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FREELANCE WRITING BWR102

Duration (approx) 100 hours
Qualification
Statement of Attainment

Study Freelance Writing - Become a Freelance Writer

  • Online freelance writing skills course. Self-paced. No deadlines.  10 lessons. Start anytime.
  • Numerous writing exercises with feedback from our expert writing tutors.
  • Professional Development Training. Or study for personal interest.
  • Train to be a freelance writer. Open up freelance or side hustle writing opportunities.

 

Course Structure and Content

1. Introduction

  • Categories of Freelance Writing
  • Steps to getting started
  • Necessary resources (including equipment)
  • Researching the market
  • Sources of information
  • How to develop yourself as a freelance writer
  • Publishing options
  • Industry terminology

2. Basic Writing Skills

  • How to improve a piece of writing
  • Essential writing skills
  • Informative language
  • Persuasive language
  • Imaginative language
  • Connotation and denotation
  • Literal and figurative language
  • Formal and informal language
  • Clear communication
  • Making meanings clear
  • Causes of confusion.
  • Ambiguity.
  • Concise wording.
  • Condensing your writing.
  • In-concise writing.
  • Phrases linked in a wordy fashion.
  • Tautologies.
  • Abstract nouns.
  • Using too many words.
  • Ellipsis.
  • Active and passive language.
  • Grammatical rules.
  • Grammatical errors.
  • Rules of speech.
  • Punctuation.
  • Spelling.
  • Sentence structure.
  • Types of sentences.
  • Composing sentences.
  • Building a paragraph.

3. Planning What You Write

  • Conceptualisation.
  • Developing a concept.
  • Writing an outline synopsis.
  • Planning your writing.
  • Word budget.
  • Writing structure.
  • Research.
  • The writing process.
  • Feature writing conventions.
  • Feature article structure.
  • Introduction, billboard paragraph, body, ending and closer.
  • References.
  • A writing routine.

 4. The Publishing World

  • Contacting publishers.
  • Periodicals.
  • Books.
  • Sample publisher’s contract.
  • Protecting the writers work.
  • Copyright.
  • Income from writing.
  • Lending rights.

5. Manuscripts

  • Preparing and presenting your manuscript.
  • Editing.
  • The editing process.
  • Self editing.
  • Editing articles and manuscripts.
  • Writing a sales package.
  • Target reader synopsis.
  • The title.
  • Statement of objectives.
  • The publishing process.
  • Presentation requirements.
  • Submitting your work.
  • Publishing processes for eBooks.
  • Self publishing online.

6. News Articles

  • Introduction How they are used, recognising news fatigue
  • Types of News - local, national, international
  • Bias
  • Fact and Opinion
  • News Article Types
  • Eye Witness Accounts
  • Reporting and Investigations
  • Research and Desk Research
  • News Articles and Short Features
  • Investigative articles
  • Regular columns
  • Fillers
  • Human interest article
  • Local news articles
  • Interviews
  • Conducting an interview
  • Preparing & Planning the questions
  • Drawing out answers
  • Accuracy of notes
  • Writing a Good News Article
  • Writing Headings and Sub Headings
  • Writing the first sentence then following paragraphs
  • Writing a Filler Article

7. Magazine Writing

  • Magazine articles
  • What does a publisher or editor consider?
  • Article Types - feature, how to, sports, hobbies, human interest, personal experience, service articles, travel, etc
  • Fillers
  • Feature articles
  • Types of articles
  • Service articles
  • Writing a Magazine Article
  • Article Structure
  • Article Design
  • Submitting and Article
  • Writing a pitch
  • Persistence
  • Blog Writing

8. Writing Books

  • Fiction books
  • Writing fiction - 5 steps
  • Elements of a story –plot, viewpoint, characterisation. setting, dialogue, conflict, structure.
  • Target audience & Research
  • Believability
  • Writing Short Stories
  • Non Fiction books
  • Text books
  • Other Non Fiction Books
  • Fact finding
  • Getting book contracts

9. Marketing Writing

  • Introduction - Scope & Nature
  • Writing for public relations
  • Media releases
  • Writing promotional campaigns
  • Messages
  • Message generation, evaluation and selection
  • Message Execution
  • Copywriting
  • Selling
  • Effectiveness
  • Writing online advertising copy
  • SEO and GEO

10. Special Project

  • Reviewing your writing.
  • Planning a small book.
  • Writing the first chapter.

COURSE AIMS

  • Discuss the nature and scope of freelance writing.
  • Evaluate your basic writing skills and identify deficiencies needing attention in order to be successful at freelance writing.
  • Develop a concept for freelance writing which has potential for selling.
  • Identify commercial opportunities to sell writing to publishers.
  • Describe the preparation of a manuscript for submission to a publisher
  • Write commercially viable items for publishing in a newspaper.
  • Write commercially viable items for publishing in a magazine.
  • Plan for production of a commercially viable book manuscript.
  • Write commercially viable advertising.
  • Apply all skills and knowledge so far developed to the production of a complete manuscript.

