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Best Free Online Tools for Writers

Discussion in 'Copywriting' started by jhmattern, Feb 25, 2009.

  1. #1
    I'm putting together a list of the top ten free online tools for writers for my writing blog. Before choosing them, I'd like your help in coming up with ideas to make the picks from. They can programs to actually help with writing (article spinners are NOT welcome in this list!), or they can be business-oriented tools that would be useful for freelancers. Here are a few to start the list off (at least 4 of these are pretty much guaranteed a top 10 spot):

    OpenOffice

    Wordpress

    Microsoft Accounting Express

    Serif WebPlus SE

    Stock.xchng

    What other free tools do you think freelance writers should know about, that might be worth considering for a top ten spot?
     
    jhmattern, Feb 25, 2009 IP
    mspennylane, Oranges and Live2Write like this.
  2. Y.L. Prinzel

    Y.L. Prinzel Peon

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    #2
    Quickbooks has a small free version, it only supports up to 10 clients but it could be useful for new freelancers.

    Also, for freelancers who take orders via a form on their website, http://wufoo.com/ is a great free tool to develop a form.

    I'll come back with more if I think of any.
     
    Y.L. Prinzel, Feb 25, 2009 IP
    omshanti likes this.
  3. contentboss

    contentboss Peon

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    #3
    shame you want 'free'. I know of a tool that can spit out stuff like this, just by clicking the button.
     
    contentboss, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  4. YMC

    YMC Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Since you've already listed Stock Exchange, my favorite image editor is http://www.irfanview.com/. It is free, small and I think it compresses images better than PhotoShop. I use it daily for all of my own sites.
     
    YMC, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  5. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #5
    Please don't attempt to spam the link in your sig in my thread. Awful rewrite example removed. And please read the OP before posting in someone's thread. It clearly stated those tools aren't allowed in this list. Future ones will also be removed.

    Oooh, speaking of image editors, I suppose GIMP deserves a spot on the overall list as well.
     
    jhmattern, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  6. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #6
    I have not looked at this lately because I don't have linux box running currently. It appears to have a mac version. I used something like build .9 and its on 1.3 now.

    It was not very mature when I tried it a few years ago but I suspect they have made some headway.

    At any rate, http://www.scribus.net/ is a Pagemaker like desktop publishing app.

    hope that helps,
    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  7. Ira_150

    Ira_150 Peon

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    #7
    Nice List! Thanks everyone :)

    Being new to all this myself, I don't have anything to offer, but wanted to say "Thanks"
     
    Ira_150, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  8. Y.L. Prinzel

    Y.L. Prinzel Peon

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    #8
    Y.L. Prinzel, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  9. EspressoChick

    EspressoChick Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Hi Jenn :)

    Okay here are some of my faves:

    Cute PDF (to make your own ebooks and stuff)

    Open Office (so you don't have to pay for word processing software and other things, like spreadsheet software, even has a PDF maker)

    Google Docs (can share with people on a team if you're working on a project together)

    Gmail (lots of space to store emails...need I say more?)

    AVG (free antivirus software, used for 4 years, excellent, just excellent :) )

    Cinnamon Software's Talking Alarm Clock - gives cute reminders that pop up to remind you of deadlines or daily things you need to do (water plants, etc)

    www.sxc.hu for free stock photos

    and of course Digital Point! :)

    :) Abby
     
    EspressoChick, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  10. dynashox

    dynashox Premium Member Staff

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    #10
    Thanks Jenn for the list, especially for the Microsoft Accounting Express software. Never heard of it before.

    Here are a couple of tools that I can recommend :

    StorYBook - Open Source novel-writing tool.

    FreeMind - free mind mapping software

    PingMe - online reminder tool

    eFax - receive faxes by email

    The Free Dictionary - online dictionary

    Freelance Switch - freelance hourly rate calculator

    - Dynashox -
     
    dynashox, Feb 25, 2009 IP
  11. oo87

    oo87 Well-Known Member

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    #11
    I agree about OpenOffice. I use this exclusively, and I love it.

