The 5 Best Newsletters to Subscribe to For Freelance Writing Success
Updated: Mar 18
As any freelance writer knows, part of creating a successful career is hunting down job opportunities. Why not use that time instead to pitch, draft, and edit? Subscribing to a writing newsletter allows you to receive calls for pitches and job listings directly to your email. I’ve been freelancing for years now, and the following weekly emails have been key to my success.
Sonia Weiser’s Opportunities of the Week — $3/month, arrives 2x/week This is by far the most comprehensive newsletter on the list. If you’ve ever searched “accepting pitches” on Twitter, you’ve probably seen Sonia’s comments in various threads, following up with editors to ask for more details and pay rates. These emails include job openings and calls for pitches in the US and UK. Some address very specific niches, others are more general, all of them are well-paid. Plus, each email includes a link to a Google doc that includes helpful resources for freelance writers.
Feel-Good Freelance Writing's Newsletter — Free, 2x/month
Yup, this is my own newsletter! Every other week, I share an anecdote from life as a freelance writer and then include some tips that are usually related to the anecdote. The focus of this newsletter is about managing the ups and downs of the freelancing business and finding mental peace throughout it all.
The Writer’s Job Newsletter — Free, 1x/week This newsletter from the UK seems to include some of the most unique opportunities, many of which are from England. One section of each weekly email features a wide variety of job openings, the rest are other interesting and well-paid gigs out there. Each newsletter ends with a “featured writer” section — a good opportunity to get your name out there. Plus, the writers behind this newsletter often share documents with helpful resources and have recently come up with a survey in order to compile a report of freelance writing in 2021.
Freedom With Writing — Free, around 1x/week The Freedom With Writing newsletter is wide-ranging and formatted differently from the rest of the emails in this list. First of all, these newsletters typically feature listicles of opportunities with no specific deadlines. Although I’ve found that the emails aren’t always regular, they include not only recent calls for pitches, but also lists of magazines that pay for specific genres, or writing contests to submit to. While not all of the opportunities they list are well-paying (or paying at all), at least there they provide a great volume of places to pitch. This is great if you’re just getting started in the industry or work in a niche that is somewhat unusual.
Kat Boogaard's Weekly Newsletter — Free, 1x/week
Not only does Kat curate a few high-quality freelance gigs at the end of each newsletter, but she also uses her personal experiences as an uber-successful freelance writer to help other writers at all points in their careers. You'll find all kinds of helpful tips and anecdotes in this newsletter, and will always come away feeling like you've learned something!