Freelance writing is an excellent profession for numerous reasons. It allows you to earn an income while pursuing your passions, as no matter your interests, there is almost certainly a market and demand for skilled writers in that niche, be it sports, fashion, travel, gaming, or anything else.
Freelance writing is also highly flexible, allowing you to work remotely from home, while traveling, at your favorite cafe, or anywhere else. Plus, you get to decide how many hours and when you work.
Want to work full-time as a writer? You can do that. Part-time? That’s no issue, either.
For those who seek to become freelance writers or want to take their content to the next level, taking courses is one of the best ways to get ahead. This blog looks at the 10 best freelance writing courses available to expedite your learning process and open up new avenues for success.
Why take a freelance writing course?
While almost anyone can become a freelance writer, often the most challenging part is when you are first getting started. This is because you don’t have a lot of experience or a proven track record that you can show to prospects, making it more challenging to land your first clients.
The beginning is when the risk of failure is highest; some aspiring freelance writers give up during this stage after trying countless times to land clients with little or no success. However, this doesn’t have to be the case for you.
Taking a freelance writing course is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door and establish yourself as a writer. The best writing courses will teach you how to create a portfolio and market yourself, pitch to and land your first clients, deliver quality content for your clients, price your services appropriately, and more.
Perhaps most importantly, a writing course will give you the confidence and belief needed to pursue your dream of becoming a freelance writer with dedication and vigor, as you’ll have a proven plan of action to follow and a support network around you.
However, freelance writing courses aren’t only for beginners. They can also be immensely helpful for already established writers looking to broaden their skills, discover new ways of procuring leads, get into new industries, and ultimately achieve more success.
The best freelance writing courses
1. Freelance and Feature Writing – The London School of Journalism
The Freelance and Feature Writing course by The London School of Journalism (LSJ) is excellent for those looking to write for newspapers and magazines. LSJ has been at the forefront of training journalists for over 100 years, meaning they have tons of experience and inside knowledge of what major organizations and publications want.
The LSJ teaches you everything you need to know about real-world journalism, what editors and readers want, and, crucially, how to spot a good story and package it into a saleable idea that you can present to newspapers, magazines, radio, and even television.
Best of all, over 80% of their students succeed in getting their content published when completing this course.
2. Becoming A Freelance Writer – Knowadays
The highly popular ‘Becoming A Freelance Writer’ course by Knowadays offers 8 modules, 23 lessons, and over 50 hours of learning time. This beginner-friendly course does an excellent job of teaching you the fundamentals of becoming an expert freelance content creator.
We particularly like their “Publishing Guarantee.” If you graduate with a distinction score, Knowadays will allow you to complete a one-off project with their content team, i.e., you can write an article for their blog with your name attributed to it. This means you will instantly have a published piece of work you can add to your portfolio to show to potential clients.
So far, over 6000 students have graduated from this CPD-accredited course; could you be next? They offer a free trial and 24/7 customer support if you are interested.
3. Freelance Writing Essentials – Peak Freelance
Elise and Michael, who run Peak Freelance, have over ten years of combined freelance writing experience. They’ve put together this comprehensive course designed specifically to help beginners quickly go from having no portfolio and no paying clients to having both.
This may not be the best course for you if you’re already an established freelance writer with a few clients, as this course is all about mastering the basics.
If you are brand new to freelance writing and want help choosing a niche, building a portfolio, invoicing, and more, this six-module course is worth considering.
4. The Complete Freelance Writing Course, Philippa Davies
While thousands of writing courses are available on Udemy, this one is a solid choice for those wanting to set themselves up as professional freelance writers.
It teaches you how to write all forms of copy, including blogs, ebooks, podcasts, video scripts, speeches, and more. And it shows you how to spot opportunities for paid work, pitch to them, and negotiate a fair fee for your content.
This course is updated monthly, so there’s always something new to learn, and you can receive 1-2-1 feedback on your writing.
5. Write Your Way to Your First $1k – WriteTo1k
Write Your Way to Your First $1k is all about helping you become a well-paid writer as quickly as possible. It dispels the myth that freelance writing is too competitive or poorly paid by providing you with an actionable strategy to attract and retain high-quality clients.
The course offers 7 modules and over 50 lessons, with specific exercises designed to help you make your first $1k from writing. If you want to ditch your regular 9 to 5 job and replace your income through freelance writing, this course gives you a step-by-step plan for doing so.
6. Freelance Writers Den
The Freelance Writers Den is an excellent online community of professional writers to be a part of, but there is currently a waiting list to join. As a member, you get access to the 3 to 4 multi-week boot camps they host annually, presented by industry experts, plus live monthly events.
Everything is recorded and transcribed, so members have access to a library of over 300 hours of recorded instructional training sessions that they can consume anytime.
The 24/7 forum, staffed by pro editors and writers, is also an excellent place to learn from the wisdom of other successful writers, ask any questions you have, and get feedback on your work.
7. 4D Academy 2.0 – Tyson 4D
Tyson 4D is a popular freelance copywriter and YouTuber whose free educational videos attract thousands of views. He specializes mainly in copywriting, specifically emails, landing pages, and other types of sales copy.
If you are a fan of his videos, you’ll be pleased to hear he also offers a paid course for those who want to take things to the next level. By doing this course, you learn how to write persuasive copy that generates leads and drives sales so you can attract high-paying clients looking to grow their businesses.
8. Come Write With Us
The Come Write With Us course gives you an effective plan to help you launch your freelance writing career. It contains 9 modules that teach you how to develop your personal brand, build a writing habit, pitch to high-paying editors and magazines, and work effectively and efficiently.
The course delivers this by providing different exercises, homework assignments, real-world examples, Q&As, templates to use, pro strategies, and other resources. However, there are only a few videos in this course; it is mostly delivered as written material.
9. Blogging for Business – Ahrefs
If you’re looking for a free course to develop your writing skills, Blogging for Business by Ahrefs is an excellent choice. It teaches you how to create a blog, grow its readership beyond 100k visitors, and convert these readers into customers.
This free video course dives deep into blogging strategy, SEO, content marketing, article optimization, and more. With Ahrefs being one of the top SEO companies, the quality of this course is very high, as you’d expect. What you learn from this course will serve you well as a freelance writer, allowing you to get paid to help other businesses improve their blogs.
10. Ship 30 for 30
Ship 30 for 30 is an excellent course that is all about accountability and developing the habit of writing by taking daily action. By enrolling in this course, you will strive to publish 30 pieces of content, around 250 words each, in 30 days.
This community-based 30-day challenge model is designed to ensure you stay motivated for this goal and accountable to others, meaning you are much more likely to achieve it than if you were to set this goal alone. There’s no doubt about it; if you succeed in completing this challenge, you will be transformed as a writer by the end of it.
The Bottom Line
There you have it; these are our top 10 favorite freelance writing courses in 2024. Enrolling in any of these will help you jumpstart your freelance writing career and take your content to the next level. Investing in an educational course can not only save you time in the short term but also boost your chances of success and allow you to command better rates from clients.
