The Ultimate Writer’s Toolbox – 100 Tips, Tools and Resources for Writers
The Ultimate Writer’s Toolbox – 100 Tips, Tools and Resources for Writers
by John Clifton
Freelance writers are good at some parts of the business and not-so-strong at other aspects of the writing craft. If you’re great creatively, but struggle with grammar, or if you have the writing nailed, but have no idea how to market yourself, this list of resources that will help. So browse through this Ultimate Writer’s Toolbox for our 100 useful tips, tools and resources for making you a more successful freelance writer.
Business Tools for Writers
Being a professional writer is a business, so this list gives the tools for backing up your documents in case of accidents, building a clients list and preparing for the horrors of the independent contractor’s income tax forms.
- Freelance Writer Contracts – Printable contracts for freelance writers and other independent contractors.
- The Writer’s Technology Companion – Tools, tips and technology for productive writers, including how to make and store backups for your writing.
- National Association For the Self-Employed – NASE offers self-employed individuals support and advice on subjects such as where self-employed people can find health insurance.
- Street Directory Freelance Contract Tips – Suggestions for how to create a freelance writer contract, including a detailed list of everything which should be covered in your personal writing contract.
- The Randy Mon – Backup strategies for your writing and what happens when your hard drive blows up. Including offsite backup strategies and automation strategies.
- Case Study in Backups – The pros and cons of the data backups available to writers and other web users.
- Tips For Tax Deductions – Suggestions for tax deductions you can take when starting your own business as a freelance writer, including supplies, secondary costs and health insurance.
- Health Insurance For the Self-Employed – Find health insurance in your state with a free consumer guide and interactive map, recommended by the New York Times.
- Advocacy For Patients With Chronic Illness – Support getting medical insurance, medical records and other tools for the individual with chronic illnesses and other health concerns.
- Invoice Template – For the lazy freelance writer, here’s a basic printable freelance writers invoice.
Productivity Tools for Writers
Freelancers have to be self-starters, so these productivity aids teach you how to get things done and be a better time manager by making task lists, staying motivated and fighting through writer’s block.
- Motivational Memo Blog – Motivational articles and motivational quotes. Use these ideas to become a self-employed, self-motivated writer.
- Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist – 10 great tips for time management in a multitasking world. The best piece of advice? Avoid multitasking.
- Self-Motivation Blog – Inspiration for staying optimistic, achieving your dreams, becoming a winner and maintaining the power of positive thinking.
- Effective Time Management Strategies – Links to articles and resources that will help you set goals for your career and help you manage your working time.
- Time Management and Success Blog – Ideas for making new technologies work for you in your personal development and time management.
- The Ultimate GTD Index – Links to Internet resources that will help you use David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” method for time management.
- Blog Maverick – Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s blog posts on “Success & Motivation”, including perseverance and how to deal with repeated failures in your quest for success.
- Mindful Time Management – Directed at creative professionals and entrepreneurs, MTM is a blog teaching time management principles.
- I Need Motivation – Logical self-improvement and motivation for subjects like improving your focus and achieving your fullest potential.
- Black Belt Productivity – Tips for balancing your life and focusing on your productivity. Includes a GTD primer.
Networking Tools for Writers
Plenty of writers excel at writing blogs, poetry or fiction but have no idea how to network in the writing industry. And networking is important to becoming a successful professional writer. The following ten resources will help you stay connected with others in the business.
- Writerface – An online resource for writers, readers, literary agents and the media, including categories for any type of writer you might aspire to become.
- Editorial Freelancers Association – America’s largest and oldest national professional organization, where you can find a freelancer or submit a job listing as writer, editor, or translator.
- Online Freelance Writers Community – A writing talent community found on BrightFuse, where you can learn about resources, job tips and horror stories of other writers in the industry.
- Tips For Joining an Online Writing Group – Suggestions for aspiring writers considering joining an online writing group, including the etiquette of Internet freelance writers groups.
- Writers Guild of America – Useful whether you’re a member of the WGA or not, with writer’s resources, writing tools, news & events.
- International Women’s Writing Guild – Information on everything from affordable health insurance for writers to a list of agents who cater to female writers.
- Academy of American Poets – Poets.com is the online site for the Academy of American Poets, who have fostered poetry writers since their formation in 1934.
- Blogger Club – Community where writers interact and share experiences. Plenty of discussion of the tricks of the professional writing trade.
- Club Blogger Website – An online advice site for bloggers needing tips, tricks and ideas. Advice about naming your blog and writing posts people will want to read.
- Aspiring Author’s Group – Writing.com is a resource for aspiring authors. The site includes tips for writing and reading literature, as well as how to write reviews.
Marketing Tools for Writers
The following list of marketing tools teach you how to write sales letters, how to optimize your website for search engine traffic, how to market your work and how to be an entrepreneurl.
