Beginner’s Guide: How to Make Money with Your Writing Skills in 2019 (And Beyond)
Has anybody told you that you have a knack for writing stories that tug at the heartstrings?
Or perhaps you have a compelling writing style that can convince even the most indecisive buyer?
If so, then why don’t you put your talent to good use and learn how to earn money writing (from home).
Table of Contents
How to Make Money with Your Writing Skills in 2019
Gone are the days when there was no money in being a writer.
I’ll show you that it is possible to earn a living and what exactly is it the top gigs writers do to make extra dough.
1. Freelance Writing
With the rise of e-commerce and online business startups, the demand for freelance writers is higher than ever. Grab this opportunity to show your writing flair to these clients.
From article writing to copywriting, you’re sure to find a niche that complements your writing style.
- Content Writing
This is by far the most common and easiest, which is basically writing niche in the freelancing world. Here, you’ll write website or social media content. Website content can be an article or a blog post, while social media content is the one you read on social media posts as part of a campaign.
- Academic Writing
If you’ve done pretty well in your university papers, you can also help others write research papers, essays, literature reviews, and so on.
- Copywriting
Now, this is where the money really is!
You can charge as high as $100 for one copy because a copy is an advertising piece used to persuade the readers to take a particular action, usually to buy a product, become a member, or subscribe to a service.
- Ghostwriting
Make money writing short stories, novels, speeches, and other literary pieces that are credited not to you, but to your client.
Like copywriting, you can also earn a lot with just one project. If you go for this, you must be comfortable with signing a non-disclosure agreement as most clients require this.
- e-Book Writing
Some business owners need “bribes” or lead magnets to attract the readers to subscribe to their mailing lists.
One of the many opt-in offers they can use is an e-Book.
It usually goes like this: “Enter your email and get this FREE eBook to learn more about ways to make money from writing in 2019!”
The problem is, these entrepreneurs usually don’t have the luxury of time to craft a professional, high-value e-Book, so they hire freelance eBook writers, and this is where you come in.
- Technical Writing
If you have an expertise in a particular skill or topic, you can also get paid for it.
Most clients looking for technical writers own a microniche website, and they need someone who knows the jargons and technical know-how of the niche they’re in.
This article offers additional tips on how you can earn income from writing.
Now…
How to Get Clients as a Freelance Writer?
If you are just starting your freelance writing career, you may not have the slightest idea where to hunt for clients.
To make things easy for you, here are some ways to get started:
- Ask friends, family, and acquaintance
- Join third-party freelancing agencies such as Upwork and Fiverr
- Search LinkedIn boards and start cold pitching
- Use Twitter’s search bar and hashtags. For example, type “looking for copywriter”
- Join Facebook groups for writers and business owners
- Search established writing content agencies
- Build your website (and promote it) — this can also serve as your portfolio!
- Guest post
- Ask for a referral
Honestly, with the Internet the opportunities are endless!
2. Start Your Own Blog/Website
Another way to earn money through your writing skills is by starting your blog.
In fact, many successful bloggers have made their blogs their primary source of income. If you have the same dedication, you can do it too!
You may actually be considering blogging full time for a long time now, but don’t know how you can actually make money from it.
Fortunately, there are several ways to monetize your blog. I will name a few:
- AdSense by Google or WordAds by WordPress
Both AdSense and WordAds partner with the Internet’s top advertisers to display ads on your blog.
There are two ways to earn from this.
1). First, you can earn based on impressions. For example, you earn $X dollars for every X page views.
2). You can also profit based on clicks, which means if a visitor clicks an ad displayed on your site, you earn a specific commission from the ad revenue. Keep in mind that WordAds only works on WordPress websites whereas AdSense works on any qualified website.
To earn a decent amount from these ads, you have to regularly publish quality content to drive organic traffic to your blog.
This being said…
Let your writing skills shine on your blog to attract more readers!
- Affiliate Marketing
This is one of my favourite way of making money online.
(See how my 1-year old website made 4 figures.)
Anyway…
In affiliate marketing, you include links to a product or service promoted by another business to your blog posts. When a visitor clicks on your referral link and purchases the said product, you earn a commission from that sale.
There are 2 things to keep in mind:
1). You should not choose affiliate programs that are irrelevant to your blog’s niche.
For example, if your blog is about fashion and beauty, look for affiliate programs with products such as makeup, not gadgets or kitchen appliances.
2). Also, you should let your writing flow naturally.
You don’t want to seem too pushy, too sales-y, or too professional when promoting a product. Embedding the affiliate link once or twice in your blog post is enough.
This is actually similar to freelance content writing discussed above except that you write for yourself, not for a client.
Now…
(Based on my personal experience)
- Selling Your Own Product/Course
This is more advanced level. Usually, people don’t jump straight to this level because it takes certain skills to promote your course successfully.
However, as a skilled blogger and online entrepreneur eventually you reach the point when you can sell your knowledge on your site.
(And yes, it can be all text-based.)
3. Self-Publish Your Novel or eBook
A few years ago, you had to undergo a long, laborious process before publishing your book.
