I’m often asked if writing for a living is as easy as it sounds or is it simply one of those hyped up methods of making money that looks good when it is being described on a business opportunity sales page but when it comes to reality you will be literally banging your head against a brick wall. 
Well, if you are interested in earning money in this way you actually have to work. No getting away from that fact so if you are one of those people who are looking for a way to make money which involves not actually doing anything then you would be well advised to look elsewhere.
Now that we have got that out of the way let’s look at the writing opportunity itself. To start with, many people feel intimidated and think that their writing skills will not be good enough to be able to sell their services so let’s put that into perspective before we go any further.
Let’s say that you begin to offer a writing service and you charge $10 for a 500 word article. I always recommend that you start off by writing about subjects that you are familiar with and please don’t tell me that you are not familiar with any subject well enough so you can write about it because you are.
Think of your job if you have one, your interests, your favorite TV programs, football team, etc, etc. There is a massive demand for all types of writing and it would be a safe bet that you will be able to write about various subjects with ease. By writing about subjects such as this you will cut down on any research time which will equate to you earning more money.
Now, at $10 per 500 words you are not expected to write a literary masterpiece but as long as the article is spelt correctly and is correctly formatted you will find that the service that you offer will be in great demand.
The main thing to remember when you offer your services as a writer, apart from checking that your work is OK, is to always deliver on time and keep in contact with your clients. Something might happen which will cause a delay, family problems for instance, but instead of hoping that your client will not notice that you are late with the order, let them know what is happening. You will find that the vast majority will be grateful that you have told them what is going on and will not have a problem with it.
So, now all of that is out of the way, is writing for a living as good as it sounds. The answer to that question is a resounding ‘Yes’. You do a job and you get paid for it, as simple as that. If you are writing about a subject you are familiar with you can easily earn $100 before lunchtime.
With a little practice you can push that up to $200, five days a week with the afternoons off and you have earned $1000. What’s more, as long as you have an Internet connection you can work from anywhere in the world and you will be truly living the ‘Internet lifestyle’
This is a guest post written by Gary Tomlinson, creator of Writing For a Living
If you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.
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Hi John (& Gary),
Thanks for this post. It’s sometimes portrayed that writing is either really easy or really hard; there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.
One question I do have – how can you tell whether your writing could be considered as ‘good enough’ to sell? That’s the issue I generally have – it’s one thing writing for my blog but trying to sell my writing? That’s an entirely different matter!
Thanks,
Nikki
Hi Nikki
So many people think that their writing is not good enough to sell but in your case and judging by the writing standard of your comment above, you would have no problems at all.
As long as the writing ‘flows’ and is spelt correctly you will be ok. To start off with, try and go for writing jobs that you have an interest in. You will be surprised by how easy it all is.
Hi Gary
I think a lot of people are afraid of wiriting. I have a friend writing an ebook and decided to do 10 pages because 25 pages was too long. On her chosen topic, she could have written 50 pages without even researching.
When writing articles, you don’t have to be a genius so long as your content is good quality, spell checked and proof read.
Dee
Hi Dee
You have hit the nail on the head there, you definitely don’t have to be a genius
Hi John and Gary,
Thanks for a very interesting post. I, like most people reading this I would guess, have wondered whether I could make a living writing.
Just writing blog posts and emails has given me great pleasure but if you are looking to charge money for your writing then a higher standard must be applied.
I suppose, just like everything in this business, the answer is to just do it and see where it leads. You just never know until you try.
All the best,
David
Hi David
I can guarantee that you would be pleasantly surprised by how many writing jobs you will get once you get started.
Hey John…
A very true business proposition, I mean if one can make regular affiliate income streams from various 250 to 400 articles, then I’m sure it can be done as a full time venture…
…writing for a client base, you only need to do what I myself always teach, and that’s research the internet for what people really want, then offer your services to sellers within them niches, who provide the solutions to these *willing to pay* customers…
by simply creating the material for the sellers for a fee, so in effect the sellers are your customers!
Love this post….Ed.
PS Gary you have a sound business model here!
Thankyou Ed
Hey John and Gary, nice article. I run two websites and also do guest blogging. As an affiliate marketer I write to make money and to drive traffic to my websites, which I love doing everyday. Also, with Elance writers getting $3-$5 per article, it would be hard to charge $10 unless you are writing for a medical, highly technical or specialized website.
Hi Ken
You would be surprised by the amount of clients who are prepared to pay $10 plus for basic articles. Many of my clients started out by going with the cheaper writers and their experiences were not brilliant.
Just today I received an order of 100 x 700 word articles on the subject of internet marketing. Really basic stuff but $20 per article.
There are many people willing to pay that kind of money for basic subjects and one thing that I have found recently is that since the latest Google Panda update, many of my clients now require articles of between 700 and 1200 words as opposed to 500 words which used to be the norm.
Hi John and Gary,
Thanks for the new tips on a new stream of income.
To Your success
zora
Hi – I can confirm this is a way to earn money. I’ve done it myself as a sideline to fund things like paying for my Internet connection, domains and hosting – and in particular, opportunities offered through this blog.
It’s easy to find jobs and as I like writing, can write about any topic (with research of course) and most of all, it’s FUN!
Best wihes
Carol
I think charging less than $10 for an article is very low, specially if you are a professional writer and can write creative and informative articles. How long would it take to write and article is what I would like to know. If one can write an article in less thank 30 minutes then I think charging $10 might be ok as long as you get several orders a day. Thanks
The trick is to write about subjects that you are familiar with, at least when you starting your writing business.
You then just write each article witout editing, when you have finished your work, go back and check them for spellings etc. Working in this way you can easily write 10 articles in 4 to 5 hours. If you start early enough you will have made $100 plus by lunch time.
Then consider what your earnings would be if you were getting $15 per article and if you also wrote 15 instead of 10.
This $10 or less per article is only an internet marketing thing, if you look eleswhere you will find that clients are prepared to pay far more than that without even batting an eye lid.
Hey Gary & John,
Thanks for a great blog post.. I was never a great fan of writing, particularly in school, and I find it hard to focus and concentrate. My mind tends to wander, and I often end up putting on the television or listening to music.
For some reason, in every other aspect of my work, I can concentrate without any problems, but when it comes to writing, I just get bored pretty quickly.
Do you have any tips to help someone like me to overcome this? It would really help me when it comes to writing my own products.
Many thanks and keep up the great work!
Tom 🙂
hi john&gary
i like this post its so true and i get emails from my customers on how to write an article as they keep geting them rejected but you are right if you put your mind to it its not that hard at all its just making sure it flows nicelly rather than writing about two differant things you are so right here.
thanks for the post i really enjoyed reading it
regards
john richards