It's easy to enrol...

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why Study Freelance Writing?

Write, Edit, Sell.

Freelance writers work for themselves.  

Part-time, full-time or side hustle work opportunities.

Improve your writing skills to gain work with organisations, businesses, news, magazines, books, eBooks and more.

Who Is This Course Suitable For?

Do you consider yourself to be a good writer? Study this course to improve your existing writing skills and delve more into the requirements for freelance writers.

What Will You Learn In This Course?

Learn how to –

  • Write features, short fiction, newspaper work, general copy, and more.
  • You will also learn how to pitch, place work, and polish material until it shines and sells.

And -

  • Genres and markets
  • Pitch structure and how to talk to an editor
  • The processes involved in publishing books, magazines and newspapers, from generating concepts to seeing the finished publication on sale.

What do our students think of the Freelance Writing course?

"[this course is a valuable learning experience]. I have never had the benefit of a writer give feedback on my work. That along with structure and content lessons have been beneficial. Many professional writers start out by freelancing. Learn how to write, what to write, and how publishers buy from freelance writers."
Bradley Clark, Freelance Writing

"I commenced the Creative Writing Course with the ACS having had no prior experience in this field whatsoever. Having always been in accounting or payroll jobs, I decided to give the course a go. The course demonstrated to me what I enjoyed writing about, the types of writing I was good at, and not so good at. It broadened my horizon to show me what was out there to write about. It gave me knowledge and confidence. I have continued to write, and in the future want to commence with the next course, but in the meantime, I have submitted various articles of mine to some magazines and have had nothing but positive feedback from all the editors and some of my work is to be published!! Which I personally feel is fantastic as I have only been doing this for a year or so. Thank you for opening up a whole new world of creativity to me which I can only enhance upon!!"
Jo, Freelance Writing
 
"The Freelance Writing course has been one of my most favourite due to the ease & flexibility of correspondence. I have found the staff always helpful and friendly. I appreciated that there were no deadlines and I could complete the work involved when I had time."
Janine, Freelance Writing

What Next?

If you would like to start a career as a freelance writing, this is the course to get you started.  If you enjoy writing and want to develop your writing skills, work with your tutor to develop and improve your writing skills.

You can enrol today by clicking the “Enrol Now” button above.

Or

Click here to contact a writing tutor.

Or Request a Prospectus Here.
Courses can be started anytime from anywhere in the world!

Meet some of our academics

John MasonWriter, Manager, Teacher and Businessman with over 40 years interenational experience covering Education, Publishing, Leisure Management, Education, and Horticulture. He has extensive experience both as a public servant, and as a small business owner. John is a well respected member of many professional associations, and author of over seventy books and of over two thousand magazine articles.
Jacinda ColeJacinda has expertise in psychology and horticulture. She holds a BSc (hons) in Psychology and a Masters in Psychology (Clinical) and also trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the London Centre for Psychotherapy. In horticulture she has a Certificate in Garden Design and ran her own landscaping and garden design business for a number of years. Jacinda also has many years experience in course development and educational writing.
Tracey Jones (writing)Tracey has enjoyed creative writing since she was a child. She has had several short stories published and a novella. She is also a keen writer of children's stories and poetry. She has also written many academic and non-fiction books in the fields of psychology, sociology, child development, writing and marketing.


Check out our eBooks

Creative WritingThe Creative Writing ebook can be useful for writing students or even professional writers to help improve their writing techniques and skills. The Creative Writing ebook is a fabulous starting point for budding writers. The topics that are covered within this book are an introduction to creative writing, Methodology and technique- the building blocks of writing, Genres, Creative non-fiction, creative writing techniques, developing your skill, building your career and a Glossary.
English GrammarThe English Grammar ebook can be a great reference for students, people who are learning English and anybody who writes anything- ever. The English Grammar ebook takes grammar back to basics to help confirm correct use of grammar. Topics that are covered within this course include 1/ Introduction- the components of language, 2/ Types of words, 3/ Punctuation, 4/ Upper and lower case, abbreviations, numbers, bullet points and 5/ Using words together.
How to be a Successful EditorThere are plenty of books that show you the processes involved in editing; but knowing the process is in itself not enough to be a successful editor. This book not only covers aspects of the process; but it also goes beyond the process; showing you things that may help you to become better than the “average” editor.
Professional WritingProfessional writing is any writing that you are being paid for. It can include fiction writing, a best-selling book, articles in a magazine, articles in a newspaper, blogs for companies, technical manuals or procedure manuals, copy for catalogues, newsletters, text books and other academic material and so on.