Making money writing sounds like a low-pay job, but it isn’t true! Read this article to know everything you need to know about making money through writing.
Even before you start earning money from it, writing is a gratifying activity. We’ll go over the top ways to be paid to write in the section below.
So, Most authors never get wealthy. As you are aware. I am aware of that. Everyone is aware of that.
However, is it conceivable to earn a small side income? receive occasional compensation for writing?
Absolutely.
You’ll find detailed instructions on how to earn money writing in this article, including many methods and how-to tips.
Let’s start by discussing what is (and isn’t) feasible.
The truth about how to make money writing
There are many benefits to writing for a living, including the freedom to choose your schedule, location, and collaborators. It makes sense why so many individuals are drawn to this promise of creativity and personal independence. But the reality is that the majority of them don’t want to consider what it would be like to work as a freelance writer full-time.
They don’t want to consider doubt, rejection, or ambiguity. They don’t want to consider all the unappealing little things that go into being a writer. They secretly worry that bringing their flawless dream to reality may ruin it. So it simply floats there in a sparkling bubble while waiting for the day when it amazingly materialises.
But let’s face it, it simply won’t happen. Or do you actually believe that someone will come up to you and say, “Hey there? I’d love to pay you to see where that someday could lead since I heard that you were considering writing something eventually. Of course not, but that is what it would take to turn your faraway fantasy of having a writing profession into a reality in the absence of a clear plan.
Experience has shown that hazy plans don’t work. Your dreams will come true if you can connect them to the real world. even if it requires you to ponder things you’d rather not think about. To be able to support yourself as a writer, you must have the necessary skills. To get from where you are to where you want to be, you need a clear plan.
And the better your plan, the more grounded it must be. Don’t stake your entire future on a path that has only been followed by a select few exceptionally gifted (or extraordinarily lucky) outliers. Pick a strategy that has proven effective for many people.
The 5 most realistic ways to make money writing
- Writing for blogs, magazines, and journals can earn you money
- Create Collateral for Content-Hungry Businesses to Earn Money
- Become a Best-Selling Kindle Author to Get Paid to Write
- Earn Money Writing as a Conversion-Focused Copywriter
- Create a niche blog and advertise products from other companies
Writing for blogs, magazines, and journals can earn you money
Major publications, both online and offline, must continue to publish content or perish despite claims of worldwide “content weariness.” Just take a look at the plethora of writing jobs available on job boards.
This indicates that many well-known WordPress blogs, magazines, and journals are still in need of high-quality content writing and are prepared to pay a premium for it. You’ll need to work hard to find the best-paying writing gigs while keeping in mind that success won’t come quickly. However, working as a freelance writer for these magazines is still a wise method to earn money online.
Starting with the blogs
Although most new authors still trade their work for publicity (via a byline or author profile) when contributing to well-known blogs (also known as guest blogging), there are still many exceptions to the rule.
How to write a blog post
How about the print industry? In the age of everything being available online, is that still a realistic way for writers to support themselves?
Although many consumer magazines are still in business and even pay handsomely for feature articles, traditional publishing has had a difficult time. Of course, you can’t expect to land a rich chance right away; instead, you’ll need to work your way up the ladder by gaining respect in smaller, local magazines.
Likewise, trade magazines seek out high-quality pieces that fall within their specific subject areas, and many are realising that writing for the web necessitates a more conversational, engaging tone. Additionally, skilled bloggers with established subject-matter expertise can frequently forego the ladder-climbing process and break in with the right pitch.
Generally speaking, the key to making this model successful is being persistent in seeking out chances, whether they are for ghostwriting or ordinary freelance writing employment and being productive with your writing once you do.
The people who successfully implement this concept are like writing machines; they quickly produce high-quality content and avoid becoming stale in any one assignment.
Create Collateral for content-hungry businesses to earn money
Material marketing, the idea of producing useful content to draw customers and establish credibility and trust, has unquestionably gained popularity over the past five years.
The outcome? Businesses are entering the content market in greater numbers. While some people have a clear plan in place, others simply jump on the trend in the hopes that it will eventually pay off. Because of this, there is a market for talented authors who can write for a particular readership. These content-hungry businesses require case studies, white papers, articles, and on and on. They also fully anticipate being paid for them.
Without a few contacts to get you going, breaking into this sector might be difficult but not impossible. But with perseverance and diligence, you may build a portfolio of profitable ventures and separate yourself from the low-earning majority.
This path necessitates a writing portfolio of content-related skills, including knowledge of SEO and basic marketing principles in addition to the target niche. To impress this group, you’ll need more than just a laptop and a love of writing; you’ll also need to convince your clients that you have a global perspective.
To stand yourself as a professional writer, it’s a good idea to create your own platform and use blogging and guest blogging to showcase the skills you want to use.
