10 online courses to make you a better writer

There’s nothing like the convenience of online learning to help you fit personal projects around your busy schedule. And if you’ve had the same writing resolutions popping up on your list again after again – why not make 2019 YOUR year to make them happen. Your future self will high five you.

With a suite of courses for fiction, freelance, business and pleasure – these 10 online gems are sure to please and keep your motivation buzzing throughout the year. Each gives you a full 12-months’ access and the flexibility of learning whenever (and wherever) it suits you. Excuses begone – happy writing!

Short Story Essentials
Want to transform your storytelling skills? Start writing short stories! It’s no surprise that top authors tout the art of short-form fiction as the best way to hone their overall fiction writing techniques – these small stories must pack a punch with every paragraph.

Short Story Essentials will take you under the deceptively simple surface so you can discover the hidden elements of a stunning story. You’ll build a compelling yarn, piece by piece, and – best of all – be able to submit your story for personalised feedback on completion. As the popularity of writing competitions and anthologies rises every year – you’ll be in with a sneaky advantage with this powerful course up your writer’s sleeve.

Fiction Essentials: Characters
Every successful story needs characters, right? But unless your cast of characters is believable, fully-formed and brought to life on the page – your readers may call it quits after chapter one. Just consider how memorable the characters are in your own favourite books – the magic would be lost without them.

Enter your specialised course in creating characters – every author’s best friend. Whether you’re writing your first novel, or your 21st, this comprehensive course will help you create the strongest possible characters to drive your narrative forward. It’s perfect for writers of all genres and experience levels. Grab it today and use it for every story you ever write.

Content Writing
With the world of content marketing exploding, an increasing number of businesses are looking for content writers on a huge range of topics: lifestyle, health, travel, science, business, you name it. It’s a sought-after string to add to your freelance writing bow.

Content Writing will make creating engaging content a breeze. Jam-packed with valuable information and easy-to-use templates – you’ll develop the skills you need to write interesting articles on the go with minimum fuss. It’s the ideal resources to have on hand for any freelance writer, business owner or thought leader.

Real Estate Copywriting
If you love the idea of writing about homes and opening up a new revenue stream, this is your dream course. Learn what goes into a compelling property listing and HOW to get paid to write them.

Let's face it – there are always new properties on the market. And if you have the skills to create state-of-the-art listings, you’ll have buyers (and agents) coming back for more. This course is packed full of video lessons, useful templates, case studies, email scripts, exercises and cheat sheets so that you can get started immediately. And you'll easily earn back the cost in just a few gigs.

Professional Business Writing
Looking to improve your business communication so it’s A) more effective and B) completed in half the time? Professional Business Writing is a handy online course that allows you to learn at your own pace, while teaching you the clear foundations of good business writing.

Once you are equipped with the guidelines and useful templates, you’ll find the stress is taken out of your day-to-day business writing and you can produce documents with confidence. If you’re keen to elevate your workplace writing skills this year – this is the course for you.

Build Your Author Platform
These days, simply writing a good book is not enough. With such a crowded marketplace (a new book is added to Amazon every five minutes!) it’s imperative that you also focus on building your profile. And you might be surprised to learn – you should be doing this before you’re published.

Where do you start? Right here with this course. It will give you the exact steps you need to take to build an engaged community and boost your brand. With tips on how to build your author platform both offline and online, this is an ideal course for any aspiring fiction or memoir author.

Inside Publishing: What You Need to Know to Get Published
One of the best things authors can do to maximise their chances of a getting a book deal is to understand how the industry works. There are a lot of traps for new players, and it pays (literally) to arm yourself with knowledge.

Inside Publishing is an in-depth course suited to people who want to really understand how the business of publishing works worldwide so they are informed and well-positioned – either for dealing with publishers or for self-publishing. This course will help you to understand your rights as an author and what approach will be best for you.

The Business of Freelancing
Attention feature writers – if the business side of freelance writing does your head in, you need this course in your bag of tricks. Get set up as a professional freelance writer and learn the essentials – including how to quote for your articles, use invoice and cash flow tracking templates, gain ideas, productivity tips and more.

This course is ideal for freelancers who are writing for magazines and online publications. It’s the perfect companion to the Freelance Writing Stage 1 course.

Write a Business Book
This powerful program will help you write and publish your own non-fiction book for your business or passion. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or area you’re interested in – this program will give you a clear blueprint to follow so you can plan, write and publish a book that sells.

There is a very tangible outcome to this program. If you choose to self-publish, you can realistically expect to follow the steps and have all the tools to create a professional, finished product that will showcase your area of expertise. And if you opt to publish through a mainstream (traditional) publisher, you will be armed with the tools to improving your profile, making your book angle compelling and writing a proposal that will catch the eye of publishers and increase your chances of success.

Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder
Do you enjoy writing about the dark and deadly? Or perhaps you’ve always been fascinated by the dangerous and disturbing world of serial killers and true crime. Being interested in this stuff is not about being a bad person; it’s about being a great writer. In this course you’ll be led by award-winning crime fiction author and crime buff Candice Fox so that you can produce your own cutting-edge thrillers.

Discover how to approach homicide from an objective, investigative standpoint and consider the experiences of the killer, victim and the police teams throughout several real life cases. This is a binge-worthy look at the grisly side of life and perfect for any crime and thriller writer.

Yearning for more? There are over 20 online courses in the library for you to choose from – get instant access and dip in and out of the content when the mood strikes. This year is YOURS for the taking – and we’ll be cheering you on every step of the way!