Freedom With Writing Review – Curated Opportunities For Writers

I’ve been on the Freedom With Writing email list for a little over a year now, and was shocked when a recent Google search showed me a bunch of reviews asking “is Freedom With Writing a scam?” Because of that I decided to set the record straight once and for all with an honest review based on my own year of experience receiving emails from the folks at FWW. 

Is Freedom With Writing a Scam?

No, Freedom with Writing is not a scam. If you’re trying to make money online as a writer, it’s a good list to be on. I’ve never made money from any of its recommendations myself, but that’s because I’ve very rarely acted on the postings. I’m more of a blogger and copywriter, and FWW tends to have more opportunities for essays, poems, and stories. I actually joined the list back when I was still writing a lot of fiction and teach how to write action scenes.

So why do I stay on their list? Because once in awhile a job DOES catch my eye. One recent email contained a link to a post with a list of publications that pay $1 per word. I sent a quick query off to one, and although it wasn’t accepted, I did hear back from the editor, who expressed an interest in the topic I’d suggested. You never know what a simple connection like that could turn into down the road!

What is Freedom With Writing?

It is a website/blog marketed mainly through its email list. Although I’ve never noticed a specific schedule, they do send out a pretty regular digest consisting of links to their blog posts, other useful resources, and sometimes ebooks that you can either download for free or opt to pay for. One PDF I made a point of grabbing is their Paid Publishing Guidebook, which is painstakingly put together list of online opportunities for writers.

In other words, Freedom With Writing is a great resource for writers looking to make money online, especially those who are just getting started out.

To give you an even better idea, here’s a screenshot of some of their emails in my inbox.  This will give you a decent idea of the kind of content they’re putting out.

As you can probably tell from the titles, the FWW team goes to great lengths to provide value to their readers.

Is There a Catch?

No, in my one year-plus of experience being on Freedom With Writing’s email list and visiting their site I don’t feel like they’ve ever misled me. They rarely even try to sell me anything, whether directly or as an affiliate. Once in awhile they’ll offer a free ebook and might ask for a review in exchange, but that’s the extent of their “marketing”. As someone who willingly sits on many affiliate marketing email lists just to get inspiration from other peoples’ products and copy, I have a high tolerance for my inbox filling up. But I don’t think FWW’s newsletter would annoy anyone.

The one complaint I might mention is that the poor layout of their website has on more than one occasion prompted me to click on an ad by accident. I think if they cleaned up their website design and switched to an affiliate based income model rather than focusing purely on ads they might stand to make more money and have a better overall user experience, but this is a pretty small factor that doesn’t dissuade me from using their site.

Who is Behind Freedom With Writing?

The Freedom With Writing emails come from a man named Jacob Jans, but I’ve never seen any more information than that and the “About Us” section of their website barely exists. I feel like this is pretty reasonable, as not everyone wants to put their full name on a domain and broadcast it around the planet. However, if you want to get in touch with Jacob/the team at FWW, you can respond to their emails.

I’ve never tried responding to their emails, so I can’t say for sure they would respond, but they don’t hide behind a no-reply or a fake address, so they’d probably be open to feedback if you do want to reach out.

The Pros and Cons of Freedom With Writing

The good definitely outweighs the bad here, but it’s far from being a perfect system. Here’s a quick look at the best and worst parts of this website.

Pros of Freedom With Writing

• Provides free resources and curated opportunities for writers
• Doesn’t email too often
• Links to a wide range of job types with varying pay grades
• Doesn’t annoy you with affiliate offers
• Has a clear focus on helping connect writers with money making jobs

Cons of Freedom With Writing

• Website not especially well designed or laid out
• Could probably afford to email more often
• Links to so many different jobs it can be time consuming to sift through them
• Uses frequent and sometimes inconvenient ad placement for income
• Doesn’t really provide a three dimensional education for making money as a writer online

By reading the above, you’ll probably agree that the pros far outweigh the cons, which are mostly just a bunch of nits I decided to pick at. FWW has a pretty specific function and purpose, and they accomplish both admirably in my opinion.

How to Make the Most of Freedom With Writing

The one downside I mentioned which is actually relevant is the fact that, despite not coming too often, their emails often contain links to blog posts that include 100 or more opportunities for writers between them. That can be overwhelming and time consuming – I know sometimes I see a title like “50 Great Opportunities for Writers” and I think I don’t have the time to read that right now.

However, the blog often features more specific posts that niche down a bit, and the email digest usually categorizes the content to some extent. 

In order to make the most out of FWW, I recommend glancing at their headlines and only clicking through if you see something relevant to your niche/expertise as a writer. They do a pretty good job of keeping their email titles and headlines to the point, so you can usually tell at a glance whether the content will be appropriate for your needs.

Personally I only ever look into the higher paying gigs at this point, but depending on where you’re at as a writer some of the lower paying ones or even contests might be exactly what you’re looking for. 

Similar and Complementary Resources

If you’re at the point in your writing career where you’re looking for work on freelancing platforms or writing for content mills, the jobs that FWW sends out could provide some good breakaway opportunities for you. Another website which is much more robust is ProBlogger. They have their own job board, which can be a fantastic source of work for writers in a variety of stages of their career.

Another great website/blog I recommend to my peers is WriteToDone.com. It is a massive repository of blog posts, courses, and resources for fiction and non fiction writers in all sorts of niches. 

If you join the FWW mailing list, check the ProBlogger job board weekly, and subscribe to the WriteToDone blog, you’ll have a serious leg up on a lot of other people who are struggling as online writers.

Closing Remarks

I’ve been running my writing/marketing business for less than a year, but before that I worked for more than half a decade as a freelance writer. In the past six years I have digested a massive amount of information about how to make money and find work online as a writer. Some of it was good, some of it was bad, and a lot of it was just kind of the same and not overly helpful.

Freedom With Writing provides a pretty unique service though – I can’t say that every post they make is perfectly thought out, or that every email they send is perfectly curated, but I think they do a really solid job of connecting writers with work. I think a lot of people probably get started writing online with help from FWW, and a lot of others are probably able to scale their freelancing efforts because of the work they find through the website and newsletter.

To boil it down to a single sentence, let me say this; if you’re not already a successful freelance writer but you want to be, you should at least try signing up for Freedom With Writing’s email list.