Have you ever been writing late at night or early in the morning and you had a burning writing question but no one who was awake that you could call to answer it? This is a common concern for anyone on a path of learning. It would be nice if most towns had writing centers the way others have hardware stores. Then, an aspiring author could pop into a workshop to hammer out a piece of writing with the helpful eye of a master craftsman. Until this dream of creative centers emerging across the land comes to fruition, we will have to be satisfied with online help.
As writers, we need help with so many things—from grammar and story structure to publishing and marketing advice. We all want perfectly suited support and solutions for all of our writing conundrums. Unfortunately, most of us must depend on books and the internet to fill the missing knowledge. I have created a list focused on the FREE resources that we all can access with an internet connection. I also mention a few paid programs and books that I have personally purchased and used. I hope you will share your best resources with me too.
*No one has paid me to advertise these. I am sharing this information because it took me a long time to find good resources that are actually helpful and not just infomercials in disguise.
Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman writes and talks about writing as a career. She clearly explains the landscape of the publishing world and how authors can and cannot make money with their writing. Last year, she released the updated version of her very informative book, The Business of Being a Writer, 2nd Ed. It is all about how to create a writing business that may (or may not) support you financially. She also has an amazing website and YouTube channel with excellent free resources. Additionally, she has paid courses, a paid newsletter, and a Patreon.
I appreciate Jane because she has a Midwesterner’s sensibility—she doesn’t sugarcoat things. Instead, she pragmatically explains how to get the results you want within the realistic framework of the current publishing climate. She is like a physical trainer who cheers you on as you try to run farther and faster to beat your own personal records. She is consistently positive and practical.
In addition to a great deal of free materials, she offers classes that are moderately priced and packed full of useful information ($25 to $89). Each one is tightly focused around a specific topic so you only have to buy what you need. That said, one workshop has so much information that you can work with the material for quite a long time. I took her basic publishing seminar and used that information for the next year because it contained so much material to process and incorporate into my writing life.
Website: https://janefriedman.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@JaneFriedman
Lisa Cooper Ellison
Lisa Cooper Ellison is a trauma informed writing coach who has a free podcast and email newsletter. She talks about how to write hard stories about traumatic experiences from our past. Often she interviews authors about newly published books to discuss their writing process and the challenges and choices they made while writing and publishing their books.
Listening to her weekly podcasts is like taking a master seminar in literature. Over the last year of regularly listening to her podcast, she has taught me about common pitfalls of writing difficult stories. She normalized the ups and downs of the writing process as well as the emotional recovery required for vulnerable material. Most importantly, she has encouraged me to keep writing through the hard parts and that there is a place in the writing world for what I want to share.
In addition to discussing the emotional aspects of writing about our lived experiences, she has great conversations that explore how authors structure stories and books. They talk about how to decide what details to include or leave out, how to find a good publisher for a niche story, and everything in-between.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lisacooperellison
Website: https://lisacooperellison.substack.com
Tad Hargrave Marketing for Hippies
Tad Hargrave is not a writer; he is an educator who runs the business Marketing for Hippies. He gives advice about marketing for people who hate consumer culture and self promotion—basically everyone but especially hippies. Tad’s YouTube channel has hundreds of videos to educate novice entrepreneurs about selling. His videos have helped me get over money hang ups, shyness around promoting my work, and so much more. He is extremely generous with his content, so you can learn the basics to promote a book by reviewing several YouTube videos.
I found him when I was trying to market my newly published book a few years back. He made me realize that I am always grateful when I find a person sharing info about things that I am interested in. He made me realize that marketing doesn’t have to be icky (for the buyer or the seller). At its best, it is sharing information with people who are looking for that thing. I recommend that all introverted authors, who are afraid to even talk to their friends about their recently published book, listen to a few of his videos. It might change your mindset to get you thinking differently about what marketing can be at its best.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@marketingforhippies
Dan Blank Interview: https://youtu.be/P-9BAzoxHFI?si=NbdkAT_eLxCwSFJU
Writer’s Digest Magazine (online)
Writer’s Digest has been around in one form or another for a hundred years. I think of them as the classic resource that gives good traditional writing advice. They have a plethora of information that is free as well as a great deal more things behind a paywall.
The Writer’s Digest online site is a great place to start when researching any writing question. On their site, I have read articles about everything from naming characters to writing with dyslexia. Each article usually has at least one takeaway that makes it worth the read—though sometimes they can be meandering fluff pieces.
If you want to pay for more resources you can get a subscription to the magazine which gives you access to the online database of back publications. In addition, Writer’s Digest runs courses through their own university. I have taken a few of these and the classes are only as good as the teacher, which means some were excellent and others were terrible. I had hoped that for the cost it would be better vetted and have a more consistently positive student experience, but I have been more disappointed than not.
Website: https://www.writersdigest.com
Hay House Writing Community
Hay House is a publishing house that was founded by Louise Hay who published You Can Heal Your Life and several other books. Later, they established a publishing community that specialized in self-help books that have more spiritual or (in their words) woo-woo content—think angels, life after death, tarot cards, and the like.
They currently have a writing community for authors who want to be published with them—it is a bootcamp to learn the steps from manuscript to publication. I signed up for the training when I got a significant discount on a one-year subscription. The first-year course had a great deal of information for aspiring authors who have already written a book and wanted to get a publishing deal. In six months, I learned about editing, platform development, and nonfiction book proposals. However, the course was significantly lacking in details about the craft of writing well.
In the end, I do not recommend this program for several reasons. To begin, there are two competing messages in the community—anyone can be an author, but also only a handful of people are good enough to be traditionally published. They support the participants in the courses enough to keep people enrolled and hopeful, but they simultaneously promote their editing and self-publishing programs through KN Literary and Balboa Press. This false encouragement is really just upselling in nice clothes. I could tolerate that when I was still learning things from the program and meeting people who were good writing friends, but I no longer have reason to.
Summary
There are many great books, websites, YouTube channels, and podcasts that can support our writing endeavors. However, there are many that are not worth the time or expense. In this community, we should openly discuss the best resources available for free and for a fee. It is my long-term goal to create an online writing center where all writers can stop by for some support. I hope to have many free resources as well as reasonably priced courses to accommodate a wide rage of writers working on drafting their first book.
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