20 Ways to Make Money Writing (everything you need to know)
One of the best side hustles or even full time income sources is to make money writing! post article goes over the 20 best ways that you can go about making money from writing online, so that you can get started right away!
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Can you actually make money as a writer?
Yes, you can! Writing online is one of the most popular side hustles out there – and for a good reason. It’s a great way to make some money for yourself in your free time and for most people it doesn’t require purchasing anything to get going.
However, if it is something that you want to seriously pursue then it can also make a great full time job for those who want to be their own boss and have maximum flexibility over their schedule!
How can I earn money by writing?
- Blogging
- Write SEO content
- Fiverr
- Freelance magazine writing
- Winning writing competitions
- Writing articles
- Self-publish
- Write reviews
- Sell your revision notes
- Translating
- Attach some ads to your blog or site
- Social media content
- Copywriting
- Technical writing
- Ghostwrite someone else’s book
- Send pitches
- Promote yourself online
- Write descriptions for online products
- Guest blogging
- Follow up with past clients
How do beginner writers make money?
1. Blogging
One thing that people are never going to stop needing is content! Much like magazine writing, those who are comfortable writing on a broad range of topics will inevitably get the most work.
As long as you keep an open mind, content blogging is a great way to make money writing for others.
If you are new to blogging, Create and Go Launch Your Blog Biz Course as part of the Blog Biz Bundle is genuinely one of the best blogging courses available for someone looking to start a blog and learn how to make their first £1,000 online. All from the comfort of your home!
See the Launch Your Blog Biz Course Here!
2. Write SEO content
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is only increasing in popularity, and being able to offer it will make your chances of getting paid web writing jobs much higher.
It refers to correctly using keywords in online content so that the content appears higher in a google search.
To optimise and grow our blog for SEO, we use Semrush.
This is how our blog has grown as a result of using Semrush.
One of the best books that we read on how to grow organic search traffic was How to get to the top of Google by Tim Kitchen.
3. Fiverr
When freelancing, it is helpful to begin by figuring out what platforms are going to be best for advertising your servicing. Fiverr is a generic freelancing platform that allows users to put up ‘gigs’ which advertise their services and their rate for free.
One of the most popular sections on the site is for freelance writers, where it couldn’t be easier to see what kinds of services you can offer.
The great thing about the platform is that you can get specific about the kinds of writing you want to do, so you can really work to your strengths. The unique thing about Fiverr is that you have the freedom to set your own rates from the very beginning.
Working on Fiverr, you control your own hours and can do it from home around your existing commitments at home!
4. Freelance magazine writing
Often online you’ll find magazines looking for writers to cover specific topics for them, so you can look through and find things that you think you could write about well.
The more versatile you are here the better because you can snap up articles that others might not have felt confident to take on!
5. Winning writing competitions
This one may not be reliable enough to make up your entire income, but if you get the hang of how to submit winning work, it can make up a great side-hustle!
Platforms such as Vocal offer up to $2,000 prizes for some of their competitions and they’re free to enter.
6. Writing articles
Many online platforms will pay you to write articles that they want, and some will even pay you to write more broadly about topics of your choice!
Some of these sites, such as Vocal, will pay you per view of your article, which can make a great passive income; you write the article and can continue to make money from it over time.
Other sites will pay a set rate per article.
7. Self-publish
If you have an idea for a book you might like to write, or, better yet, you’ve already written a book, you can earn revenue for self-publishing it on the Kindle store.
If you’re considering doing this, it is worth thinking about free ways in which you could market your book, such as social media platforms.
Amazon KDP is one of the best ways to self publish a book. Costs are relatively low (and you can do almost everything yourself such as. When self-publishing my book, family and friends edited my manuscript for me.
I paid urban writer around $100 to produce the cover and someone on Freelancer.com to format the book into kindle and Amazon KDP print format – all in under $200!
8. Write reviews
Sites such as WhatCulture will pay you to write reviews of films, books and music that you have engaged with.
