How Freelance Writers Make Money (Because Yes, Mom, It's Possible)
Okay — so you’ve decided you want to be a writer. Now what? There are so many different avenues you can explore, but not all of them allow you to create a sustainable, long-term career. Writing full-time can be a creatively fulfilling craft — albeit often exhausting — and finding the right niche within the industry is important for you to figure out what you want to pursue. Whether you decide to go into editorial or choose to ghostwrite a book, here are a few ways you can make money as a freelance writer.
Editorial Writing & Editing
This is probably what you first think of when you talk about writing full-time (and it’s what I do for a living). Editorial writing — also referred to as journalism — means you pitch and write for a publication. Most often, this particular path requires you to write reported pieces or explainers that explore a certain topic with the input of expert sources. For example, a piece called “The Best Dry Shampoos & Why You Need Them” would have celebrity and editorial hairstylists weighing in with why they recommend having a dry shampoo on deck, what dry shampoos do, and their favorite products they recommend to clients. You might add in a little color talking about why you personally love dry shampoos, but the piece will mainly rely on the input from those experts.
Editorial writing calls for a level of unbiasedness: That means that you, the journalist, aren’t beholden to any brands or people that would impair your journalistic integrity and editorial judgement. Of course, as you work in your field more, you may develop loyalty to certain products or founders (everyone who follows me on Instagram knows how much I love my Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream), but you aren’t paid by those brands to write about their products in an editorial piece. Editorial writing also tends to be more formal, typically following AP style, to establish more of an authoritative relationship with the reader.
You may also explore different kinds of editorial writing, depending on the publications you’re working for. Many publications — especially digital ones with a lifestyle focus — have added a more personal element to their voice, having writers speak about products and experiences directly. For instance, the travel industry often allows writers to speak about a cultural experience from a first-person point of view (i.e. “How a Week-Long Safari in Zimbabwe Changed My Life”). Beauty and fashion are other areas where a personal angle can make for a more impactful piece. I once wrote a piece called “This Brand Made Me Believe in Jeans Again,” which talked about (you guessed it) a brand that helped me re-fall in love with jeans on my body. These first-person stories can make for really captivating copy that can relate with the reader on a more intimate level.
Keep in mind that editorial writing is very dependent on the publisher. Magazines and other digital publications are often limited with what they’re able to promote based on who is currently paying for ad space in their book or which retailers offer affiliate revenue (the publication uses a link to a product that earns commission if someone buys it). The tone of voice you use in your pieces is completely dependent on the brand’s, which is usually detailed in a style guide that you’ll reference while you’re writing. You also don’t own your content; once it has been posted, it belongs to the publication and you no longer have the rights to the work.
How You Get Paid:
Typically, editorial writing pays per piece. The budget for the piece is entirely dependent on the publication and the scope of work (how many words are required, how much research is involved, how many sources you need, if you have to buy anything for the piece, etc.). Some publications pay $25 per piece while others pay thousands. Print also typically pays more than digital, but again, it entirely depends on the publication.
Another common arrangement is contracted work, where you work as a part-time staff writer for a publication with a set number of hours per week and a quota of pieces you need to produce in that time. This is paid either hourly or on a weekly or monthly stipend. For reference, when I worked at Elite Daily in this capacity, I worked three seven-hour shifts per week and was required to write three fully published pieces per shift; this position was paid hourly. Bustle Digital Group — which owns Bustle, Elite Daily, The Zoe Report, Mic, Nylon, and more — is the largest media conglomerate I know of that implements this hierarchy structure, but there are others that are starting to shift in that direction (it’s cheaper to pay freelancers than to hire full-time employees!).
Blogging
If your writing style is a little more casual and you want the freedom to explore your personal thoughts in a public forum, blogging is probably for you. Blogging is how many of today’s modern “influencers” got their start, by recommending their favorite brunch spots and clothes they love wearing every season. Now, blogging is a full-blown industry and a viable career path, provided you find a niche and an audience that resonates with your voice. You really can blog about anything, but of course, the more niche you get, the smaller your audience pool will be.
Your writing is published on your own site, usually created through a site like Squarespace or Wordpress. You come up with a blog name, buy your domain, and self-publish whenever and however you want. The most successful blogs have a cohesive vision, a clear brand identity, and captivating content that keeps people coming back for more.
Blogging is typically supplemented by a strong social media presence (usually on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, or some combination of those).
