So I haven’t done a “free stuff for writers” post in a while. Probably because it takes a lot of time to scour the Internet for freebies. However, it’s a sucky economy and we’re all looking to save where we can. With that in mind, I’d like to offer this list of free things for writers. Some of this stuff isn’t for all writers, but I hope it’s safe to say there’s something here for everyone.
I checked all of these. There should be no strings attached, no “offers” to sign up for, and (with the exception of one place asking for shipping) no reason to take out your credit card.
I give you:
45 Free Things for Writers
- The Library – Hah! You thought this would be a roundup of links, didn’t you? There will be plenty of those, dear readers. However, there are plenty of offline goodies to take advantage of as well. As the daughter of a librarian, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the library. In addition to finding free books on everything, it’s also one of the best places to conduct research. In addition to books and magazines, my library offers many classes. Most recently they did a series on blogging and social media for business.
- WiFi – Writers need portability. This list of free WiFi hotspots from around the world will help with your hookup when you’re away from home.
- Online Courses – Here’s a list of 31 Free online courses
- Google Calendar – Great for those times you can’t access your Outlook. Schedule your activities using this online calendar- it will even email reminders each morning.
- Google Docs – Share docs or keep your stuff online.
- Free ebook – How to Write a Proposal Superfast
- Open Office: Don’t want to pay Microsoft prices? Use Open Office for a free alternative to Word, Excel and others.
- Business Cards: Vista Print will print up a couple of hundred business cards at no charge, as long as you pay the shipping.
- Free Report: Marketing for Writers (from Writer2Writer)
- WordPress: Worldpress.com is a free platform for bloggers. WordPress.org is also free but you’ll have to provide your own domain. If you use WordPress.com however, you won’t be able to host ads or use javascript. (This blog is hosted by WordPress.org on my own domain.)
- Blogger: Blogger is another great free blog platform and you can host ads and javascript.
- Online Dictionary: Use Dictionary.com when you don’t feel like lugging out the heavy volume.
- Online Thesaurus: Ditto Thesaurus.com.
- Free ebook - Book Writing for Fun and Profit.
- Free Report – “The Non Celebrity’s Guide to Getting a Children’s Book Published”.
- Free Ebook – “The Art of Writing” by Robert Lewis Stevenson
- Free online version of “The Elements of Style.“
- Free online fact checker at refdesk.com.
- Free online Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Free Newspapers - 100 of them, to be exact!
- CIA World Factbook
- Free Ebook - The Lousy Writer’s Guide to Writing Persuasively
- Twitter - You no longer have to spend an arm and a leg on networking and marketing.
- Free subscription – Website Magazine (No, you don’t have to complete a million offers.)
- Unleashing the Idea Virus: Seth Godin’s free ebook.
- Free sample: Green Mountain Coffee
- Free Historical Documents - From the Foundations of Freedom.
- Ever want to write your own cookbook? Here’s a free cookbook kit from Morris Press.
- Free QuickBooks download – It’s important for all freelance writers to keep good records.
- Free IRS Tax Calendar for small businesses and the self employed.
- Free 2010 Calendar Poster courtesy of the New Yorker.
- Free online bookkeeping with Outright.
- A free tax organizer is available at SmallBizTaxes.com.
- Nice! A free journal and pen from Competitive Society.
- Free correction pen courtesy of Ringtonica.
- Authority Rules: Copyblogger Brian Clark’s report on online marketing.
- Learning Labs Writing Skills free tutorials for writers.
- Orangoo’s free online spell checker is a handy tool for all writers.
- Free download: The Graviax Grammar Checker.
- Free whitepaper: Blogging for Marketing 101.
- RHL School offers free grammar and usage worksheets.
- YWriter has novel writing software available.
- Yaro Starak’s Free Blog Profit Blueprint
- Using the Social Web to Find Work a free ebook by Chris Brogan
- Free ebook: Creative Freelancing by Melissa J. Gallagher
Great round-up Deb (even with the double take at #1)! I’m excited to check out some of the organizing software.
Free coffee for me?? Woohoo! Wait, it says I’m too late for free coffee today…maybe try again tomorrow?
Could also add these: Dictionary, thesaurus and word of the day at Merriam-Webster online (www.m-w.com); and loads of worldwide newspapers at newsvoyager.com.
Excellent list; thank you. I’m excited to check out that novel writing software, in particular.
Thanks for the useful compilation.
Woohoo! Love number 17.
Someone “borrowed” my copy and never returned it. I was really ticked off at first but now I hope he finds it very helpful. English isn’t his first language and he wanted tips from me to be a better writer for the book in his head that he was afraid to write. It’s not an expensive book and I’ll get another one day. But if he was able to improve his writing by “borrowing” it, I hope he finds much success.
Still, it’s one of those must-haves so I’m happy to see a free online version of it. Very cool.
Cool list, thank you so much for this. I think there are quite a few things I’m going to dig into. In fact that’s what I’m going to do right now….
Enjoy, Guys!
Thanks Deb.
Thanks for the cool list!
Once again, Deb, you rock! Thanks for these, I especially like the free coffee.
Great list, you can also put Windows Live Writer on this list. It’s great software for writing a blogs.
Yeah for you putting the library first! That is always my first free source I go to.
You bet it! Libraries came as a nice surprise in this list.
I already use many of the items listed–mainly Blogger and Google Docs–but there are others I’m yet to explore. Mainly the ebooks, reports and the such.
Thank you for sharing so many good resources!