- Free Trade Magazines – order those that tickle your fancy and develop a new market. Some may require fairly detailed information about you and your work. Go for it.
- Implementing, Maintaining and Tweaking an Organized Archival System is an article by Jessie Haynes with three helpful, downloadable checklists.
- Free Stuff at AllFreelanceWriting.com – calculators, template, one page business plans and more. Wonderful resource.
Let me know if any links are broken and if you know about free stuff I should add.
As you might guess, this blog is all about either becoming a freelance writer or making more money as a freelance writer. I post freelance writing jobs.
Write well and often,
Image from http://www.sxc.hu
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Great site. Links are handy for me as an English major. Looking forward to coming back.
STephanay recently posted..Breakthrough
I just saw all these great freebies Anne! Thanks so much for sharing them – I appreciate that!
Harleena Singh recently posted..How Freelance Writers can Use Google+
Enjoy.
Just wanted to confirm that GIMP is wonderful! I have used Photoshop before and find GIMP to be much more “user-friendly”, not to mention free. It takes some time to get the “hang” of it, but its Help menu is great and there are right-click tips for each feature, explaining what it does. There are few things GIMP cannot do, compared to Photoshop! I’ve been using it for years, since my teenage son told me about it.
I’m sure gimp is fine – it’s just way too much for what I want. Not surprised you like it, I do hear good things about it.
Just stumbled onto this website by chance, and what a revelation!!! Absolutely valuable and essential information for any freelance writer, whether novice, newbie or experienced.
Hope you come back!
Great site, great content, simply great! I’m not into freelance writing but I’m very eager to improve what little I know. I write blog posts from time to time, but as you said, it’s an agony to squeeze those words from a tongue that’s only borrowed. Either way, I hope to at least get my thoughts and my message across intelligibly.
Kind regards,
Florante
Good to have you here Florante.
Thanks Florante. Look forward to seeing you here more often.
I’ve tried GIMP and love it. I actually got a new computer awhile back and didn’t need it and forgot to re-install it so now that I’ve been reminded I’ll have to do that today.
But yes, great program. And easy to use!
Thanks for the fab list Anne!
You’re welcome, Danielle… I’m using gimp part of the time now.
Years ago when I tried my hand at game designing, I learnt The Photoshops. I am hooked onto that as yet.
Someone I work with who’s in IT recommended GIMP instead of spending hundreds on Photoshop. I plan to download and play with it soon. I’ll post something on my blog when I do. It will be interesting to see how easy the program is for someone like me who doesn’t use a lot of fancy software.
I use photoimpact… a photoshop knockoff now owned by corel… $99 I think – I’ll give gimp a try
All of these look great, Anne! Thank you…
Toni
You’re welcome!
Nice List of Resources. Could also add Curdbee, which is basically a free invoice sending service.
Could also add Moneybookers, which is basically a option for PayPal. Talk to any Indian freelancer and you’d know why most Indians are opting for MoneyBookers.
Erm.. resources resources resources.. liked the free images link, using it right about now for my site.
Then.. uhmm.. if you are looking for Open Source software, there’s:
Open Office which is a option for Microsoft Word.
Google Docs that let you share documents with a gmail account to and fro clients.
Mozilla Thunderbird for your Mail Program, if you don’t want MS Outlook. Let’s see what else I’ve been using:
Jobsites: oDesk. Getafreelancer, Scriptlance. All free. You will never have to click that ‘$2569 will be transferred into your account email’ again – ever.
That’s about it Ma’am.
PS: The annual ecalender is in typonese as ecalandar.
Thanks Roy, I’ll add and I’ll also fix my spelling… which is always creative.
There’s a free teleseminar for writers, Tax Tips for Freelancers. You can sign up here: http://www.writingcoach.com/taxes
It’s on Thursday… I don’t know the folks putting it on but it may be worth it.
Ben I really didn’t mean to set Laura up for questions… meant ask me… her websites/blogs indicate she does both http://www.NonfictionInk.com and http://www.AboutAScreenplay.com – but you’re comment will count in the drawing.
Always appreciate free resources, thanks so much Anne!
You’re Welcome Deb… I like free too
Thanks for including my free online courses site Anne. Way to light a fire under me to remind me to update with more writing courses — have a new blogger starting on that site soon, so that’s where I’ll have him focus.
And thanks for the other great resources (wasn’t aware of a few of them!).
You’re welcome Jenn – they look like great courses… suspect I’ll take one or two.
Thank you Anne, for the links!
Golly, Anne! These are nifty! I’ve explored some of them; must spend an afternoon looking at all of them. Muchas gracias!
Thank you very much Anne! I will certainly be checking them out as well.
I truly love your emails that I receive alerting me to freelance writing opportunities. This has been SO very helpful and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate it and you!
Keep up the good work dear and make it an awesome day!
Deb
Thank you, Anne! Looks like some good stuff. I always appreciate FREE.
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1. I love LibraryElf (http://www.libraryelf.com). It logs into your library account on your behalf and tracks holds and items you’ve checked out. When a book has come in for you or one of your books is due back, it’ll email you. I think there’s also an RSS feed too. I’ve used them for two years now, and recommend them highly.
2. Zap2It bookmarklet: A bookmarklet is a bookmark that acts on the page you are currently viewing. Zap2It removes background images and converts light text on a dark background to black text on white. Install it from: https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html#zap
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