Become a best-selling kindle author to get paid to write
How about becoming a successful author? Could it be your best option for living independently as a writer full-time?
Well, it’s undoubtedly more realistic now than it was previously. Ten years ago, most authors could only dream of penning a best-selling book, and Kindle self-publishing was frequently derided as a vanity project. But today, in large part because of Amazon and Kindle, the self-published book industry is enormous, making it much easier to make money from creating books.
Naturally, being more attainable does not imply being simple. You’ll be bitterly disappointed if your dreams of writing one book and retiring on the proceeds ever come true.
You must have a business-minded mindset and focus on a market that has a history of reader demand if you want to succeed. That is not to say that you shouldn’t pursue your passion, but be ready to first validate it.
You’ll need to be tenacious and productive as well because it’s likely that you’ll publish several books before finding success and that you’ll require sales from a variety of titles to get close to a full-time income.
However, 1,600 independent authors are earning $25K or more from Amazon book sales, and 1,000 of them only published their first book three years ago or less, according to research from Author Earnings earlier this year.
Should you write fiction or nonfiction, though? The majority of bloggers like nonfiction, and if you blog in a popular niche, it’s likely that books with the comparable subject matter will also be well-liked.
Check out Steve Scott if you wish to succeed as a self-nonfiction writer. His former website still provides a tonne of helpful information, despite the fact that he recently shifted his focus to a regular podcast on self-publishing.
There’s no disputing that fiction writing is harder (and involves a distinct set of creative writing skills), but if you do succeed, your income potential is far higher. And it’s no accident that all of the most well-known self-publishing triumphs are novels.
Visit The Creative Penn for ideas and pointers. Joanna Penn is a well-known fiction (and nonfiction) author, and her website is full of useful advice for aspiring writers.
However, you must always follow the market when choosing a topic (or genre). And before you see any meaningful results, be ready to write several books.
You can continue to make money from your back catalogue using this strategy, perhaps for a very long time. Additional books will only help you increase your revenue after you can support yourself with your writing on a basic level.
Earn money writing as a conversion-focused copywriter
Copywriting, in a nutshell, is writing that’s designed to make readers take a specific action.
Sales letters, video screenplays, and even product descriptions – all of them require writing, and their success depends on the outcomes they generate. Although copywriting may not appear to be fundamentally different from other writing techniques, in reality, it is a discipline unto itself.
You still need a firm grasp of the rules of persuasion despite the trend toward more conversational, sympathetic copywriting, which moves away from the hype-fueled “hard sell.”
Despite the challenging learning curve, copywriting can have considerable rewards. A high-converting sales page may bring around $2,000 in addition to a cut of the profits.
A foundation in copywriting will also be helpful if you decide to market your own products in the future.
Create a niche blog and advertise products from other companies
I’ll be honest: creating a successful blog is challenging. really difficult
You might be astonished to see how little time you actually spend doing the thing you love—writing—once your blog has grown beyond a certain point.
Therefore, if creating a six-figure blog is your goal, you should be just as enthusiastic about the idea of managing a company as you are about writing your next blog post. (In fact, one of the things you should probably outsource if you’re making six figures is writing.)
However, there are ways to monetize your blog while continuing to spend a significant amount of time writing. And it begins with selecting a writing niche where a sizable, fervent audience already exists. It also involves finding successful products from reputable brands to sell, which is essential.
Instead of developing your own product, promoting affiliate products (affiliate marketing) is a far smarter method to start making money from a blog. An affiliate product is one that has already undergone the laborious process of market research, product development, and consumer feedback analysis. The pre-sale questions, payments, refunds, and product support are handled by someone else.
Since the incremental production cost of digital goods is essentially zero, many affiliate items also pay big fees – 50% or even more. Finding the appropriate items, ones you can bet your reputation on, is the key. The uncontested king of passive income, Pat Flynn makes most of his money (mainly) via affiliate product sales.
If possible, decide on the things you’ll sell even before you launch your site. That way, you can attract readers who are a perfect fit for what you have to offer. Writing still plays a significant role in the equation, i.e., producing excellent content that attracts visitors to your website. Of course, you still need to do all the other things that go into making a blog successful, such as publishing quality content, growing your email list, contacting influencers, etc.
Once you’re comfortable, you might consider adding your own items to the mix. By combining your writing abilities and subject expertise, you can provide a specific outcome that customers are prepared to pay for.
The most practical and safest approach to support yourself as a writer when beginning a blog is to promote affiliate items.
