How to make a living as a writer while traveling the world

Writing is one of the few careers you can take anywhere. In the age of the internet, a laptop and a decent WiFi connection are all you really need to earn a living as a writer — whether that’s from a café in your home city or a guesthouse on the other side of the world. Inspired in part by The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, a growing number of writers, designers and other “digital nomads” now do exactly that.

Wikipedia defines digital nomads as knowledge workers who can perform their jobs regardless of location — and freelance writers are among the most common, alongside web, software and graphic designers.

Beyond the obvious appeal of independence and travel, there’s a practical financial perk: you can earn in a strong currency and spend in a cheaper one. For the same monthly budget, many writers enjoy a standard of living they couldn’t easily afford back home.

As the owner of Global English Editing, I live this way myself — location-independent and working entirely online. Based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I run the business just as smoothly as I would from a fixed office in my home city.

Chiang Mai has put me among talented writers from the US, UK, Canada and Australia who are, quite literally, writing their way around the world. They’ll all tell you that becoming a freelance writer isn’t easy — if it were, everyone would do it — but it isn’t out of reach either.

A note on the current market: AI writing tools have changed the landscape, particularly at the lower end of the market. Bulk SEO content and generic how-to articles are harder to sustain as a primary income than they were a few years ago. The work that remains in strong demand — and that AI does least well — is reported journalism, specialist expertise, original voice, and human-sourced stories. If you’re starting now, aim from the beginning for work that requires a person. The tips below are written with that in mind.

With the help of writers I’ve worked alongside here in Chiang Mai, here are ten tips to help you start making a living as a writer, wherever you happen to be.

1) Look online

The first step to becoming a freelance writer is research. If you already know what you want to write about, find magazines and websites in that niche — fashion, DIY, sports, fitness, and so on — and look for their “work with us” or “contact us” page. Sites like travelfish.org, for example, are always looking for freelance travel writers in specific countries. If a site clearly publishes work from a range of contributors, email them and pitch an article you’d like to write. Don’t lead by asking how much they’ll pay — get them interested in your idea first.

2) Write for exposure, but not for free

Very few freelance writers have never written an article for free. Being featured on a prominent site such as CNN Travel or the TripAdvisor blog can be a genuine career boost and lead to well-paid work, so think about which names would look good on your CV and pitch them stories. But plenty of sites simply want content for cheap or nothing. If you are going to write for free, choose carefully: it can be worth it for genuine exposure, but sometimes it’s just other people benefiting from your work.

3) Write about your passion — and your expertise

Writing about the latest virus-protection software is dull to some and fascinating to others. One of the benefits of freelancing is that you can largely choose your subjects — and it’s slow, grinding work to write about things that don’t interest you.

What makes a writer genuinely competitive, though, isn’t just enthusiasm — it’s the intersection of passion and knowledge. An editor commissioning a piece on competitive climbing doesn’t just want someone who likes climbing; they want someone who has climbed and can write with authority about why a specific technique matters. That combination is harder to replicate and harder to replace. Many freelancers get by churning out SEO content on random topics, but the writers who build lasting careers write from a position of real depth. Think about what you know better than most people — and start there.

4) Travel, travel, travel

One of the hardest parts of writing is deciding what to write about, and travel is a reliable source of stories. But generating usable material from travel requires more than just showing up somewhere.

Keep a running notes file — not a polished journal, just observations, snippets of conversation, specific details you’d forget otherwise. The best travel writing is built from the particular: a specific market stall, a name, a comment someone made on a bus. General impressions don’t pitch well. Specific, surprising stories do.

Talk to locals rather than other travellers, and look for the angle that hasn’t already been covered. A fifteenth article about Bangkok street food is a hard sell; a piece about a specific neighbourhood undergoing rapid change, told through the people who live there, is a different proposition. Editors receive hundreds of generic pitches — give them something they haven’t seen.

5) Set up an online portfolio to showcase your work

When you email newspapers, websites and magazines with story ideas, it helps to include a link to your previous work. Clippings.me lets writers build an e-portfolio linking to articles published online, so potential clients can see your work and style without you having to write a fresh sample each time.

6) Create a personal blog or website

If you want to write for online publications, it pays to understand the online world. You don’t need to learn how to write code in Python, but the skills you pick up building a WordPress site — choosing a domain, writing a description, learning the basics of SEO and how to rank in Google — will make you a more capable writer and give you a place to showcase your articles when you start freelancing.

7) Monetise your blog

If your blog gains a following, there are several practical ways to earn from it.

Affiliate links are the most accessible starting point: sign up to programmes such as Amazon Associates or niche-specific affiliate networks, embed links naturally within relevant content, and earn a small commission when readers purchase through them. It compounds slowly but requires no minimum traffic.

Ad networks are more lucrative but have thresholds: Mediavine, for example, requires around 50,000 monthly sessions before you can apply. Display ads before that point generate very little.

Sponsored posts and product reviews can pay well but require transparency — any complimentary stay, flight, or product received in exchange for coverage must be disclosed to readers under FTC guidelines (and equivalent regulations in other countries). Pitch with specific audience numbers and a clear editorial angle; a well-targeted blog with 10,000 engaged readers will often be more attractive to a brand than a larger but unfocused one.

8) Network

Networking is how most freelance writers find their best work — not through job boards, but through relationships. Set aside time for it deliberately, because it rarely happens by accident.

LinkedIn is worth maintaining with a clear statement of your beat and a link to your portfolio. Twitter/X has active communities of journalists and editors in most niches; follow the editors of publications you want to write for, engage with their work, and you’ll be a known name when you eventually pitch. Slack groups for freelance writers — there are active ones for travel writing, tech journalism, and general freelancing — are good places to swap leads, recommendations, and honest advice.

In person, look for journalism conferences, writing festivals, and local writers’ circles. When you meet an editor or commissioning contact, follow up with a specific pitch within the week while you’re fresh in their mind. The follow-up is where most writers lose the advantage.

9) Editing and proofreading

Disclosure: Global English Editing is the author’s own company. The advice below reflects genuine professional experience with the editing field.

If you’re a strong writer, you may also be a strong editor. Not every writer has the skill set to edit and proofread professionally, but for those who do, editing is an excellent way to earn a steady income while keeping time free for your own writing projects. People who need editing include students with a dissertation, thesis or other academic document, and authors who want book editing and book proofreading.

Online platforms such as Upwork are a popular option for editors, as are dedicated online editing and proofreading companies. (If you’re genuinely excellent, get in touch with us — we’re a growing business and always need good editors.)

10) Find your niche

After working through the first nine tips, you’ll have a clearer sense of what you enjoy writing and what you’re good at. Now it’s time to specialise. Approach magazines or websites about a weekly column (creative freedom plus a regular income), focus your blog on your niche so readers can find you easily, and look for companies to partner with — or even a book to write on the subject.

Specialising also protects you in a market where generalist content is increasingly easy to produce cheaply. The writer who is known as the authority on a specific subject — sustainable travel in Southeast Asia, independent game development, the craft beer industry — is much harder to replace than one who writes about everything.

Write what you know and love, let it take you where you want to go, and build a career you can run from anywhere.