How has your freelance writing career been?
If it’s been skyrocketing at such rapid speed, then good for you.
If it hasn’t, well don’t worry, there’s still a LOT of room for improvement.
You know, I started freelance writing in 2009 when I was still in college. It was an on-and-off thing for me and when I finally graduated, I decided to focus on my corporate career as a software engineer for three years.
I eventually realized that the corporate world was not for me — and that I wanted to have more freedom and flexibility with my time because I had a daughter. While I love to wrangle codes, I also loved that writing allows me to express myself creatively.
So, there I was, taking a big leap into writing as a full-time job.
It was honestly nerve-wracking and I’m not quite sure how I manage it until now.
One thing I’ve learned, though: penny projects are not worth the time and the effort you spend on it. If you’d rather get yourself stuck on those types of projects, you’d better pack up and get yourself back into an office job because they pay better (and are even less stressful, too).
If you’d like to jump into freelance writing but are too scared or are looking for better pay and better gigs, then I suggest you take a look at these courses and master classes and be guided by the best in the field.
1 / 30-DAY MARKETING BOOTCAMP FOR FREELANCERS
Investment: $9.97
If you are a little bootstrapped and only have enough budget to get a basic website up plus a good guide to help you move along, this is the best one that I think you should get hold of.
The ebook is based on a former blog post series and guides the budding freelance writer through major milestones such as creating a professional website, setting up your business and your rates, networking and more.
Since it comes from All Indie Writers, it’s focused more on publishing an ebook and holding blog tours.
Perfect still, since I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to be stuck simply writing copy after copy and post after post on the web, right?
I know I wouldn’t. I’d love to maybe publish an ebook guide or even a book one day — and this boot camp is the perfect way to test the waters.
2 / ESCAPE THE CONTENT MILLS
Investment: $19.99
I’ve had my share of content mill assignments and, frankly, they pay really cheaply. And, that’s even by our third-world country standards.
One day, I cut out all the crap in my business (didn’t consider it as such that time, though) and got rid of all the penny projects that were eating up so much of my time and creativity.
If you are ready and would badly want to escape the grind of earning just $5 to $10 per gig (ugh, I’ve had it with those $1 projects, really!) and get as much as $75 for blog posts, $300 for articles, $750 for case studies or $500 for white papers, this is for you!
This guide has five core lessons: finding your niche, markets that pay, marketing that works, build a cheap (and effective!) writer website and overcome fear and take action.
Plus, it also has four bonuses: 8 ways content mill writers can earn more — fast, website planner worksheet, bonus 1-hour podcast, and Escape the Content Mills: 6 Writers’ True Stories of Breaking Out and Earning More.
Excited? Well, me too!
3 / FREELANCE WRITERS’ DEN
Investment: $25/month (Basic) or $139/month (Den 2X)
The Freelance Writer’s Den is for writers, bloggers, and ghostwriters who have already started freelancing but want to earn more.
Membership includes access to 100+ hours of training, quarterly boot camps, forums, private messages and a job board.
Those who get the Den 2X membership can get a 1-on-1 orientation call with Carol Tice, 90-minute small group masterminds every month, 1-on-1 coaching with Carol every quarter, Skype mastermind chat, brainstorming and support and more!
4 / RENEGADE WRITER CLASSES
WRITE FOR MAGAZINES BY LINDA FORMICHELLI
Investment: Basic (pay what it’s worth; minimum $40) or Premium ($287)
You’ve probably considered writing for magazines and publications before.
Well, this is the perfect time to boost your confidence and be mentored.
Lessons in the course include generating ideas and finding markets to pitch your idea, looking for editors, crafting queries and more.
For the basic version with no email support, investment starts at $40 (you can pay whatever it’s worth) or you can get email support at a higher price.
BECOME AN IDEA MACHINE BY DIANA BURRELL
Investment: Premium ($179) or Premium Plus ($329)
Another great lesson offered at Renegade Writer helps hone your writing skills in order come up with really good write-up ideas instead of mediocre ones.
The course runs for three weeks and will teach you to generate ideas so you never run of it. Eventually, you’ll learn how to use these ideas to create stories that actually sell. Then you’ll learn how to look for markets that will buy into your ideas.