If you’re someone who already consumes a lot of media, then why not make some money writing about what you thought about it?
Most of these sites pay per view of the article, so if you write enough of them it can act as a form of passive income.
9. Sell your revision notes
Pride yourself on your excellent lecture notes? Do you always have classmates asking you to send them over? You could make money from doing just that.
There are several online platforms that allow you to put up your notes and allow you to earn money from them. Check out Stuvia and Docmerit!
10. Translating
If you know two or more language at a competent level, you can make money for translating content between two languages.
Fiverr is a great platform for advertising your translation services, and the flexibility of the platform makes this the perfect side hustle!
Attach some ads to your blog or site
Monetising your blog is a great way to earn money while still writing about what you really want to write about.
You can do this in several ways, from affiliate marketing, advertising and making sponsored content.
Some of the best ad networks for new bloggers with around 10,000 sessions per month include:
11. Social media content
There are a few different ways in which you can make money from writing social media content. If you are looking to make money from your own social media content, then the way to go about it is through affiliate marketing, which refers to earning a commission by attaching product links to your posts.
Another way to do it is by offering a service of social media content writing for businesses.
12. Copywriting
Copywriting generally refers to writing content for businesses and can be done freelance and remotely.
Once again, putting your services on freelancing platforms such as Fiverr is a great way to establish your own rate and pick up some work.
This can very easily be done as either a side-hustle or a full-time career.
13. Technical writing
Technical writing is one of the most lucrative kinds of writing due to the fact that it tends to take a bit of expertise or background knowledge in the given area.
Once again, this can be taken on as a side-hustle (perhaps using the knowledge you have obtained from your university degree) or as a long-term career, which can provide a decent salary!
14. Ghostwrite someone else’s book
If you’re a good writer but don’t have any ideas for writing your own book, you can get a good fixed rate for writing someone else’s book for them.
Ghostwriting is typically for longer projects such as novels but there are all kinds of great opportunities out there such as speech writing, playwriting, move scriptwriting or short story writing.
15. Send pitches
If you have great article ideas but no platform to write them for, then it could be a good idea to send out some pitches to paid publications and see if they would publish your article.
Pitching is a great way to make some money on the side, because it doesn’t require you to write the full article before knowing if you will be paid for it.
For example, if you have an idea for a film review, try sending it to some film magazines and seeing if they will publish it!
16. Promote yourself online
If you are looking to take up freelance writing to make money, using social media to promote yourself and your services is a must.
What many people do not recognise is that social media is the best marketing tool out there, and it’s free to use! Even if one person sees your services on social media and hires you, it could open up a whole network of new prospective clients.
17. Write descriptions for online products
For this one, you can either reach out to companies who might need a writer for their product descriptions (most likely it will be ones that have a large catalogue of products available) or, alternatively, you can advertise your services on platforms like Crowd Content or Fiverr to get paid to write descriptions for companies.
18. Guest blogging
There are many reasons why people with websites and blogs might need people to write posts for them.
Sometimes, this is to get more people onto the website and to help with search engine optimisation (SEO), and others it is simply to have another voice present on the blog.
19. Follow up with past clients
Finally, once you start making money from writing, a great way to continue in a sustainable way is to continue to follow up with those you have worked with previously.
This is how you build up a solid network and client base that will give you the option to make writing a main source of income.
How do I start a writing career?
- Find a topic or niche you enjoy writing about
- Write 1000 words every day
- Get Grammarly to help you write
- Read at least 30mins every day to improve your language and writing
- Don’t give up
- Create your writer website or blog to promote your services
- Join Fiver or Freelancer to sell your services
- Spend time around like-minded people I.e. other successful writers
- Network and find a mentor
- Hone your skills – learn SEO, creative writing or even copywriting!
- Strive to be the best in your niche!
The key thing to remember about making money from writing online is to be consistent! Some of these methods might not make you much to begin with, but the more you do the more contacts you will have, and the more money you’ll make!
If you have any questions on how to make money online, please leave a comment in the section below. We would love to hear from you!
