5 Ways to Make Money as a Writer
The last thing you want to hear as a writer (and probably the most common thing) is that there’s no money in writing. With the newspaper industry in a consistently trending downward and book royalties at an all-time low, there’s a legitimate space for this argument. However, if someone is telling you this while trying to look out for you, they don’t know what the current landscape of the writing world looks like.
The truth is, the world has never been more wide open as a writer. It’s never been easier to self-publish a book, write for a blog, or even an online magazine than it is right now. Furthermore, you can make good money from all of these without the backing of a large corporation like a book publisher or what used to be giant newspapers. Keep reading for five ways that you can make money as a writer even if you don’t have decades of experience.
Write Blogs
Did you know that you can get paid to blog for certain websites? There are hundreds of millions of blogs and websites all across the internet and they all need content. While not all of them will pay you to write for them, it’s not incredibly difficult to find the ones that will.
Start by narrowing down a niche that you would like to write for then do your research among blogs that cover a particular subject that you’re comfortable with. Be sure to get an understanding of the overall theme, subject matter, and tone of a blog, then send in your pitch. It’s important to submit an error-free pitch to the blog because if you can’t write without typos or grammatical errors in your pitch, they won’t take your writing ability seriously.
Although you might have a harder time pitching to established companies, this same process will work. Look for companies that do a lot of blogging or small companies with websites that look like they could use some more web copy.
Search for Freelance Gigs
If you’re looking for something that’s more of a long-term solution to writing, you can apply for freelance writing gigs. Plenty of companies hire freelancers to write their blogs or website copy because they either don’t have the time or resources to have someone on staff do that work or they simply don’t want to pay a full-time employee. Either way, you can benefit by writing as a freelancer for these companies. You can work directly with marketing agencies that will send you work as it comes available.
Don’t shy away from large corporations. Many large companies produce both seasonal and evergreen content for their blogs and could use an extra writer or two to make sure that they’re filling their content calendars for the year. You could be the solution they’re looking for.
Work as a Copywriter
While copywriting and copyrighting are homophones, they’re actually nothing alike. The former is a form of ad writing and large corporations will pay you good money if you do it well. The problem you might run into when you’re starting out is getting the experience you need. You can start as a freelance copywriter to get your foot in the door, but after just a few years of experience, you’ll start to be qualified for positions that make high five-figure or low six-figure salaries.
Work as a Content Writer
Content writing and copywriting are different styles and should be treated as such. Copywriting is meant to persuade the reader to buy something while content writing is simply presenting the information. The latter is considered the simpler of the two forms and can be easily mastered by a skilled writer such as yourself. You can search for freelance gigs or even full-time positions that pay well as a content writer.
Write an E-Book
Writing a book isn’t easy. Although, if it’s something you’ve ever considered, this is a great way to make some money. E-books are cost-efficient for publishing and you can sell them online at a minimal cost. As with physical books, the amount you charge per copy depends on the genre and length of the book. There are resources online that can walk you through the process to properly format your book so that it fits within the constructs of whatever platform you decide to sell your book.
If you’re planning on writing a book (especially non-fiction), take it a step further and record the audio version. Those who listen to non-fiction audiobooks love to hear the author themself narrate the book with their own spin and inflection on the narrative. You can double-dip in both areas without wasting hours trying to pitch your book to a publisher or even spending hundreds of dollars on self-publishing.