These three could equally well be useful to you:
Work as a full-time writer
Get a job as a writer, which is the first and most obvious way to support yourself as a writer! Here are a few instances:
- an advertising agency copywriter
- Social media content creator for a startup (e.g., tweeting from the company account, producing Instagram and Facebook posts)
- to work as a journalist
- composing articles for a lifestyle magazine
The benefit of working as a full-time writer is that you’ll have a consistent source of income with all the typical corporate perks; insurance, pay raises, a chance to advance in the ranks, and the chance to mingle with other creatives. I cannot stress this enough; none of these things should be undervalued. A writer’s existence is frequently unsteady and solitary.
I briefly explored this as a possibility last year, even going so far as to submit an application to work as a staff writer for a controversial online publication. I was denied, but they did offer me a position as a freelance contributor (more on that in a moment), which I turned down. In retrospect, that was a good thing.
There are two issues with being a full-time writer.
- Your income is limited and has a defined level.
- You are not allowed to pick the topics for your writing.
The first argument applies to almost all full-time jobs that don’t offer sales commissions, but that is the price to pay for stability.
If you enjoy having creative freedom, the second item will be a problem for you.
Work as a freelance writer
The idea that independent writers may succeed financially is arguably the best-kept open secret in the sector.
Particularly for well-known ghostwriters and sales copywriters, this is valid. These writers frequently make six figures; one of my close friends, Lydia, works as a freelance copywriter and makes, on average, $9 to $10k a month.
Freelance writing has benefits beyond prospective compensation, like freedom. You’re not required to work with any clients you don’t want to, and you’re not required to write anything you don’t want to. You have the freedom to select. You are essentially your own boss, which somewhat resolves the problem we had with freedom of expression in the first point.
However, the problem of hitting an income cap still exists. You exchange your time for money when you work as a freelancer. And no matter how talented you are, you only have 24 hours in a day like everyone else. Because of this, your time cannot be scaled, which results in a cap on your income, despite it being large.
Many creatives with a sense of business solve this issue by launching their own company. For example, a copywriter at an advertising agency might spend a few years getting the hang of things before leaving to launch his own firm. But then they’ll encounter a challenge they might not have anticipated. They will cease to be an artist as soon as they make the leap. They will act as an entrepreneur, taking business-related actions and leading a business-related life.
Thus, the question of how we, as creatives, may have our cake and eat it too still persists. How can we focus even more on what we love—our art—while still making a fantastic living?
Write and own your content
The introduction of the internet irrevocably altered the writing industry.
Yes, the internet is a fantastic platform that gives you the opportunity to better market your business, promote your writing, and get your words in front of more potential fans. All of these advantages are clear, but the true paradigm shift is less obvious:
What I mean is this. Even transcendental artists like Van Gogh, Michaelangelo, or Chopin had essentially only two options for making a living a couple of centuries ago:
- You may either sell your artwork
- accept commissions from wealthy individuals.
You no longer own your work if you choose one of these alternatives. Legally, it is the property of the purchaser. This is the literary equivalent of creating a book under a client’s name. The results of your talent belong to them, not to you.
“How about authoring your own book, though? Do authors receive royalties from book sales? Ah, now things start to become interesting. Every writer aspires to be a traditionally published author with a sizable advance, but many don’t realise that this path has drawbacks because, after you sign the contract, the publishing house effectively owns 85% to 92% of your book.
Two short decades ago, the only practical way for writers to get published and be compensated for their work was to send their works to a major publishing house or literary journal. Today, this is not accurate.
The availability of a third option—owning our own work and having it generate income for us—has levelled the playing field for writers thanks to the internet. Here are a few instances:
- Amazon self-publishing your book
- composing an e-book and promoting it on your website
- blogging for your personal website
- Creating content for third-party websites such as Medium, Newsbreak, and Wattpad
- On websites like Substack and Patreon, provide subscription-based services (like a weekly email) to your ardent supporters.
The best part of this alternative is that it not only addresses both of the issues we discussed in our previous point, but it also enables us to make a very strong move: you can earn a lot of money here by writing whatever you want. That is a very genuine and underappreciated privilege. That feels incredibly liberating.
Lets conclude, it’s time to choose your path and finally make money writing
Just pause for a second and reflect on the question, “Am I hurting my writing dream by not being honest about the how?”
Because, well, you know. I’m sick and tired of seeing bright writers miserable in their life.
Dreaming ends here, and it’s time to make a final decision.
Are you genuinely committed to writing for a living, or is it just a frivolous dream you have when your actual, full-time job is making you feel down?
If you’re serious, choose one of the aforementioned five routes to take. writing articles as a content writer for pay? marketing with content? Copywriting? or creating a specialised blog?
Don’t worry if none of them seem to fit perfectly; that is typical. Choose the one that is nearest and measure yourself with it. Any pain is only the cost of seeing reality.
Have one? Excellent.
Let’s make your ideal reality—where you’re earning enough money as a writer to support yourself and then some—an imperfect reality.