Today, with the help of programs such as Wattpad and Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you can easily publish your masterpiece online!
With KDP, you retain the rights to your own work (unlike ghostwriting) and earn royalties of up to 70%. You can also make it available in paperback. They print it on demand, so it’s never out of stock.
Since you’re self-publishing, you’ll also be the one looking for an editor and a book cover designer. (You can do these yourself too if you want, but it’s best to have another eye seeing your work.)
How to Become a Self-Publisher the Right Way?
Look:
As far as I know this is the best place to receive proper guidance in this area.
(Again, I’m a student there myself and speak from first-hand experience.)
Best Ways to Make Money Writing in 2019
Truth is:
There are endless possibilities in making money using your writing skills.
Just make sure you continuously improve so that you can provide better work for your readers. You can do so by joining a writers’ community or setting time to read books so that you’ll always have fresh ideas and different perspectives on things.
Remember, reading is to breathe in and writing is to breathe out. Whichever path you take, try not to lose “your voice” as this is what defines you as a writer.
Now…
I’d like to hear from YOU:
- What is your current experience with making money as a writer?
- What would you choose to do? Freelancing, blogging and/or self-publishing?
- What do think of my “how to use your writing skills to make a living” article overall?
Questions? Thoughts? Suggestions?
Show off your skills and write an excellent blog comment below 😉
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About Author
Zarina
The main purpose of this blog is to share my experience and guide you through the make money online process (mainly affiliate marketing and investing). View my #1 recommendation by clicking here.
I don’t think I will ever develop the ability to write well enough to be a copywriter or some kind of writer for hire. Also, I write very slowly and need to proofread and rewrite over and over before I am satisfied, and even then I know it is not good.
I have thought about starting my own website and blogging or doing affiliate marketing and have done some investigating. It is hard to decide which outfit is viable or even which is not a scam.
I have heard of your #1 recommendation, Wealthy Affiliate, and see you have had a good result. Congratulations.
How many people who start there achieve such a result? Any idea? How much work do you have to do on your website each week?
My time frame is relatively short. I am already 66 years old and have no income or pension, so need a relatively assured method to proceed.
Is Wealthy Affiliate a sure thing for someone willing to work 15 hours per day, that has enough skill to write this comment? Do you think it is a good option for me?
I have heard that most give up and don’t have the endurance.
Hello Sir,
I think that working as a freelance writer might be a challenge in your case, because you’ll need to gain some practice and knowledge in copywriting as well as type fast. As a freelancer you need to keep up with your clients’ deadlines.
Well, alternatively you could use a voice-to-text programs (many people do that these days to become more efficient) but I think having your website will work more for you. Just my humble opinion.
I used to work as a freelancer and I definitely like blogging/affiliate marketing a lot more. It gives me flexibility in pretty much everything (though this also means that I’m the one who has to keep myself accountable and actually do the work if I want to succeed).
Without a doubt, WA platform is amazing. It actually changed my life and the more I put in the work the more milestones I achieve. It was and remains to be my #1 recommendation since I joined the community/training center.
To answer your questions:
1) Truth is, you’ll need to be at affiliate marketing for at least 6 months to really see results. In my case, it took a year (though I wasn’t consistent with content since I was in post-surgery recovery period).
And guess what?
Most people simply won’t do the work for “free” for so long to see the results. But if they stick around and do the work, they should be able to make 4 figures within a year.
(It also depends on a lot of factors, so I recommend you check out this post on how long it takes to make money online.)
2) To be honest, I don’t keep count. I just do something about my business almost every day. Some days I do research, others I write, then I answer comments and so forth.
I had freelance writers before to scale out but in the near future I will be hiring a full-time writer, so a few things will be off my shoulder.
3) Kudos to you for taking action! It amazes me when people over 60 continue to learn and grow and find new ways to make money and enjoy their life. Without a doubt, working 15h/day a lot can be accomplished.
You just need to realize that having a website is a BUSINESS and treat it that way.
There’ll be a lot of things to learn along the way but with proper guidance of Wealthy Affiliate, it’s totally achievable. That’s why I love it, the support you get there is amazing.
(By the way, I’ve met a few people there who are over 60, and even 70 years old, running pretty successful small businesses. True story!)
Once you start making some income, you could always hire a writer to create content for you. This definitely will make your life easier!
Let me know if you have any further questions 🙂
Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I have passion for writing and I have once worked as a freelancer, writing creative content, currently am working on building my own website and posting some helpful contents. Thanks for this great post, I will implement some of the tips you talked about.
Hi Clement,
Honestly, there are a lot of things you can do with writing skills, especially in this age with the Internet opportunities.
You just gotta keep your eyes open, learn about ways to use your talents and use them!
Building a blog/website sure is one of the great ways to earn a living online, I mean that’s my primary source of income already.
Also, if you get into Youtube and use your posts to create videos, then there’s extra income stream for you.
(In fact, YouTube these days is traffic on steroids, so I highly recommend you look into that too.)
Thanks for stopping by!