If you have worked for a large
organization in a regular office then
you know that big businesses use
software applications that improve their
employees' business productivity.
Why should a freelance writing business
be any different?
There is writing software available that
helps freelance writers to be more
productive and can save you many hours
of valuable time. That means more hours
to take on additional assignments or
more time to spend with your family and
your friends or otherwise enjoying your
freelance lifestyle.
Of course
most writers already have word
processing software, so we will look at
a few of the other types of applications
that can help freelance writers.
Are you tired of tapping on your
keyboard? Now instead of typing you can
speak to your computer and turn talk
into text. Several years ago the
software for this was still in its
infancy and would create a manuscript
full of errors. Speech recognition
software is much more accurate today.
Two of the best applications are
Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which
claims to be three times faster than
typing, and
MacSpeech Dictate, a speech
recognition solution specifically
designed for the Macintosh.
Sonar is a free manuscript
submission tracking program. It will
help you to keep up-to-date with where
you have submitted each manuscript,
whether a piece has been sold or
rejected and which manuscripts are
gathering dust instead of earning their
keep.
With
Quick-Type you can turn into a speed
typist. Did you know that an amazing 70%
of our computer typing is taken up by
repetitive tasks? We need to type email
signatures, entries in web forms,
standard replies, and routine letters,
over and over again. Quick-Type
automates these typing tasks for you.
You simply provide all the common pieces
of text you type, along with a keyword
for each. Then whenever you type that
keyword, it gets replaced with your
text.
Sooner or
later you will want to turn one or more
of your manuscripts into Portable
Document Format. The official Adobe
Acrobat software is fairly expensive but
take a look at
CutePDF. It is PDF-making software
that comes in a number of versions,
including a free version. The free
version is excellent and can convert
your document into the PDF format in a
few seconds. And the best part, it is
free for both personal and for
commercial use.
Life Journal is interactive
journaling software designed especially
for writers. But it is much more than
journal software. You can store your
journal entries but also your drafts,
anecdotes, research notes, poems,
stories, and articles all in one
comprehensive program.
These are
just a few of the applications available
for freelance writers. If you want your
freelance writing business to grow then
you should check out those software
applications that could help you to do
tasks more efficiently and improve your
productivity. That way you will work
faster, probably have more fun, and most
importantly, improve your bottom line.
