Secrets on How To Make Money Writing
Sadly, despite popular belief, it takes more than writing a book to make money from writing, unless of course you’re in the minority of writers who are recognised for writing a series of best sellers.
The majority of writers, based at home, earn money from freelance writing which takes as much knowledge about the business of writing as it does the actual craft. A successful freelance writer can survive on average writing skills and excellent business sense while it is harder to succeed with the reverse. The ideal, of course, is being excellent at both.
Today there are a variety of outlets and genres that writers can freelance in, either to earn occasional money, a part-time income or a substantial wage. Which one will work for you depends on your area of interest and style or styles of writing.
Article writing can often provide an excellent income, especially if you become a regular for a well-paying publication and also if you’re good at photography. Magazines often pay as much for the pictures as they do for the words, but you have to be professional at both. In most cases happy snaps, no matter the quality of the camera, won’t be accepted.
But what if you prefer creative writing to factual? In my opinion the market for short story writing is still smaller (especially in well paying markets) than that in feature articles. Not that this should make a difference if you’re merely looking to make a small amount of money writing.
Many people who enjoying creating stories, or poetry for that matter, enjoy submitting their work into competitions. The prize money in some of these can be excellent but sourcing the information on new contests can be hard unless you find a good resource or two.
A way to combine both factual and creative flare is learning the art of personal essay writing. These are the kinds of true life stories that are published in themed collections. They usually focus on a particular event within your life and are written from an emotive, reflective slant. Since most publishers of anthologies only want to publish your story just the once this style of writing can often see the same story published, and more importantly paid for, more than once.
Having said that, if producing a book is still your preferred path to work from home, a good guide to writing a book is to remember that more ‘how to’ non-fiction books are published each year than fiction books. Once again, sadly though, stories are smaller market.
This also holds true to writing and publishing a book yourself. At one time the mere mention of a home produced book brought a look of distain but that like many things is changing. There are definite pros and cons to self publishing the biggest two of which are that you do actually see your work in print but the amount of money you make depends entirely on your own business skills.
Writing greeting cards has for many years conjured up thoughts of a romantic lifestyle. Though out my many years within the writing world, I don’t think I have ever come across somebody who is living that life. I do, however, know of people who use it to supplement what they earn from freelance magazine writing. I also know those who have received a diverse selection of clothes and trinkets as payment.
An evergrowing market where writers can make money is writing for the internet. This advance in technology has increased markets for writers exponentially, although it has also left many writers with concerns about copyright, plagiarism, privacy and payment.
As in any other business there are people eager to take advantage of the naive but I believe that if we, as writers, share information and tips, and do our research it’s a valid market that can work for all of us.
Certainly writing ezine articles is a wide market if not as yet high paying.
Writing ebooks would seem to bring in a similar return for effort, unless the work is being heavily promoted, written for a large and already existing marked, or has been contracted out to the writer by the promoter. The same would seem to be true of writing for websites and blogs.
Having given you all this information please don’t think that I am saying, ‘Don’t write your best-seller and expect to receive a contract for five more’. Never let it be said that I squashed anybody’s dream. My intention is purely to cover a variety of areas so that you can work from home writing and earning money until your first book contract arrives - if that is your choice.
The majority of writers, based at home, earn money from freelance writing which takes as much knowledge about the business of writing as it does the actual craft. A successful freelance writer can survive on average writing skills and excellent business sense while it is harder to succeed with the reverse. The ideal, of course, is being excellent at both.
Today there are a variety of outlets and genres that writers can freelance in, either to earn occasional money, a part-time income or a substantial wage. Which one will work for you depends on your area of interest and style or styles of writing.
Article writing can often provide an excellent income, especially if you become a regular for a well-paying publication and also if you’re good at photography. Magazines often pay as much for the pictures as they do for the words, but you have to be professional at both. In most cases happy snaps, no matter the quality of the camera, won’t be accepted.
But what if you prefer creative writing to factual? In my opinion the market for short story writing is still smaller (especially in well paying markets) than that in feature articles. Not that this should make a difference if you’re merely looking to make a small amount of money writing.
Many people who enjoying creating stories, or poetry for that matter, enjoy submitting their work into competitions. The prize money in some of these can be excellent but sourcing the information on new contests can be hard unless you find a good resource or two.
A way to combine both factual and creative flare is learning the art of personal essay writing. These are the kinds of true life stories that are published in themed collections. They usually focus on a particular event within your life and are written from an emotive, reflective slant. Since most publishers of anthologies only want to publish your story just the once this style of writing can often see the same story published, and more importantly paid for, more than once.
Having said that, if producing a book is still your preferred path to work from home, a good guide to writing a book is to remember that more ‘how to’ non-fiction books are published each year than fiction books. Once again, sadly though, stories are smaller market.
This also holds true to writing and publishing a book yourself. At one time the mere mention of a home produced book brought a look of distain but that like many things is changing. There are definite pros and cons to self publishing the biggest two of which are that you do actually see your work in print but the amount of money you make depends entirely on your own business skills.
Writing greeting cards has for many years conjured up thoughts of a romantic lifestyle. Though out my many years within the writing world, I don’t think I have ever come across somebody who is living that life. I do, however, know of people who use it to supplement what they earn from freelance magazine writing. I also know those who have received a diverse selection of clothes and trinkets as payment.
An evergrowing market where writers can make money is writing for the internet. This advance in technology has increased markets for writers exponentially, although it has also left many writers with concerns about copyright, plagiarism, privacy and payment.
As in any other business there are people eager to take advantage of the naive but I believe that if we, as writers, share information and tips, and do our research it’s a valid market that can work for all of us.
Certainly writing ezine articles is a wide market if not as yet high paying.
Writing ebooks would seem to bring in a similar return for effort, unless the work is being heavily promoted, written for a large and already existing marked, or has been contracted out to the writer by the promoter. The same would seem to be true of writing for websites and blogs.
Having given you all this information please don’t think that I am saying, ‘Don’t write your best-seller and expect to receive a contract for five more’. Never let it be said that I squashed anybody’s dream. My intention is purely to cover a variety of areas so that you can work from home writing and earning money until your first book contract arrives - if that is your choice.
