By Mary Jaksch
Do you want to earn money as a writer? If you love writing, then I’m sure the answer is ‘yes!’ Because if we can earn a crust whilst doing what we love – that’s pretty optimal. Agreed?
But how to do it?
If you’re a novelist, a poet, or a story writer – you may have to wait for the big break-through. But if you’re ‘faction’ writer – I mean, if you write non-fiction – you have a lot more options.
Freelancing
There are many different kinds of freelancing jobs. You can write for magazines or other print media, for business, or for the Internet. As Carol Tice wrote in her post How to Start Earning From Your Blog Right Away , a blog is a great platform from which to launch a career as a freelancer.
Blogging also teaches you how to write well for magazines. Because the optimal structure of blog posts, as well as the crafting of headlines, is similar to what you need to do in order to write well for magazines.
Writing and selling eBooks
Traditional print media are heading for a collapse. This is a great opportunity for web-savvy writers! A good way to create an online income is to write and self-publish books and reports. Or to create products, such as podcasts, videos, webinars, or courses. Those kinds of products may seem a far cry from an eBook, but in reality they are based upon written material. The content is just presented in a different medium.
The new wave of ‘pay for content’
There is a lot of discussion in the Blogosphere about how bloggers could offer premium content for modest subscriptions. For example, professional blogger David Risley asked in a recent post Is the Future of Blogging Paid Access? This is all very new, but I think it’s worth watching this movement closely.
In view of this, it’s a great time to build an attractive blog with a strong readership in order to make the most of this new direction when it gains traction.
Freelancing opportunities
Here at WTD, we’re keen to see you succeed. I’m mindful of the fact that many of us need to find a way to make our passion for writing pay the bills. That’s why I’ve jumped at a new opportunity that could benefit all of you. I’ve joined a network that collects and publishes freelance opportunities for writers.
For now, I’ve placed a widget with the job board in the sidebar. But I could also display a larger amount of jobs on a separate page. Leo Babauta and I would earn a small amount from the job provider when a WTD reader gets a job (but not enough to buy a pony …) More importantly – this may turn out to be a good source of potential jobs for you, our readers. Please tell us in the comments what you think of the Write to Done Job Board. Should we have a page of freelance jobs for writers on this blog?
Talking of opportunities, here’s a quick heads-up: Leo and I are closing access to the A-list Blogger Club this Thursday at midnight (Eastern). We’ll re-open the doors after our upcoming 4-week Bootcamp The Art of Blog Seduction – How to Draw Subscribers to Your Awesome Blog. If you are keen to jump aboard the A-List Blogger Club, click here. (A Club member wrote recently: ‘You couldn’t pay me to unsubscribe!’)
Oh, and if you’d like to watch a video where I talk about how to blog Like an A-lister, please complete a 2-minute survey in order to get the video link. Click here for the survey.
As to our topic of how to earn money as a writer: if you have some good tip, please share them in the comments.
Mary Jaksch is the Chief Editor of Write to Done. You can enjoy more of her posts on Goodlife ZEN . Together with Leo Babauta, Mary runs A-list Blogging Bootcamps and the A-List Blogger Club.
Joining the A-List Blogger Club is like pouring accelerant on your blogging career. I know I’ve cut YEARS off my journey to monetizing my blog by belonging here.
~ Carol Tice of Make a Living Writing
This was good, very helpful for writers out there who are struggling to make a living out fo the art that they love. We all want to be in a position where we’re making sizeable incomes out of our passions, and this article is a step in that direction.
I’ve struggled to get writing accepted in the past, so reading this and putting it to use would definitely be a smart move! Just need to do the actual writing part now ;-)
Thanks for sharing Mary :-)
The article you wrote is looks good and contains the more info for the beginner, on how to get earn money as a writer and by taking surveys and some other ways. Now so many are purchasing the content and the sources are everywhere in the internet. For example freelancer dot com is one of it.
Job Board idea looks good to me. It’s scrolling a little too fast for me. But I will be back to check out if any of the opportunities are a good fit for me. Thanks Mary!
I was curious about your job board, so I clicked on a couple of the options that scrolled by. Then I was confused.
For example, I clicked on a job that posted as “Rewrite news articles for blogs, $200″ and was taken to a page that told me “…Each rewrite will be 400 words. I prefer bids of $1 per rewrite. If this rate doesn’t suit you, don’t waste my time. All rewrites need to be in flawless English, and pass copyscape. I will expect you to deliver 9 articles in 24 hours from the moment you accepted this project.”
Huh? That doesn’t sound like the kind of job that Mary or Carol would typically promote.
Hmmm – that doesn’t sound good. I think that this system collects all kinds of gigs for writers. Some will just be trash. But there may be some good ones tucked in there as well. Have a look at the page I’ve now set up. (the link is in the navigation bar).
Thanks for your quick reply, Mary! I will check out the new page. I appreciate your responsiveness!
Hi Melanie –
Well, you’re certainly right about that! The difficulty with screening these ads is why I don’t run any ads on my site. Doing it by hand is very time-intensive, and using a service is hit and miss, as you saw.
I applaud Mary for experimenting with ways to do it, though, because many writers do still rely on these ads to find gigs and want to see listings. I’m unaware of any source or service that has only quality writing jobs listed — you’ve always got to hunt through for the gems.
I try to encourage writers to look beyond the ads as soon as they’re established and find their own clients.
Thanks Carol. As a writer, I do appreciate being part of a community that supports and looks out for each other. When we work together, everyone gets a better result!
Hi Mary
Thank you for your article, I am presently writing short articles (300 – 500 words) for web-sites but I’m new at this and don’t have a clue what writers should expect to be paid per word.
Please would you give us a feel for what price to expect for different kinds of writing eg. magazine work per word, blogs per word etc. Even if it’s just a pointer…
Many thanks,
Lana
I have been a freelance writer for many years. The job board is a great idea, especially if you can make good contacts with good publications–online and off.
Thanks for all you do,
Beth
I’ve now managed to stop the widget scrolling. It made my eyeballs ache….
regarding pay for content… if it’s worth it, I’ll pay for it. Pretty simple concept if you ask me! :)
At first, I was skeptic that I could earn through writing but I am hopeful in making something out of my writing. It is a good thing that I could be able to earn through freelancing and blogging. I haven’t tried on selling ebooks so maybe I should try it someday.
/Kristen