- Tips To Get Started as a Writer – Tips for freelance writers getting started in the business, including maintaining hope, avoiding procrastination and joining the writer community.
- Sales Letter Tips for Writers – Tips for marketing via sales letters and how to build a client list.
- Dynamic Sales Letters – 7 tips for writing dynamic sales letters that will capture your reader’s attention and stoke their interest in your services.
- Become an Entrepreneur – A set of questions that will help you determine whether you should become an entrepreneur. Based on the traits that most self-employed entrepreneurs possess.
- 163 Ways To Become an Entrepreneur – 163 tips to becoming an entrepreneur, including inspiration, how-to advice and being smart.
- Creatively Self-Employed – How writers and artists deal with career ups and downs. This site is meant to inspire, console and advise self-employed writers and artists.
- Search Engine Optimization – Detailed tutorial on SEO techniques, giving you basic keys to optimize your website, rank better in the search engines and get your freelance writing ads seen by more potential clients.
- SEO Website Grader – Type in the url of your freelance writing website and your email, and you can receive an SEO report on how optimized your site is for search engine purposes.
- Angela Booth’s Writing Blog – Designed for freelance fiction writers, non-fiction writers and copywriters, this blog focuses specifically on marketing your writing skills and selling what you have written.
- Marketing Your Liberal Arts Degree – For those with a liberal arts degree, tips for marketing yourself to those who want to hire liberal arts-educated writers.
Inspirational Tools for Writers
Writer’s block and staying inspired over the long haul of your writing career are concerns every writer has, so here are tools for dealing with writers’ block, from inspirational quotes by other writers to writing prompts and idea generators for your fiction writing.
- Dealing With Writer’s Block – 8 tips for dealing with writer’s block and what to do when the creative juices stop flowing.
- Writer’s Block Tips – More suggestions for what happens when writer’s block hits you at the worst time: after you’ve taken a writing job.
- Kill Zone Blog – Advice from thriller and mystery writers on how writers dealing with writer’s block “get unstuck”.
- Writer’s Digest Writing Prompts – Hundreds of writing prompts from the people at Writer’s Digest.
- Nine Frenchboys Name Generators – Dozens of name generators for fiction writers, under categories like people, places, things, stories and travesties.
- Abulafia Random Generators – Character generators, “plot kickers”, character description and dozens of name generators, including cowboy names, motorcycle gang names, dog names and corporate names.
- Seventh Sanctum Idea Generators – 12 different random story idea generators for fiction writers.
- Writing Fix – A random writer’s prompt generator for journals and notebooks.
- Inspirational Writing Quotes – Motivational writing quotes from and about writers, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Hilaire Billoc to Ray Bradbury.
- 50 Tools To Help You Write – Links to 50 different articles and other tools to help you become a better writer and write with more style and substance.
Organizational Tools for Writers
These organizational tools help you get organized for business and maintain your productivity, so you aren’t trying to be productive in spite of yourself every day of your professional writing career.
- 20 Ways To Manage Your Dos – 20 different web tools for managing your career, including the “Emergent Task Planner” and “Hipster PDA’s”.
- Task List Templates – Printable Word task list templates.
- Idealware To-Do Lists – Tools for getting on top of your task list for both your career and your personal time.
- Project Management For Creative Teams – Task list ideas for helping you organize new creative projects.
- Remember The Milk Blog – Blog posts advocating the use of Gmail tools to improve both your time management and task management.
- About Freelance Writing – How to create a freelance writer’s invoice for your writing clients.
- The Organized Writer Archives – Blog written by Jeff Abbott, author of books like Panic and Fear, who gives advice on writers’ workspaces, tax times and how to get organized.
- Tumblemoose Organized Writer – A writer’s advice on how to become a more organized worker and writer.
- Pick The Brain Blog – Detailed blog post on how to write faster, better and easier in ten different steps.
- Writer’s Relief Blog – Common sense advice on typical writer problems like getting more acceptances, self-publishing tips and landing an agent.
Freelance Listings for Writers
Freelance writers have plenty of places they can post their resumes and writing samples online. Here is a sampling of the freelance writer jobs markets you’ll find on the Internet.
- Guru Writers – A freelance writer jobs market where you can find freelancers, post projects or bid on freelance writing jobs.
- Elance Writers – Hire experts for your writing projects and online content.
- Sunoasis – Online classifieds for freelance writing jobs.
- Writers Market – Over 8,000 listings of magazines, contests, literary agents, book publishers and scriptwriters markets who will buy your writing.
- Craigslist Writers Market – Writers can post listings to the Internet’s biggest classifieds site and potential employers can find writers in the “writing/editing” section.
- Freelance Writing – Helping freelance writers succeed since 1997, with discussion forums, freelance job listings, guidelines, writing contests, a reading room and a newsroom.
- The Market List – This writers’ market and writers resource index provides hundreds of listings of companies looking for freelance writers on apermanent and on a temporary basis.
