How to make money as a writer (Infographic)

Editor’s note: This article and its infographic were first published in 2018. Some figures may no longer reflect current market conditions. We recommend verifying rates with up-to-date sources before making any career or financial decisions.

Being a writer has its perks. You write about things you love, your work is published for the world to read and, if you really want to, you can write from wherever you happen to be working that day.

It is also a career that demands persistence and a tolerance for rejection – particularly when it comes to making money.

Writers often wear the ‘starving artist’ badge as a given. Many assume that earning a decent living is simply part of the initiation: you stomach low earnings and a sense of disappointment until something breaks your way.

But does it really have to be that way? Do we really have to cope with earning little to no money for our writing when there seems to be a select few who earn a lot?

The short answer is no. So unpin that badge and read on.

Making Money as a Writer

There are many ways to make a living as a writer today.

From blogging and copywriting to dissertation editing and freelancing – and even writing books or delivering MasterClass courses – opportunities exist across a wide range of formats and industries. It can feel overwhelming at first, but that variety is also the strength of the field: you can try different paths and find the ones that suit you.

Our infographic below summarises the most viable options, so you can focus on the ones worth pursuing.

Writing as a career has genuine highs and lows. The early stages require patience and consistency, but the range of income options available today is broader than many writers realise.

It is quite common for people to start writing as a side income before committing to it full-time – and that is a sensible approach. But for writers who develop the right combination of skills and income streams, a full-time writing career can be genuinely profitable.

Take Mashable as an example: Pete Cashmore launched the blog in 2005 at the age of 19 and built it into one of the most widely-read tech and culture sites online, attracting tens of millions of monthly readers.

Here is a closer look at the main routes available for building a writing career:

Work as a freelancer

If your concern is how to make ends meet as a freelancer, there is a high potential to earn more than a nine-to-five job might pay.

As a writer or a novelist, you can make almost $50,837 per annum right from the comfort of your home.

There are a variety of roles to consider. As an on-call editor, you can make around $150 per hour. Similarly, you can earn a minimum of $40 or a maximum of $100 as a technical writer, depending on your experience.

If you are an experienced writer and can produce long pieces, you’ll be able to earn around $200 writing whitepapers for businesses.

Where to find good gigs

Creating a profile on Fiverr, Upwork, and similar platforms can generate a steady flow of work over time.

Start by offering a range of services at competitive rates – taglines, slogans, web copy, and the like. Fiverr gigs pay a minimum of $5 and the tasks won’t require much hard work to start. As your profile builds and you start receiving good ratings from past customers, you can raise your prices.

As a freelancer, you can also use specialist job boards such as ProBlogger and promote your services in the classified sections of Craigslist, Gumtree, and similar sites.

If you can convince people, become a copywriter

If you can write persuasive, engaging content that moves readers towards a goal, copywriting is a strong career path.

The work typically involves ad campaigns, web copy, social media posts, and other content designed to prompt a specific action from the reader.

As a senior copywriter, you can earn up to $88,210 per year. As part of a company’s in-house team, you may earn around $88,667, and as a freelancer you can earn about $100 per hour.

There is a lot of money in blogging

Blogs can be lucrative, but the key word is strategy. Consistency is essential.

Start by choosing a niche you know well, then write consistently about topics people are actively searching for. Google’s search suggestions are a useful starting point for identifying what readers want.

Industry data consistently shows that around 77% of internet users read blogs at least once a month – one of the highest sustained engagement rates of any online content format.

Once you have enough content on your blog, you can start attracting traffic through promotional campaigns. This traffic can generate ad revenue through Google AdSense: earnings typically range from $1 to $10 per 1,000 pageviews, depending on your niche, audience geography, and ad performance. The more targeted and valuable your traffic, the better your rates.

The next step is to place private ads and add affiliate links. For example, if your blog is about car accessories, you can add your Amazon affiliate link to a new stereo system you recently wrote about. Every time a user buys through your link, you make a commission from Amazon.

Another effective approach is email marketing: capturing a reader’s email address and following up with relevant content and offers can increase average revenue per reader over time, particularly once you have a list large enough to attract sponsors or promote your own products.

Need some additional inspiration? Top bloggers such as Mathew Woodward and Harsh Agrawal have reported earning $25,718 and $40,055 per month respectively – though these are self-reported figures from individual income disclosures and represent the upper end of outcomes in competitive, high-value niches.

Sell content to renowned publishers

If writing comes naturally to you and you have a steady supply of ideas, you can pitch them to journals, newspapers, and magazines.

If your idea is accepted and your article is published, the pay can be substantial. For example, publications such as Catholic Digest, Boys’ Life, and Earth Island Journal have historically paid up to $500 per piece.

Editorial roles

If your strengths are in precision, structure, and language rather than generating original ideas, editing is a well-paid alternative path.

On average, an editor makes $55,971 per year in the United States.

You can work as a full-time editor for an online publisher or publishing house, or build a freelance editing practice on your own terms.

Global English Editing offers editing services and proofreading services to a range of writers – including authors, businesses, and academics – and we employ over 30 editors. There are also a number of other reputable professional editing companies that offer well-paid roles.

If you want to work freelance, you’ll find well-paying editorial gigs through platforms such as Upwork, Freelancer, Flexjobs, and specialist editing companies. Payment is usually calculated on an hourly basis, though per-project pricing is also common.

Final thoughts

Writing is a field with genuine and growing commercial demand. Businesses continue to invest in quality content for their marketing and communications, and the freelance market for skilled writers remains strong.

If you are planning to take up freelance writing, approach it with a clear strategy: identify your niche, understand the market rates for your specialisation, and build your portfolio before relying on it as your primary income.