The Internet is an amazing place for aspiring authors. Whether you want to write fiction, non-fiction, start a freelance writing career, or just meet other writers, this hub explores the benefits of online communities for writers.

Finding a writing tribe (or two) online can help you:

Learn About Writing Techniques

Read advice on creating dialogue, researching, citing sources, following a particular writing style, building your story arc, writing a query letter, formatting a manuscript, and more.

Get Writing Leads

Are you looking to find out about submitting queries to magazines, find out about content companies hiring online writers, learn about online writing job sites? Writing communities can provide great information.

Share With Other Writers

Making online friends can do great things for helping you deal with solitude, getting advice and opinions from others, and sharing camaraderie with others who can relate to things like: writer's block, being passionate about an idea, and the desire to see your words published.

Writer Promotion

Today's writers are expected to be their own publicist. Online writing communities can help you have a forum to do just that. Share links, promote your book, do a virtual book tour, chat with your favourite authors, and more.

Where do you find writing communities online? There are quite a few such as Inspired Author, Absolute Write, Writing.com, and others. You can also find private Yahoo, MSN, and Google groups you can join as well.

There are plenty of online communities and private writer's groups that are out there to help you further your writing career. Joining writing communities can do a lot for your career and for your inspiration levels. Some of these sites also provide you with free writing tools such as a writing blog and writer's community which could help you: meet other writers, learn more about your craft, get noticed, and make money online. You can also meet other writers and book lovers in the process.

Whether you're a seasoned writer or an aspiring one, the web can be a fantastic tool to help you in every aspect of your career from: learning to write to self-promotion for writers.

If you're a writer, where do you hang out?