How to Make Money Writing As a Freelance Writer in 2024 - Elna Cain (2024)

Ahh! The one question EVERY person is interested in when thinking about starting freelance writing:

What are the steps to learn how to make money writing?

Many successful freelance writers are full-time writers (like me). They are making a living writing (or with passive income) and have no challenge finding clients or a writing opportunity.

But, there are even more writers that barely make enough money to replace their dead-end job. They are struggling to get paid to write, and they have no idea how to get away from crappy freelance writing projects.

Writing for money and getting paid to write is something you might be thinking and wanting to do.

Let me tell you – I was one of those writers.

I was stuck.

I had no idea what I was doing – let alone knowing how to make money writing – and ended up landing a content mill gig. Yes, I was one of those writers…..

But, I changed all that and discovered a whole new world of freelance writers. I found that there arewriters that attracted clients. Writers that landed gigs all the time and writers that demanded a high paying rate.

OMG…I had to be one of those writers and learn how to make money writing.

And you know what? I AM one of those successful writers. I don’t worry any more about my monthly income. My husband and I can take off any day out of the week to go on a mini road trip.

#freelancelife

If you want that to learn how to get paid to write a blog article, magazines and more, here’s how you can make money as a writer.

How to Make Money Writing

1. Start a Blog

Yes. You need a blog if you want to be a wealthy freelance writer. A blog can serve many things besides a writing portfolio to help you make money as a writer.

• A way to practice your writing
• Create a lead generation strategy (that means attracting clients to you)
• Help you earn money by monetization strategies
• Build your credibility in your niche
• Give you confidence as a writer
• Have an outlet for your creativity (cuz, we are creatives!!)

A blog is perfect for anyone wanting to start a business. Whether it’s a coaching business or graphic designing or writing, a blog can serve as a platform for your business.

And you know what? It’s not hard to start a blog these days.

I personally love Bluehost to start a service-based business blog. They are reputable, helpful and time-saving. If you need more help, check out this post. I have a video tutorial in that post.

When you have your freelance writing blog, you can set up your site to be a service-based site. This means having certain pages on your site (your menu items). This can definitely help you make money writing.

I suggest having:

• Hire Me page – tells prospects what you do and why they should hire you
• Writing Portfolio page – list your samples and your work
• About Me page – give a blurb about you and give more information about how you can help your client
• Testimonials page – this is optional. You can place your testimonials on other pages.
• Contact page – have a way to contact you via a contact form or links to your social media profiles, Skype and/or email.
• Blog – link to your blog roll.

Here’s what my freelance writing website looks like:

When you have a blog, you can make money writing by monetizing it. This means you can have ads, sponsored posts or do affiliate marketing. These methods are great ways to earn money by writing.

I suggest affiliate marketing if your site is new. The other ways need more traffic and connections.

I monetize this blog with some affiliate links, and for me, it’s a nice side hustle.

To get started on how to make money writing on your blog, I suggest you pick a tool or service that you are using or know about.

You can also choose to promote a course if they offer an affiliate program.

You can search on Google if a product or service has an affiliate program.

So, while you’re building up your writing portfolio with samples from your blog, you can also try to earn a couple of bucks by placing affiliate links in your posts. I suggest, however, to create a tutorial based post based on your affiliate product. This has a much higher conversion rate.

On the flipside, your blog can attract prospects when it’s part of your writer website. I use my website as a lead generation tactic to attract writing gigs!

Prospects go to my About page and Hire Me page and read all about my service. Then they contact me! Some even visit my blog to see what I’m up to and if I’m an engaging writer or have followers.

So, if you’re debating whether to have a blog or not, I say do! Start a blog today!

2. Find a Profitable Niche or Writing Service

Okay, here’s the honest truth:

If you’re wondering who will pay you to write, not every niche is a high-paying niche and not every writing service you offer is high-paying. But, there are a lot of writing niches out there that pay well and help you on how to make money writing.

For example, the parenting niche CAN pay well (even though it’s an over-saturated niche). You just need to know where to look.

Check out these parenting publications that pay writers!

I was able to land a big parenting brand – Walmart – that paid big bucks for my writing.

For writers to make good money writing, they need to know that it doesn’t happen overnight.

How to make money writing takes time. You need to think about what products are out there based on a writing niche topic.

For example, let’s look at religious studies.

It’s hard for me to see a thriving business around this topic with products and services.

But, this is not to say that you can’t be a writer for educational institutions about religious studies.

Here’s another example: equine studies.

This is mostly a hobby based topic, but there are a lot of products for horses and learning to ride.

From this, I can determine that this is a profitable niche.

