Attention all aspiring writers! Do you come home from your 9 to 5 drained of your creativity? Do you wish you could turn your writing skills into a profitable career and escape your current grind? Look no further.
This year, the possibility of earning a living writing has never been greater. From freelance writing to ghostwriting and even traditional publishing, the world of writing is ripe with possibilities.
In this article, we will give you the tools and tips you need to turn your passion into a lucrative writing career. So get ready to take notes and learn how to get paid to write for a living. Say goodbye to your day job and hello to doing more of what you love!
10 Ways to Get Paid to Write for a Living (Become a Full-Time Writer)
If you dream of becoming a full-time writer, you may wonder how to make a living off of your passion. Fortunately, the writing business is rich with opportunities. Here are just 10 ways to get paid for your writing skills:
1. Build a Personal Blog
Building a personal blog like takes time, a lot of work, and a clear SEO strategy. And unlike other options in this article, blogging does not produce an upfront source of income. Instead, you have to start writing high-quality content in order to build an audience that you can eventually monetize.
If you stick with it though, being an indie blogger does have its advantages. In fact, here are just a few of the income streams available to bloggers:
- Traditional advertising: As a blogger, you can sell advertising space on your articles to businesses that want to reach your target audience. This can be done through one-off partnerships or ad platforms like Google AdSense, Ezoic, or Mediavine.
- Affiliate marketing: When you promote a product or service on your blog, you can often earn a percentage of the sale. Affiliate marketing is a powerful way to make money from your writing skills.
- Sponsored posts: For more direct marketing exposure, companies may pay a blogger to write a piece of content promoting their product or service. If the sponsoring company aligns with your brand values, sponsored posts can provide an excellent source of income.
- Online courses: Create a step-by-step guide for readers in your niche to learn a skill, and monetize your audience by selling access to the course. Online courses provide a more in-depth learning experience for your readers, allowing you to go beyond the information offered in your blog posts.
These are just a few ways to make a living writing for your personal blog. But remember, it often takes a year or more to begin building these income streams. If you want to make money as a full-time writer right away, consider one of the following options instead.
2. Contribute Articles to Publications
Content is king and popular publications know the value of quality writing. That’s why many websites are willing to pay for well-written, engaging, and informative guest posts.
Whether you’re a published author and you already write for a living or you are just starting out, contributing articles to publications can be a great way to make money writing. Here are a handful of publications that are known to buy articles:
- Buzzfeed
- Chicken Soup for the Soul
- Cosmopolitan
- Deadspin
- Entrepreneur
- Forbes
- Health Magazine
- Money Pantry
- Reader’s Digest
Brand new writers may find it difficult to land an article in the New York Times, so start more niche in the beginning. Find specialty publications in your realm of expertise and pitch them a few ideas. Over time, you can leverage these features to get your foot in the door for bigger names and better-paying gigs.
3. Develop an Information Product
Technical writers and small business writers often have the knowledge necessary to develop a valuable digital course or information product. The secret lies in identifying a market need and then creating a comprehensive, high-quality product that meets that need.
Here are a handful of ideas for information products that a writer can create:
- “How to” guides
- Training courses
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
- Webinars
No matter what category you choose, information products are a lucrative way for writers to earn money. Fortunately, even the promotional efforts can lean on your writing skills. Through SEO and content marketing on platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn, almost any writer can gain enough exposure to turn their know-how into a profitable source of income.
When it is time to package and sell your product, consider using a platform like Teachable, Udemy, or Gumroad. These websites offer the tools and resources to help you put together a professional-looking product and market it to potential customers.
4. Start Freelance Writing (Become a Freelance Writer)
Freelancing is a popular way to get paid to write for a living, but it can take many formats. Here are a few of the various roles that freelance writers can play:
- Ghostwriting: Ghostwriting is when one author writes a piece but a different author is credited. This practice is commonly used for books, articles, or blog posts, presenting a great opportunity for freelancers who want to make money writing but don’t need a byline credit.
- Creative writing: Creative writing requires crafting original, imaginative pieces such as poems, short stories, and novels. As a freelance writer, you can offer your creative talents to clients in need of one-of-a-kind pieces.
- Ideation for fiction writers: Just because you aren’t a bestselling author doesn’t mean you can’t assist one. Even the greatest fiction writers often hire freelancers during the ideation process. If you’re full of great ideas, you can get paid to help a successful writer overcome writer’s block.
Freelance writing is a flexible way to make a living as a writer, but it requires a strong work ethic and the ability to manage multiple projects at once. Plus, because most freelancers have a revolving door of new clients, it is important to maintain an active presence on platforms like Upwork, Toptal, and Freelancer.com.
