I don’t know if you’ve heard of Medium, but it is getting a lot of attention lately. Content marketers, especially, are taking advantage of Medium to achieve their goals.
It is a platform where anyone can write and publish articles. More than merely publishing content, however, one can give and receive feedback on the fly. In that sense, Medium is a collaborative venue for writers. [Read more…]
Some say that successful writers are born to write. That there’s no way you can learn to become like them. I say that anyone who wants to become a writer and be successful at it can learn, especially if he wants it badly enough.
Whether you’re starting out your quest to become a writer, or you’re already making a living off writing, you’re fortunate that these days, there are so many ways to learn and improve. You may not know anything about the technicalities of writing a novel but if you have one inside you, it will come out. You may just need a little guidance. [Read more…]
Editor’s note: This post was written by Kenneth Waldman, a freelance writer and English tutor. You can get in touch with him on Linkedin.
It is usually a goal for every writer to earn recognition for their work. By providing interesting and high-quality content to readers, you will gain more clients and followers. Whether you are a blogger, copywriter, or content writer, when it comes to writing for the web, competition continues to increase. But with the right tools, you can help save yourself time, money and effort. Writing can be hard, but writing on a computer is even harder with the many websites, notifications and all the other distractions hindering you from working. [Read more…]
Editor’s note: This post was written by Cassie Phillips, a freelance writer and technology blogger with a passion for internet security. She enjoys sharing tech news and tips for online safety and data privacy with fellow freelance writers. Check out other articles by following Cassie on Twitter.
To start off, I’d like to express my gratitude to FWJ for allowing me to publish my article on their page. I’ve found their website to be an excellent resource for freelance writers and I would recommend you take a look at “5 Questions Freelance Writers Should Ask Prospective Clients,” as the information mentioned is both useful and important for every freelancer to know. [Read more…]
We all make mistakes and typos, but that’s what proofreading is for, right? There’s also Word – or whatever software you use to create documents – which has spell check built in. However, we know quite well how Word misses a lot of mistakes, especially when it comes to more complicated syntax. Also, Word is useless if you’re typing on your browser.
That’s why I was really interested when the guys at Grammarly got in touch to share their new web app, which does what Word does, but more effectively and more efficiently. In fact, Grammarly is supposed to find and correct up to 10 times more mistakes than the conventional word processor. Of course, I had to give the app a try! [Read more…]
Life as a writer can be unpredictable: audiences are fickle; the hours can be long, and projects demanding. Yet, those are some of the main reasons why we write. If you’re passionate about your craft, chances are you’ve worked hard to get your name out there. However, with the high volume of online content going live every day, it can be difficult for your content to stand out. For a frame of reference, more than 150,000,000 blogs are on the Internet and people produce about 42.6 million new posts each month.
Becoming a prolific writer in a particular niche is the first step. Stand out as a writer and improve your online presence with some of the following techniques and tools.
Editor’s note: This post was written by Sharon, an author who likes to write on themes and issues related to project management software. Through her write-ups, she provides tips and suggestions for businesses, so they can better manage their projects and duly achieve their business objectives. You can also follow her on Twitter.
Freelancers need to communicate and collaborate with a variety of clients while working on multiple projects. This helps them to better understand clients’ specifications and convey to them exact progress achieved over projects. But such communication should be transparent and fast, only then they would be able to get quality results. For such enhanced communication, the best tools need to be used. These would enable freelancers to save their time, effort and costs as well as increase their productivity and profits. They would be able to deliver projects on time and as per their clients’ satisfaction. Happy clients would recommend their services to other people in their community which will boost their business prospects. [Read more…]
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Brie Weiler Reynolds, the Director of Online Content at FlexJobs and a contributing writer for 1 Million for Work Flexibility. FlexJobs is the award-winning site for telecommuting and flexible jobs, listing thousands of pre-screened, legitimate, and professional-level work-from-home, flexible schedule, part-time, and freelance jobs. Brie provides career and job search advice through the FlexJobs Blog. Learn more at www.FlexJobs.com.
The profession of freelance writing has changed tremendously over the last few decades. Though it’s easier than ever before to find writing gigs and actually create pieces, there are an overwhelming number of tools for freelance writers to consider. These seven tools are ones that my team and I can’t live without, and most are free or very reasonably priced.
Here are seven must-have home office tools for freelance writers.
If you’re going to be typing all day, every day, it makes sense to invest in a keyboard that you find comfortable, but one that’s also portable. Wireless keyboards allow you to to type in comfort wherever you might be, and today’s options are sleek, lightweight, and portable. A wireless mouse makes working from the coffee shop or even a park bench feel more like working from your office. My laptop never goes anywhere without my trusty wireless mouse.