How You Get Paid:
Blogging is unpaid at first, but it’s an investment. Regularly putting out quality content — both on blogs and socials — leads to opportunities for sponsored content and free product. Depending on your niche, this can present in many different ways: Travel bloggers often go on extravagant trips with a tourism board and/or corporate travel partner (i.e. an airline, hotel brand, or travel app) at no cost in exchange for paid posts on Instagram and their blog; Beauty bloggers get paid to produce a sponsored video for YouTube and receive the product they’re promoting for free; Fashion bloggers are sent clothes and accessories to shoot for paid posts on Instagram and Pinterest; DIY and home bloggers are often sponsored by home improvement stores and furniture companies to create original tutorials. The list is pretty endless and there are so many different types of partnerships available, depending on your niche.
Copywriting
I might be alone in this, but I use copywriting as a blanket term for any writing for clients. “Clients” is also a pretty broad term, as my copywriting clients have ranged from giant beauty brands to small indie artists. Copywriting is literally just writing “copy,” or words that accompany some sort of promotion. Copywriting can be writing the text for social media posts, press releases, website landing pages, romance copy for products, or even bios (you’d be surprised how many people hire writers to put together bios for their resumes or performance programs).
Copywriting can also refer to blog writing for a specific company because you’re writing to promote and sell something (usually a product). For example, one of my regular copywriting clients is the skincare brand Summer Fridays. My scope of work for them has included writing Instagram captions, blog posts about their products to go up on their e-commerce website, promotional ads for product launches, and more. Anything you see that needs text has at least one copywriter behind it — and that person can be you. If you have a knack for promoting products and are particularly passionate about a certain brand or industry, it’s usually pretty common to find copywriting work on the side.
How You Get Paid:
Copywriting is pretty flexible. You can usually pick up multiple copywriting clients, though some clients might require you to sign a non-compete contract that restricts you from working with two brands that directly compete with each other. (You might not be able to write copy for two different luxury skincare brands, for instance.) Copywriting work can be paid both hourly and on a project-by-project basis.
For one-off contracts (like writing someone’s bio for their website), you’d just be paid for that one project. For regular clients who require a certain amount of work from you every month (like a set number of blog posts and/or social captions), you might have a set rate for the whole month that accounts for each individual piece of work and is billed either bi-weekly or monthly. (For example, you could do four blog posts at $150 each and 30 social captions at $20 each for a total of $1,200 per month. You can bill this at the end of the month in one large chunk or in two separate $600 invoices in the middle and at the end of the month.)
And for clients who have you set up in a permalance situation, where you’re working on long-term projects, assisting with strategy, rolling out products, and more, you might have a flat monthly retainer that encompasses all of your work. This usually leads to overworking in a busy month and underworking the next, so everything balances out. The next step after a permalance position would be to join a company as a full-time copywriter.
Ghostwriting
Every prominent person has ghostwriters. Seriously. Celebrities who have written books, high-profile influencers and bloggers… Even the Kardashians have ghostwriters. (For real — they have ghostwriters for their apps.) If you just want to write, don’t mind taking a back seat on creative vision, and can easily adopt someone else’s voice, ghostwriting is the avenue for you. It’s well-paid, (usually) regular work that doesn’t require too much creative brainpower. Personally, I love having a couple ghostwriting clients sprinkled into my workload because it offers me to take a break from having to create and allows me to just write.
Ghostwriting clients usually give you the directive, blog topics, and any other pertinent information you need to write up the content they want. All you have to do is put it all together in a cohesive, clean post that requires little editing on their part. Depending on the client, they fall somewhere on the spectrum between line-editing your work and allowing you to self-publish. In my experience, ghostwriting clients hire ghostwriters to take work off their plate, so they usually like to be a more hands-off if they can.
How You Get Paid:
Billing for ghostwriting is actually pretty similar to copywriting. Some clients might not want you to write for other bloggers who directly compete in their market, but most of the time, you can take on any clients you want. (Part of the beauty of ghostwriting is that it’s relatively anonymous, so if a new client doesn’t ask who else you’re working for, you don’t necessarily have to disclose.) You can tier your services in a similar way to copywriting: Project-by-project, monthly rates, and a retainer are all feasible options for ghostwriting.
Hope this helps you as you try to figure out your writing career! My inbox and the comment section of this post are always open if you have any questions.
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