To get started freelancing, create a profile on one of these websites and upload examples of your work. Then, encourage every client you work with to write you a review upon successful completion of the gig. This will help establish your credibility, attract new clients, and slowly raise your prices.
5. Take up Copywriting (Finding Well-Paid Writing Jobs)
Copywriting is the skill of capturing attention and persuading people to take action through the written word. It’s mainly used in advertising, where the aim is to promote products, services, or ideas.
Copywriting is a valuable and well-compensated profession because businesses and organizations of all sizes need effective content. This can range from product descriptions or social media ads to website copy or email campaigns.
With digital marketing on the rise, there’s a growing demand for copywriters who can craft content that stands out and generates results. If you’re looking to get into copywriting, the first step is to study the greats and mimic their tactics. Then, as you hone your persuasive abilities and find your own voice, you can start to build a portfolio to show off your work.
From there, you can sift through job boards for potential clients and grow your writing career. Here are a few copywriting and blogging job sites worth considering:
- Contenta
- Contently
- Direct Response Jobs
- HubStaff Talent
- Jobspresso
- Jooble
- Remote.co
- Upwork
- We Work Remotely
6. Assist with Email Marketing
Email is one of the most valuable marketing channels available to eCommerce, B2B, and SaaS companies alike. Whether it’s through email newsletters, promotional campaigns, or automated email sequences, businesses can leverage email marketing to connect with their audiences, deliver value, and drive revenue.
So if you can speak to customers in a way that motivates action, businesses will hire you to create targeted and personalized content. This could mean writing copy for a one-time sales event or building out a flow to educate potential customers.
To further qualify yourself for this type of role, sign up for a free trial on email platforms like Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and MailChimp to get acquainted with the tools of the trade.
Once you are familiar with the integration process, start building your own email list and experimenting with different types of email campaigns. Test subject lines, calls to action, and email designs to see what resonates best with your audience. Then, learn how to run A/B tests and glean insights from email marketing KPIs.
After building up this experience, you can create an email marketing agency, operate as a freelancer, or look for in-house opportunities. No matter what you choose, you will now be able to offer full-service support from installing the software and writing captivating content to running split tests and implementing improvements.
As a result, your earning potential as an email marketer will continue to grow. Delivering value in this way is the key to being able to write for a living!
7. Self-Publish Books (Fiction vs Non-Fiction)
If you want to write books, you are probably prepared for the hard work of drafting a compelling story. Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the road. Unless your name is Stephen King, landing a book deal is another challenge in and of itself. That’s why many successful authors choose to self-publish their first book.
When you self-publish, you’re in the driver’s seat. You get to decide how your book looks from cover to cover. Plus, you have more control over the timeline, how much it costs, and how it’s marketed. Yes, there is some upfront investment, but you also get to keep more of the profits. And who knows, if your self-published book takes off, you could be well on your way to building a loyal fanbase.
Whether you are considering non-fiction or fiction writing, self-publishing your new book is a great way to keep your earnings and your branding in your own hands. You can publish in e-book format with a platform like Amazon KDP, or partner with IngramSpark to print and distribute hard copies.
8. Write Video or Podcast Scripts
Blog posts aren’t the only form of content that requires a writer. Video and podcast scripts are also in high demand in today’s multimedia world. Companies, organizations, and individuals are looking for help creating well-structured scripts that will grab and maintain the attention of their audience.
By specializing in this niche, you can differentiate yourself from other writers and command higher fees for your services. But to back up your claims as a video or podcast scriptwriter, you need to have a solid understanding of storytelling, structure, and pacing.
To improve your skills in this area, begin by studying successful video or podcast scripts and analyzing what makes them effective. Pay attention to the story arcs, character development, and dialogue, and think about how you can apply those techniques to your own work.
When you are ready to put your scriptwriting to the test, start contacting up-and-coming YouTubers or podcasters and offering to support them with their scripts. Although cold outreach has a relatively low success rate, you only need one client to give you a chance. From there, you can network with other professionals in the industry, show them your growing portfolio, and start earning referrals.
9. Create Social Media Captions
From TikTok to Facebook to Instagram and Twitter, social media marketing is key for businesses that want to build brand awareness and drive results. That’s why DTC brands and media companies are always looking for writers that can consistently slow users’ scrolls and create engagement.
Writers that are best positioned for this role are excellent copywriters, familiar with the culture of each social media platform, and comfortable conforming to brand guidelines. After all, the caption writer must be able to mimic the tone, language, and style of each business that they work for.