If you’re a fan of making paper to-do lists, the Bullet Journal method takes them to a new level. The video on its site walks you through the simple changes that will make your to-do list a tool for hyper-productivity. You’ll never look at to-do lists the same way.
Being able to access the Internet is an obvious tool for freelance writers, but how reliable is your service? And if it goes out, do you have multiple backup options? Take a couple minutes now to research and make a list of places with excellent Internet service. Then, go a step further and see if your smartphone offers a mobile hotspot option, which allows you to turn your phone into a personal wifi hotspot wherever you are, as long as you’re connected to your phone provider’s network.
If you’re one of the unlucky many, you don’t realize how important this is until your computer crashes. Try to be one of the lucky few who reads this tip and takes action. Online file backup systems like Carbonite are easy to use and run constantly in the background, so even your most recent work is saved.
Signing contracts the old-fashioned way through snail mail or by printing and scanning documents can be incredibly time-consuming. Stop taking time away from writing to do these tedious tasks, and use an e-sign program to make gathering electronic signatures a breeze. Echosign and Docusign are two popular options.
Talk about multitasking! Speech recognition software has advanced tremendously over the last few years and makes it possible to “write” on the go. Whether you’re stuck in traffic, walking the dog, or making dinner, if you can speak, you can write with these handy programs. You might invest a little money in Dragon speech software, but smartphones make it possible to dictate documents for free using voice-to-text with pretty accurate results. If you have the Google Drive app, you can speak into a Google Document, which will then be saved and easily accessible the next time you open up your laptop. Which brings us to…
My team of freelance writers all use Google Drive to create and maintain documents. The Google Drive app makes it possible to access those documents on smartphones and tablets. Collaboration, sharing, and document creation are all much simpler when you can access your files regardless of your location.
Depending on the type of writing you do, these seven home office tools can help you be more productive, land more clients, stay better organized, and be more comfortable while you’re working. And since most of them are free, these tools are easy on the thrifty freelance writer’s budget.
Having worked online for almost a decade, I do believe that there is such a thing as accidentally plagiarizing. After all, how many times and/or ways can a subject be written about? At some point, an online writer might find himself writing the same words and ideas that he has read somewhere else – without the intention of copying. But, the road to hell is paved with adverbs good intentions, right?
Then there’s the other side of the coin – other people copying your content. You may think that it won’t happen to you, but believe me, there are so many unscrupulous people out there who would go so low just to make a quick buck. Some may not care about other people copying their work, but I think that if it does happen to you, you just might not like it.
So how do you fight plagiarism – from both sides? Here are three “easy” ways to do so.
Some of you may already have this habit – good for you! It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your idea is 100 percent original, but we know that we get our inspiration from all sorts of places. For special pieces of content, especially, research is required, and the best way to ensure that you do not end up plagiarizing your sources is that you carefully take note of all of them and cite them in your work.
This is a very basic concept, but also very easily overlooked.
Once you’re done with your work, you can use anti-plagiarism software. There’s a host of them available, some for free, some for a fee. Obviously, the results that you will get will differ depending on the service and whether it is free or not. You can also try contentplagiarismchecker.com, which gives you one free check upon registration.
Whether you’re checking if your work is totally original or you’re checking if someone else has copied your content, these tools will give you a starting point to fight plagiarism.
This is by far the most important thing, as far as I am concerned. Sure, there may be occasional slips – everyone has them, even seasoned journalists. At the end of the day, however, if you are true to yourself and take pride in your work, creating original content is in your blood. You will not have to worry (for the most part) that you copy other people’s work simply because that is not you.
How do you fight plagiarism? Do you have experiences that you want to share?
The biggest challenge of any freelancer is to get organized: (1) there’s no boss for you to control your time; (2) there can be a lot of clients and you should learn to distribute your time among them and (3) there are plenty of distractors online. Therefore knowing your organization tools is so essential!
I love my iPhone. Not to sound like an Apple fanatic (I’m not, I promise), but I love everything about it. The speed, the design, the features, and especially the apps. The wide range of applications that are available in the iTunes store have changed my life in many ways. Or, more specifically, they have caused me to change many of my life habits with their help.
One big area that has changed for me is my productivity. I will be the first to admit that I have a bit of a problem remaining focused. By “a bit” I mean “Oh, look…curtains!” So it shouldn’t surprise you to know that I am not always so good at keeping my mind on a task and getting it done. This is a big problem as a freelancer, when my livelihood relies on how much work I complete.
Here are a few apps that will hopefully help you get organized! [Read more…]
