Top 8 Apps for Freelance Authors
The best freelance authors are always eager to improve their writing, and regardless of whether you are an experienced content creator or new to the Textbroker platform, there are likely to be ways you could enhance the quality of your written work or the speed at which you are able to produce high-quality content.
Why the Right Tools Matter
Having the right tools available can assist with everything from improving your spelling, punctuation and choice of words or phrases to enhancing your time management skills or allowing you to work more effectively on multiple devices. Read on to find more information about eight of the very best apps for freelance authors.
1. Grammarly
Grammarly is a cloud-based tool, which makes use of artificial intelligence technology to analyse your writing and make intelligent recommendations for improvement. Among other things, it can detect spelling and grammatical errors or aspects of writing that lack clarity, and the app then provides notes explaining why it has flagged each mistake.
The basic spelling and grammar check features are available in the free version, but the best app for freelancers is Grammarly’s premium subscription-based option, offering the complete range of features, including plagiarism detection, which can be perfect for avoiding issues associated with duplicate content.
With the premium option, the app also provides tone adjustment recommendations and assesses your writing’s level of formality. As a result, you can optimise your texts so that they are more appropriate for the target audience.
2. Dragon Anywhere
Dragon Anywhere is a mobile app, available for both Android and iOS, which allows you to create and edit text documents of any length and a variety of formats through speech recognition technology. While it is not the cheapest app on this list, it does deliver 99 per cent accuracy, support for multiple languages, compatibility with a variety of popular desktop products, and options to share documents via email, DropBox and more.
The real value of Dragon Anywhere is the ability to create text on a hands-free basis. This means that if inspiration strikes at a time when you are unable to type or access a computer, you can still get your thoughts and ideas down. This can be especially valuable when working on creative writing projects, or more complicated articles.
3. AnyCase
The AnyCase app is a useful tool for writers because it provides a quick and easy way to convert text between different case structures. For instance, if you find a quotation that is written entirely in upper-case letters, the app can convert this into a more standard sentence case so that it can be added to an article without being re-written entirely.
One of the biggest potential uses of this app is the ability to switch any case structure into title case. This can be useful for writers who struggle to know which words in a title should have the first letter capitalised and which should be left as lower case. As an example, “top 8 apps for freelance authors” becomes “Top 8 Apps for Freelance Authors”.
4. Microsoft SwiftKey
Microsoft SwiftKey is perhaps the single best app for writers who regularly work on their smartphone. Available for both Android and iOS, it is a virtual keyboard app, replacing the conventional on-screen keyboards for those operating systems with a more advanced on-screen functionality, which is better suited for creating text documents.
The biggest benefit of using SwiftKey is the improvement it offers to predictive text. This is possible because the app learns from the text you input using the keyboard, as well as the text you have entered recently, so that predictions are more likely to be accurate. From there, writing on your phone becomes easier and more efficient.
5. Focus Booster
Focus Booster is one of the best productivity apps for freelancers using either Microsoft Windows or Mac OSX because its core functionality is based on the popular Pomodoro Technique. This is a time management system, which advocates breaking your working day into 25 minute chunks, separated by five minute breaks.
The basic idea behind this approach is to prevent burnout. When writing tasks are broken down into these 25-minute intervals, it becomes easier to make as much progress as possible and then enjoy a well-earned break. This can also be important for avoiding issues such as eye strain when using a computer for prolonged periods.
Focus Booster tracks the 25-minute sessions and your breaks while also providing tools like productivity graphs and timesheets, so you can track your performance. Best of all, the basic timing app is available for free, while more serious users with more advanced needs can opt for a more comprehensive paid premium version.
6. Hello Bonsai
There are a large number of invoicing apps for freelancers on the market today, but Hello Bonsai may be one of the best options for freelance writers because it also provides a range of extra features that can be of real value. The software allows you to easily create proposals, use templates to generate contracts, and create customised invoices.
Moreover, Hello Bonsai includes a time tracking feature, allowing you to track how much time you have spent on a particular project. This information can also directly feed into the invoicing component, which is perfect for scenarios where you are billing clients based on time rather than based on the word count of the project.
7. TopTracker
A similar option to Hello Bonsai, TopTracker is available for free and serves as one of the best time tracking apps for freelancers. In addition to automatically tracking the time taken to complete your writing tasks, the app can produce reports so that you have a better understanding of precisely where you have spent your time.
Time management is an essential part of freelancing and you need to be able to understand where time has been spent in order to identify ways to improve and so you can plan your schedule more accurately. Much like the Hello Bonsai app, TopTracker also includes options to create invoices based on the time tracking data that is obtained.
8. BuzzSumo
Finally, BuzzSumo is a useful tool for understanding the content that other people have created and how it is currently performing. This can be valuable for content marketing projects because it can enable you to understand the types of articles that are attracting readers and generating real engagement online.
The basic free version allows users to enter keywords and see a list of the top-performing content based on factors like Facebook engagement, Twitter shares, Reddit engagement, the number of inbound links to the text, and more. This information can be used to inform the types of content you produce and the areas of focus.
Meanwhile, the premium version provides deeper insights and allows you to view analysis reports.
The Last Word
The eight apps outlined offer features that can assist freelance authors with their writing or with the day-to-day management of their work. Using these tools, it becomes possible to enhance the quality of your content, improve client satisfaction, and deliver work in a more timely fashion, so that you can find the right work/life balance.
About our author
JMMedia is a freelance author who has been writing for Textbroker since 2012. He specialises in the creation of SEO-friendly content on a variety of topics, including online marketing, music, travel, history, video games and sport. Away from work, his interests include reading, listening to audiobooks, and playing football.
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