5 Free Resources That Helped Me Become a Successful Freelance Writer

Kickstart your freelance writing career with these resources.

“What are some free resources that can help me become a better freelance writer?”

I get this question a lot, and it’s time to address that. In this post, I’m sharing five free resources that helped me become a successful freelance writer. These tools can help you

• enhance your freelance writing game,
• get better clients, and
• write better articles.

I started my freelance writing journey 2 years ago. Since then, I’ve made thousands of dollars by writing for reputed publications and websites like Zora, Better Marketing, etc.

On Medium I’ve grown my follower base to more than 174,000 people with about 60,000 views every month. I don’t share these stats to brag but to give you hope that if you’re starting today in 2024, you’ve a great chance to build a beautiful portfolio and start working with high-paying freelance clients. 

This article is going to help you do just that. Here are 5 free resources that helped me become a successful freelance writer.

Before we start, if you’d like a detailed tutorial on how to use these resources, check out the video:

Headline Analyzers

As you know, a great headline is crucial for getting views on your articles. If you’re writing for Medium or your own website, a catchy headline that’s also SEO-optimized can help your article rank higher on Google and bring you more readers.

There are two resources in this category that I want to share today.

The first one is the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. For this, you need to create an account, and once you share your headline, it gives you information about 

• the ideal number of words in your headline, 
• if you’ve used the right type of words, 
• how you can make more people click on your headline, etc. 

A free account gets you 10 credits, and with each free credit, you can analyze one headline. If you buy the premium plans, then you can analyze more headlines every month. 

The next free resource here is CoSchedule’s list of power words for better-performing headlines. In this free resource, CoSchedule has shared 180+ words that will make your headline more compelling. 

You’ve to figure out ways to use one of these words in your headline every time you write, and you can rest assured that the headline will bring you a lot of clicks. The best part is you can download this list and read it offline whenever you want.

Successful Pitch Databases

Pitch databases are websites that have a list of pitches that were accepted by paying publications. When you go through these pitches, you can get a clear idea of what editors are looking for in the pitch. You get insights on how you can incorporate that in your pitch to maximize your chances of success. 

The first resource in this category is the Open Notebooks Pitch Database. This database contains 283 successful story pitches and the link to the completed story. You can filter by the type of article, publication, writer, date, etc., to find what you’re looking for. 

The next free resource here is the Successful Pitches website. Some additional details are also included on this website, like if the writer had any previous relationship with the editor, the subject line, the type of writing that the article was, and also the word count.

Pitch Template

I’ve made a detailed video on the five elements of a successful pitch. You can check it out here. 

If you’re looking for even more resources, then the Storyboards template can be your best friend. They’ve compiled information about what makes a good pitch and what you need to include in your pitch to make it good and acceptable for reputed websites.

Here are the four pitch templates according to Storyboard:

• Responding to a call for pitches. If you see somebody’s Tweet or newsletter where they’re asking people to pitch their articles, this is what you are going to type to them.
• A cold pitch is when you have no contact whatsoever with the person you’re pitching to, but you’re applying and trying your luck.
• The third one is for when you don’t have any previous articles published, but you do have experience in that particular niche or a particular genre.
• And the last one is a letter of inquiry where you don’t know if this person or website is accepting pitches, but you’re still trying your luck.

I hope these five resources were helpful. If you go through each of them in detail, you’ll learn how to craft a stellar pitch that’s sure to get accepted.

But the major question is, how will you find freelance clients to whom you can send this pitch? Here’s some really amazing news for all freelance writers. I am hosting a free live session on how you can become a high-paid freelance writer fast in 2024.

Make sure to subscribe my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on updates related to this. 

Looking for ways to accelerate your growth as a freelancer? Check out my 90-day guide on how to land your first high-paying client.

More on being a successful freelaner here: