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How to Really Make Money Writing
by TC Thorn
I've been making a nice living writing content for my websites and blogs for the last
few years, and I run into quite a few people who are interested in doing the same! If you
have an interest in writing and an interest in working from home and making your own
hours, but you're not quite sure how to get started, this article is for you.
Essentially, there are two ways to make money writing. You can either write for - and
get paid by - someone else (i.e. freelancing, technical writing, etc.) or you can write for
yourself, publish your own work, and keep all the cash (i.e. self-publishing a book or
writing content for your own blog, website, etc.). Both methods have their pros and cons.
Writing for Yourself
This is how I make my money, and I don't think I'd ever switch to freelancing, because
I love that I control everything and don't have to answer to anyone.
The downside is that you're creating an asset from scratch, and it takes longer to
start making money this way. You have to write the book before you can sell it. Or you
have to build up a blog (put out regular content, work on getting links and visitors,
etc.) before you can make money from it.
The upside is, as I mentioned, you have complete and utter control of your work. You
retain all the rights and you can decide how to monetize your writing (for example, I make
money from selling links on my sites, promoting affiliate programs, and running Google
Adsense). Ultimately, you're creating assets that bring in money while you sleep, eat,
take vacations, and all those things they talk about on late night "how to make money"
infomercials.
While I've mentioned books, I believe it's more profitable to build up websites. A blog
is a great way to get started, but you really have to learn about choosing a niche with
profit potential, writing content that will attract visitors, and marketing your site.
There's a lot more to it than just starting a blog.
I highly recommend the Yaro Starak Blog Mastermind program if you're interested in
taking this route (click the link in my resource box to read the review I wrote for it on
my site). It's basically an online "how to blog for a living" school.
Writing for Other Folks
I'm less experienced in this area, but I know a lot of writers who got their start
writing for others. Since it can take a while to generate income from a blog, it makes
sense to begin here, especially if you need extra money to pay the bills right today.
The upside to writing for others is that you get paid an agreed upon fee as soon as, or
shortly after, the work is complete. In most cases, you don't have to write a whole book
or build up a whole site to make money. You might just write an article or series of
articles for a person or company.
The downside is that there's a lot of competition and writing is something that can
be - and is - outsourced to countries where people are willing to do a lot of work for a
very small amount of money. Also, you may find it hard to get jobs until you've gotten
jobs before (yup, a Catch-22) and built up a portfolio.
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