So when determining your niche, not only think about what you enjoy writing about or your passions or hobby, but also think about how it can be monetized so you can make money fast.

For more help check out my video on the most profitable freelance writing niches (and please subscribe to my YouTube channel!):

In My Video Learn How to Make Money Writing (with the Right Niche)

3. Figure Out Your Ideal Writing Client

Now, this goes hand in hand with your profitable niche. Your writing client can determine whether your niche will be high-paying.

Let me help you see this.

When I first started out as a freelance writer and learned how to make money writing, I marketed myself as a health writer and parent writer. I landed a health writing gig for $25 a post.

Since I was new, I took the gig. It was bylined, and I was able to keep building my portfolio.

A few months later, I was able to land another health gig. I earned $85 a post.

Both of these posts were the same word count (500-700 words). Both posts were about health related topics. So, why did the latter project get me more money?

The writing client.

The first writing gig was for a start-up business.

It was a brand new company and focused more on their product and marketing material for local businesses than it really did on their blog content and lead generation tactics for online customers.

The second client’s entire business was online. They had a health product that they created and needed help getting their product in front of more eyes.

This meant they understood the importance of blogs as a way to create an inbound marketing strategy.

This also meant that my content was much more valuable to their bottom line than my first health client.

And this equated to make money as a writer and more.

It’s up to you to understand your ideal client. Do you want to work with:

• Start-ups
• Tech companies
• Authors
• B2B companies
• Doctors
• Actors
• Small businesses
• Online businesses
• Brands
• Magazines
• Non profits
• Lawyers
• etc…

For me, I try to stick withdigitally native brands in the B2B market.

This is a great market to make money writing online.

4. Create Writing Samples Around Your Niche Topics

I have to preface this tip by saying that when I first started a writing sample they did not relate to my niche topics. I was still able to land gigs.

So, even though I was able to land writing gigs, I still feel that it would’ve been a lot easier if I had a writing sample based on my niche topics.

Quality freelance writing jobs nowadays really want a writer experienced in one niche topic.

But, you’re a new freelance writer, and that means you really don’t know your writing niche and you make need to improve your writing skill for that topic or industry.

That’s why I also tell new writers to pick a few writing niche topics to help you make money writing.

As I mentioned before, I chose health and parenting as my niche topics.

But, what’s my paying niche? Digital marketing.

I had to discover this writing niche. For me, I enjoyed learning about marketing for my own freelance writing business.

I was then approached to write about social media marketing, and I was hooked.

From there, I landed a blogging gig about…blogging.

And then email marketing.

Then lead generation.

I love this writing niche so much that I ended up pivoting my mom blog Twins Mommy from blogging about being a work at home mom to helping mom bloggers become mompreneurs.

My topics went from the challenges to working from home to how to make money using Pinterest or how to promote your new Facebook group.

Once you find your writing niche, start creating samples around that niche topic. Since it took me a while to figure out my paying niche, it took me a while to create samples in my niche topic!

So, the sooner you can figure that out, the sooner you can learn how to make money writing!

5. Make Money Writing on Medium

Medium is a free blogging platform that is made for writers.

Medium created a partner program so that writers can get paid to write on their Medium profile or on Medium’s thousands of publications.

Some writers make thousands a month on Medium and have a whole writing career out of this, while others make a few hundreds or less.

This is a fantastic way as a new freelance writer on how to make money writing easily.

Medium is also a great writing portfolio platform to build your writing samples as a new freelance writer while making money writing!

6. Grow Your Social Media Presence

I get a lot of emails from my subscribers telling me that they aren’t on social media. Or that, social media scares them.

I’ve been a freelance writer since 2014, and I can see how powerful it is to be on social media.

The more “you” are online, the more opportunities your future clients will see you.

They may see your social media post on Twitter or check out your LinkedIn profile.

Maybe an editor saw your Pin and wants to hire you for their content (that happened to me).

Being on social media helped me grow my freelance writing income, and I can’t say enough about being on social media.

It has resulted in many gigs where I write articles for money.

So, how do you get started if you don’t know much about it or are scared?

Step 1: Start Small

Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to be on all the social media platforms. Start small and pick only two. I suggest Twitter and LinkedIn.

Those two platforms have yielded me the most work.

Go on Twitter.com and LinkedIn.com and create an account.

Step 2: Work on Your Copy

Fill out your bio and description and make your copy good. Remember, you are trying to market your freelance writing business and attract clients.

So, you need to use keywords like “freelance writer,” “copywriter” or “white paper writer.”

If you are specific, businesses can find you. For example, here’s my search for “b2b writer” on Twitter.