- Literary Marketplace – A worldwide resource for the book publishing industry. The advanced search requires a subscription to this writer’s resource.
- Suite 101 – Offers emerging and veteran writers a new avenue to further their careers. Millions of page views per month.
- Freelance Writers Job Network - Place a job advertisement, perform a freelance writing jobs search, read announcements, and searching for writing gigs. Also offers writing tips for those who write for a living.
Editing Tools for Writers
One of the trickiest skills to learn for a writer is how to edit your own work. The following articles and resources help you self-edit your writing.
- The Blood Red Pencil – Tips for self-editing your writing, because a writer who can self-edit is a better writer.
- Copyblogger – Copywriting tips for online success, including tips on how to edit your own blog posts for more effective writing.
- Tech Republic Editing Tips – 10 tips to help you edit your own writing more effectively, from reading it aloud to spellchecking to returning to your outline.
- Lifehack Professional Writing Advice – Tips for polishing your writing by recognizing your weaknesses, setting writing goals and lots of proofreading practice.
- Online Word Counter – A simple, cut-and-paste html word counter for freelance writers who need to stick to or know their word count.
- Becoming a Better Blogger – Article that advises you how to edit your blog in one month’s time, called “31 Days To Becoming a Better Blogger”.
- Self-Editing Checklist – A short, yet handy checklist to use as a guide when self-editing your own writing, set down in 11 easy steps.
- The Writer’s Technology Companion – Contains 20 online resources to help you write better, get better organized and edit your writing in a more efficient fashion.
- Capture Planning Edit Tips – A quick guide to editing your own copy for writers who can’t afford a proofreader or don’t have access to a copy editor of any sort.
- About Freelance Writing – This “About Freelance Writing” article offers 6 tips for proofreading your own writing on a blog with tips for landing jobs and how to be profitable, as well as a writers forum.
Language Tools for Writers
Just because you have a degree in Literature doesn’t mean you remember every grammar rule or know every word in the English language. These online dictionaries, thesauri, grammar guides and word usage guides will improve the first impression your writing makes.
- Guide to Grammar and Writing – Massive guide to good writing with dropdown menus for any grammar rule you might want to refresh your memory on.
- Library Spot – Grammar guides, style guides on MLA style and APA style, help increasing the effectiveness of your grammar and writing style, a blue book on grammar, and a classic style guide from Strunk.
- Online Thesaurus – Thesaurus. com collects synonyms and antonyms from dictionaries throughout the Internet, offering a comprehensive resource for writers looking for a synonym.
- Merriam-Webster Online – Detailed word listings, meanings, etymologies, synonyms and antonyms.
- Online Dictionary – Dictionary.com offers the meanings and definitions of English words, as well as translations to and from 43 different languages.
- Garb’s Online Grammar – A concise writing guide and articles on why “fat-free writing” and plain language make you a better freelance writer.
- Grammar Guides For Writers – Tips for planning, organizing and presenting essays. How to choose the correct words and how to present solid arguments.
- Word Usage Guide – If you mis-use these often mis-used words, many editors and employers of freelance writers will find a new writer.
- Tameri Guide For Users – Two-part word usage guide to help online freelance writers quickly look up words that often give authors and writers trouble.
- RefDesk Grammar and Style Guide – Refdesk offers links to dozens of articles to remind writers the rules of writing and the old grammar lessons you might have forgotten a bit since school.
Reference Tools for Writers
The final ten writing tools we list are reference guides, including encyclopedia resources, online almanacs, reference sites, database information and all types of other research aids.
- 100 Reference Sites – A treasure trove of information for young writers.
- Project Gutenberg – A digital library of e-books that was originally founded in 1971, and which digitizes and archives cultural works and books in the public domain.
- InfoPlease Almanac Search – There’s nothing better than an online almanac to look up facts and factoids to add greater detail to your writing, and “Info Please” is one of the best e-almanacs on the Internet.
- Los Angeles Public Library Database – The L.A. Public Library offers access to millions of newspaper archives, scholarly works, ancestry information and other cultural retrospectives.
- Farmers’ Almanac Online – Established in 1818, the Farmers Almanac offers information on astronomy, home & garden tips, natural cures, and recipes. The online version includes blogs, forums and other resources for collecting tidbits of information.
- Library of Congress For Researchers - The Library of Congress helps researchers looking online for information.
- Search Bug Research – Research tool with legal records, company details, zip code searches, phone number listings, ip addresses and other personal information.
- The History Net – Where you can look up quick, yet detailed, information on American and world history. The many pictures to help bring history to life.
- Probert Encyclopedia – Everything from information on abbreviations, movies, mythology, Latin, slang, Shakespeare and dozens of other broad subjects.
- 100 Top Reference Sites – “100 Top Kids” has another hundred great reference sites, including thesauri, classifieds, quotes, celebrity info, world information and a whole lot more.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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