If you are a talented writer looking to offer social media captioning services, set yourself up for success by taking an online business course from Skillshare or Udemy on the basics of social media marketing. Not only will you hear directly from industry experts, but you will also learn platform-specific tricks.
For example, a course may teach you how to use hashtags effectively on Instagram, how to write threads on Twitter, and how to create visually appealing captions for TikTok. Plus, the exposure to great captions will help you pick up on the commonalities between great captions in a given industry.
After completing the course and getting a few practice reps in, start applying for freelance gigs on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. As you land opportunities, be sure to document your results. Over time add your best performers to a portfolio and leverage these engaging captions to win larger clients and assemble a team around you.
10. Help with Resumes
Resumes are a sales pitch. They are about more than formatting and listing accomplishments — they should also showcase a candidate’s unique value proposition and highlight the ways they stand out from the competition.
As a writer, you can help job seekers create compelling resumes that catch the attention of hiring managers. This could be through a video resume script or a standard one-page document.
To get up to speed on resume best practices, attend a few workshops for your own resume. Pay close attention to what the consultants feature, what type of language they use, and how they structure the feedback session. Also, make note of what these clinics do not offer as this may inform the unique value you can offer clients as a resume writer.
Next, build up a portfolio of successful resume transformations. This can be done by offering your services to friends, family, and acquaintances, or by taking on pro-bono work for your first few clients. Showcase the changes you make in simple before and after comparisons that illustrate your ability to enhance a job seeker’s value proposition.
Once you have these professional references, partner with a local school, career counseling clinic, or staffing agency. Find an office that will either hand out your card for free or refer you clients for a small fee. And don’t forget to leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn to showcase your expertise.
As you get the ball rolling, you should begin to enjoy referrals, repeat business, and positive testimonials. This steady stream of business will allow you to write for a living within a matter of months!
How to Build Your Writing Career (and Ditch Your Day Job)
If you are excited about these opportunities and ready to write for a living, follow these five simple steps to get started:
Build a Solid Portfolio
To showcase your skills and the type of writing you are capable of, it is important to build a portfolio of your best work. Depending on the opportunity you pursue, you may want to tailor the pieces of content you include accordingly.
For example, if you are interested in copywriting, include examples of your best-performing Facebook ads. And if you are interested in fiction writing, include a few examples of short stories or novellas.
Your portfolio should be clean, professional, and easy to navigate. You can also include testimonials from past clients to demonstrate your experience and expertise.
Create Your Own Website
Once you have built an impressive portfolio, create a personal website that you can direct potential clients to. This website can be as simple as a landing page, or it can be a full-blown website with a blog, testimonials, and information about your experience or qualifications.
But remember, the main purpose of your website is to showcase your writing ability and close clients. So be sure to add a link to your portfolio, as well as an explanation of your pricing and services.
To ensure that you never miss an opportunity, make it easy to navigate, visually appealing, and representative of your work quality. And include a lead capture form so that interested parties can book you or reach out with questions.
Network and Promote Yourself
With a catalog of work behind you and a website to show it off, it’s time to start marketing yourself. You can do this through social media, content marketing, cold email outreach, and leveraging your network.
In the early days, be proactive and consistent in your marketing efforts. In time, positive word of mouth may keep you busy but the first few clients are the hardest to close. So stay vigilant and keep pitching yourself. Show off your portfolio, communicate your unique value proposition, and make it clear what sets you apart from other writers.
Once you land your first few customers, be sure to deliver your absolute best work. Then ask those clients for referrals and testimonials to help you grow. Before long, you will have a steady client base and you can make writing your full-time career.
Pitch Your Ideas
As you secure paid writing opportunities, share your ideas and pitch new writing concepts to your clients. Showing that you are proactive, creative, and constantly thinking of new ways to add value can help you stand out and secure additional work.
Pitching ideas also allows you to expand your portfolio, test your hand at new projects, and showcase your writing skills in different formats. This practice should help you make more money per client and ultimately enable you to write for a living.
Track Your Progress
As your writing career comes together, begin tracking your progress and setting specific goals for yourself.
Keep a record of the writing assignments you complete, the income you generate, and the feedback you receive from clients. Regularly review your portfolio to see which pieces are performing best and which need improvement. Reflecting in this way will allow you to continuously improve your skills and knowledge, and experiment with different approaches.
No matter which avenue you decide to pursue, writing is a lucrative skill that can help you become financially independent. By monitoring your progress, you can identify your weaknesses, celebrate your successes, and continue to drive your career to greater heights.