Step 3: Find a Nice Headshot to Represent Your Brand

On social media, your image can sell you. Pick a professional image or create a headshot (you can use your iPhone) with a plain background and good lighting.

Use this image on your blog and all your social media profiles. When I first started, I used an image I took on my birthday with my twins.

A year or a bit later I took more professional pictures outside with a natural theme.

I’m able to use these for a while since they are part of my brand.

So, when you build your freelance writing business, you need to look at how you want to portray yourself. Do you want to be the fun and creative one or the serious one? Discover how you want to be seen online and show that in your headshot.

And the brand you will build will help you learn how to make money writing as it will show your copywriting skills and any savvy marketing skills you learn on the “job.”

Step 4: Be a Bit Personal and Share That

One of the hardest things new freelance writers have is sharing some personal things online. They are afraid that someone will track them down and steal sensitive information. While this can happen, it’s highly (highly) unlikely.

You can protect yourself online to stay safe.

But there are thousands and probably millions of bloggers online that share their face and their story. You should be no different.

If you want to build a connection with your clients you have to let them know you and see you.

This means telling a story about you and your skill level. It’s also showing another side of you that isn’t all about writing.

For me, I add some fun facts about me on my About page.

You can also show your personality with your blog, your writing voice, and your images.

Step 5: Create Your Brand and Online Identity

Showing who you are and how you write can be represented in your images and brand. From the colors you use to the font you use to the images you use, your freelance writer website or your blog or your blog images should represent you as a writer.

I have several blogs – Elna Cain, Twins Mommy, and Freelancer FAQs. Each one has a unique brand identity with its own colors and images.

I spent a lot of time growing my brand and figuring it all out. So, it’s okay if you don’t have a brand image in the beginning. You can start with your voice.

How do you stamp your content with your personality and vibe?

Do you end in prepositions?

Are you really meta?

Do you stick to certain words or style of writing?

All of these represent you as a successful writer, and if a client reads your content and enjoys this aspect of your content, then they may very well hire you for their content. This can help make money writing.

Step 6: Start Following Others in Your Writing Niche

On social media, start following other writers in your niche.

Also follow brands, businesses, and influencers that you admire, follow or want to write for.

It’s important to network in this business. Why?

Because it’s who you know, that can help you be successful.

A lot of my work comes from referrals. My clients refer me to their friends and colleagues. Even writers refer me too!

A pro-tip: Start linking to blogs of those bloggers you follow in your blogs. For example, if you follow Pam Neely you can find a content she wrote and link to that on your blog.

Those bloggers will find out you mentioned them or you can tag them on Twitter.

Step 7: Start Sharing

Once you start following others, it’s now time to share their content.

Whether it’s on Twitter or LinkedIn, share other blogger’s content.

Personally, what I do is comment on these posts first and then share them with my social media followers. I only share content that I’ve read and feel it will help my followers.

The more connected you are to others, the more likely you will get referred and found out from people that need a content writer.

All of this leads to work and money 🙂

7. Pitch to the Right Writing Jobs and Companies

It’s been awhile since I’ve actively pitched to freelance writing jobs, but I do know one thing: you need to find the right jobs to pitch to if you want to learn how to make money writing.

This might mean researching the company first. Or, it might mean looking at the ad and figuring out if it represents a good gig.

For example, he’s a recent job ad on the job board, ProBlogger.

And, here are the “red flags” I noted, making this an unsuitable gig to apply to (well for me at least).

When a writing gig wants you to churn out content fast and a lot in a week (for my high-paying clients, I do a post a week or one a month for bigger posts), then it’s going to be low paying.

If you decide to do cold pitching instead, then you need to figure out the right companies to pitch to.

For example, you can go to Angel List and search jobs based on your niche topics.

You first have to create your profile based on your social media profile (so make sure you use those keywords).

From there, Angel List will populate jobs for content writing based on what they know from your social media profile.

From here I can click I’m interested and write a little elevator pitch on why I’m interested in this gig.

Before I created my Angel List profile, I was asked to download my LinkedIn profile as a PDF.

This can be used for these companies to see if I’m a good fit.

There are many other ways to find writing gigs to pitch to, so make sure you spend the bulk of your time finding these places or companies to pitch to.

7. Diversify Your Income

I started this post talking about starting a blog and monetizing it by doing affiliate marketing.

This is one way to create multiple income streams and help you make money with your writing.

You’re going to want to do this step as freelance writing can be a roller coaster. There are slow seasons online, which means less content for you to get paid for.