    I also love http://www.live-keyword-analysis.com/, which is more or less only something I use when writing from a marketing angle, where the buyer will request a certain kw density. There aren't a whole lot of good analyzers out there that take text, instead of URL's.
     
    oo87, Feb 26, 2009 IP
  12. timothywcrane

    timothywcrane Well-Known Member

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    #12
    I think Openoffice takes the cake when it comes to office platforms. I like GIMP of course for all of my photo editing, and Scribus is great for publication software (I think you can check it out on Windows too, like GIMP and OO). My favorite tool for actual writing however would be the SEO Quake toolbar for Firefox. It is mostly used for pure SEO, but i use it as a quick check on all of my articles keyword density. My articles are always in a browser locally before uploading, and I can use this tool to tweak an article for just the right density before making it live.
     
    timothywcrane, Feb 27, 2009 IP
  13. hypnosis

    hypnosis Peon

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    #13
    Not sure if it qualifies as a tool, but I use advanced google search to do research for articles (specially for PDF files, as the information contained in those files is generally of higher quality than normal websites).
     
    hypnosis, Feb 27, 2009 IP
  14. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #14
    Not exactly copy related but as Jen mentioned an image editor I figured I would post this.
    This is pretty slick actually, http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

    hope that helps,
    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Feb 27, 2009 IP
  15. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #15
    I think image editors definitely apply. Writers use them when blogging, for article images, and sometimes for design purposes if they're creating marketing collateral like brochures. :)
     
    jhmattern, Feb 27, 2009 IP
  16. Live2Write

    Live2Write Active Member

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    #16
    Live2Write, Feb 27, 2009 IP
  17. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #17
    Along the PDF lines, there's also PrimoPDF's free tool (the only one I'm aware of that does a free pdf conversion with links intact). They have a downloadable option, but I prefer the online version here - https://online.primopdf.com/Default.aspx
     
    jhmattern, Feb 28, 2009 IP
  18. AndreBell

    AndreBell Peon

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    #18
    These are some of the free utils I use more frequently than others:

    • www.noping.net/kent/osiva/ - cool transparent image viewer for displaying images while recording specialized screen captures
    • www.audacity.sourceforge.net - for recording audio to my pc (skype interviews, audio to insert into products, etc)
    • www.aminstitute.com/headline - nice way to 'score' short headline ideas
    • Google Talk
    • Skype
    • koyotesoft.com - Free FLV Converter - for converting screencam videos to upload to youtube etc
    • focalmedia.net - URL Extractor when doing competitive espionage research
    • www.copyscape.com
    • www.ampsoft.net - AMP Font Viewer, for managing fonts for printed items

    There are others, these just happen to be some that weren't already mentioned.

    Andre
     
    AndreBell, Mar 2, 2009 IP
  19. 3dom

    3dom Peon

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    #19
    For quick image editing I use sumo.fi - amazing tool has interface, feel and possibilities (almost) of Photoshop - layers, various opacity options, brushes, text editing, crop and so on. And it's "just" online tool without downloadable installer. Perfect instrument for quick editing then you don't have your laptop with Photoshop (or GIMP) with you - the only sad part is it's not working on iPhone due to Flash restrictions.

    Another interesting tool is ispeech.org - it convert texts into voice. Not only it *speaks* like human and correctly read special terms, slang and abbreviations - but also it has possibility to automatically convert blog posts (or any other web-based texts) into voice. Very useful tool then you are driving a car and have to *read* news from Internet or books. Also it allows to add podcasts to your pages or blogs automatically via simple API.
     
    3dom, Mar 2, 2009 IP
  20. jawahar

    jawahar Active Member

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    #20
    adding w3optimizer.com to the list.. This will help ensure delivering SEO content...
     
    jawahar, Mar 2, 2009 IP