5 / 30 DAYS OR LESS TO FREELANCE WRITING SUCCESS
Investment: $59 or $99 or $199
Gina Horkey went from earning $0 to $4,000 a month in just six months as a freelance writer — and that’s while she was working full-time and raising two toddlers!
Awesome, huh?
So, she came up with a course that provided her students with a proven step-by-step process to become a successful freelance writer online.
The course has 32 self-paced email lessons, follow-ups, and a private Facebook group.
The higher-tiered packages come with a pitch tracker and a pitch review perfect for snagging those high-paying clients. In her site,
Gina emphasizes that if you want to see results, you need to learn by completing each lesson and do all the work that it takes to become successful.
It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, too, although I doubt you would need that.
6 / WRITE TO 1K
Investment: $67 or $97 or $177
Elna Cain’s blog is my newest favorite hangout and you’ll probably see links to her posts in many of my posts here.
Just recently, she released a course that teaches people to get paid to write in 7 weeks or less, with no degrees or experience necessary.
The course comes with 7-self paced modules with a total of 41 lessons, exercises, templates, swipe files, video training and a private Facebook group.
Those who avail of the higher-priced packages can get bonuses such as an extra module with 8 lessons, guides, case studies and a pitch review.
If you look into Elna’s site, you can already get so much value from her posts (I know I did) and you don’t even have to pay for it which is why I know her course will have so much information in it, too.
7 / GET STARTED FOR FREELANCE BLOGGING SUCCESS
Investment: $97 or $247
The biggest hurdle to starting anything is to actually get yourself to take action.
This course from Be A Freelance Blogger’s Sophie Lizard delivers an email every day for 28 days straight to your inbox — and you get one action item every day so you don’t feel overloaded and overwhelmed.
The course takes you through preparing your success path, starting a blog like a professional, creating a business out of your freelance services, rates, looking for clients, handling contracts, accounting and more.
Just looking through the course’s overview of how-tos makes me want to tackle them already.
8 / START SEO WRITING: THE FASTEST WAY TO GET PAID TO WRITE
Investment: £99 or (£299 or £125 x 3payments)
Karen’s course on freelance writing focuses mainly on SEO writing or writing articles with keywords in them.
The course starts off with the basics to help jumpstart your career. Next, you will be creating a sample portfolio and a writer website to showcase your work. The most important of all is to learn how to market yourself and make money out of your work.
What you will earn after taking the class is totally up to you but many of Karen’s students have been paid as much as £250 in their second month of SEO writing.
9 / CLIENT HUNTING MASTERCLASS
Investment: $247 or $497
Even if you are the greatest writer in the world, there’s really no point to it when no one even knows you are selling those services.
For many freelance writers, marketing themselves and looking for high-paying clients is among the biggest struggles of all (okay, probably next to a writer’s block).
Sophie Lizard teaches her students how to live their dream life of having no day job and no debts yet earning $100, $200 or $300 for every post they write.
The course goes you through putting up your freelancing services, finding the best job ads, making the most out of social media, how to deal and negotiate with potential clients, landing clients and looking for gigs, knowing what you’re worth and attract your ideal clients.
It’s packed full of all the information to get your writing business from the ground up.
10 / THE FREELANCE WRITER’S PITCH CLINIC
Investment: $300
Pitching is tricky and it can take a while to get these skills honed.
The Pitch Clinic teaches you how to land gigs by crafting the perfect pitch — and it’s even critiqued by the big-name editors!
Expert feedback will be given for queries and letters of introduction plus there will be a 4-week pitch challenge to put what you learned into action.
IF YOU’RE A LITTLE LOW ON BUDGET…
Of course, if you’re still a little low on budget, you can always start reading from this line-up of best writer websites for the mean time. The sites are categorized and cover topics such as blogging, creativity and craft, entrepreneurship, freelancing, marketing, publishing and writing communities.
Great post! These courses seems amazing and I bet everyone will most definitely benefit from it. Keep up the good work and I wish you all the best.-Chris Thompson
Hey, Chris.
You’re right. These courses were created by those who have succeeded in freelance writing themselves. Thanks for dropping by.
Did you take all of these courses (with affiliate links)? Did you take them all at the same time or one after another? Which one do you recommend for a new blogger?
Thanks!