When this happens, your income dips. To avoid this, I suggest you try some other ways to create money online. For example:

• Offer a new service (image graphics, VA, social media management)
• Bundle your services (make it look like a “deal”)
• Do affiliate marketing on your blog
• Create a product like an eBook or course

As a freelance writer and mom, I’ve built a consistent business with my blogs and my income.

How Much Can You Really Make Freelance Writing?

Maybe you want to know exactly how much some freelance writers make.

Let’s take a look at a few certain services and types of writing for money.

1. Ghostwriter

Ghostwriting pays around $5,400/month according to Ziprecruiter.

As a ghostwriter you aren’t attributed an author and the writing belongs to the client.

2. Copywriter

Copywriting gigs pay on average $5k/month and is a great way to make money writing. A lot of my writing as a digital marketing writer incorporates copywritten principles and is a versatile service to offer.

3. Finance Writer

Financial writing is a profitable writing niche and a great way to help you write for money.

As you can see from the data, freelance writing makes a lot of money. It’s a great way to be able to work from home, stay with your kids and have the freedom to do what you want.

4. Magazine Writer

If you want to deal with editors and get your name in print, then maybe writing for magazines is your jam. Magazine writers make on average $4,505 per month and is similar to other types of freelance writers.

5. Author

If you want to become a professional writer and write books or a short story writing fiction for a living, you can expect to make a decent livable income. According to Zip Recruiter, writer authors make around $62,000 per year with their books.

Of course, this is dictated to how many books you write and how popular your books are as well what creative writing topics you write about.

6. Technical Writer

Technical writing jobs are hot right now. With Zoom calls up the roof and remote learning everywhere, many tech services and businesses need writers to help them promote their products.

On average, tech writers earn around $5,700 per month.

Other Ways to Make Money Writing

Freelance writing isn’t the only way to make money writing.

If you’re a blogger like a lifestyle blogger, food blogger or mom blogger, you can definitely learn how to make money writing through ad revenue.

My other site, Smart Mom Ideas, uses Mediavine, which is an ad agency, to make money.

It’s an easy way to to get started and make some quick cash.

Another way to make money writing is to author a book or eBook.

Many bloggers sell books through Send Owl, a platform to sell your products.

For example, mom blogger Trinity created a book to help bloggers with keywording your blog for ranking in Google.

eBooks don’t have to be long – 10,000 words is fine – and they can be about any topic you want.

Finally, you can make money through different types of writing like:

• Ghostwriting
• Copywriting
• Quiz writing
• Podcast writing
• Greeting card writing
• Email newsletter writing

For more ideas, check out my post on 31 different types of writing jobs you can do.

Check out my infographic to help you plan this out! Please pin me too!

Make Money Writing Questions

Still unsure that you can really make money writing? I got you! Here are some important questions to ask about making money writing online.

1. How Can I Make Money With My Writing Skills?

The type of writing you do can determine how much money you will be making. In this post I mentioned ghostwriting, copywriting and finance writing as ways to make money writing. But, what about the writing skills needed?

From experience, businesses seek writers with these writing skills and will pay big bucks for them:

• Use of copywriting such as a bucket brigade
• Breaking down complex ideas into easy to understand steps
• Formatting a blog post for easy online reading
• Understanding of SEO (search engine optimization)
• Cutting out the fluff in your writing

For more help, check out my guide to improving your writing skills.

2. How Can I Make $1,000 A Week?

There are a variety of ways to make $1,000 in a week. The easiest is to get paid for blog writing. You can write a blog post for $300 3x a week.

Or, if that seems too much writing to do in seven days, you can niche down to email campaigns. Perhaps you can create a 12 day welcome series for a business. This can pay you $1000 in a week.

Business will pay writers $1000 for long form writing, specialized writing like gift guides, sales page writing, Facebook ad copy and more. While a new freelance writer may not achieve this in their first month, it’s not unheard to make this in a few weeks.

Here’s my guide to help you make your first $1,000 fast.

3. Can You Make a Living as Writer?

The answer is YES! I’m proof as well as hundreds of my writing students.

With the Internet, the possibilities are endless. You can make money writing as a freelance writer, blogger, podcast writer, course creator and more.

Make Money Writing

The one takeaway from all this is that you need a plan. If you’re working full-time you need a plan of action. You’ll have limited time, but you’re new and no one knows you yet.

So, I feel your limited time should be:

• Creating samples of the niche you want to be paid for
• Pitching to job boards (and companies)

That’s it. Your job is to find a freelance writing job 🙂 And when you do, your job is to raise your rate and continue building your business.

Let me know in the comments what you are doing or did to make money freelancing writing!