How to Make Money Writing
If you’re anything like me, someone once told you something like this:
“You never make any money writing.”
This comment, though well-meaning, often damns the dreams of Ernest Hemmingways and John Greens to be.
It’s the “any money” which always made me think. Not ANY money? Not enough to pay the rent? Not even a single dollar?
Wanting to crush the money-making myth, I took to Twitter and asked a simple question.
The responses were… well, a little overwhelming.
What isn’t shown in this embedded tweet is the number of responses… over 950 at the time of writing!!
Although I have learned something from almost every single reply in that thread (and I know I’ll be sorting through answers for weeks to come), one thing is clear:
You CAN make money writing.
How much you can make? How long does it take? What type of writing do you have to do? Can you quit your day job?
Those are other questions to be answered.
But those two words – “you CAN” – fill my veins with hope.
Today, I want to give you some hope as well.
Here are REAL PEOPLE who make REAL MONEY by writing words. My goal with this post is to show you different avenues of doing so.
Maybe it will inspire you to believe in the dream you long since stuffed under the rug.
Mitch Roush – Copywriter, Theater Writer, Teacher
Amy Dickinson – Syndicated Advice Columnist, Bestselling Memoir Author
Amanda Filippelli – Full time writer, editor, and publisher
Renee April – Fiction Writer
(After a brief chat over email, I learned Renee’s “stupid amount” of money made included a breakthrough where she sold 76 copies of her book overnight.
The lesson? The books had already been on the market for a year… patience is important 😉
Jessica Lynn – Freelance Writer, Social Media Content, Blog Post
Anonymous – Dungeons and Dragons Crowdfunded Guide
I learned what one person did via direct message, and he wishes to remain anonymous. Even though he isn’t a professional writer and doesn’t intend to be, I can’t overlook the fact he made a neat chunk of change for what was a fun project anyway.
Writing a D&D guide?? Who would have guessed?
Kesav Wable – Film Writer and Producer
(This one is AWESOME. For Kesav’s work: You can check out the trailer here.
If you’d like to read more about the process of producing the film, see his interview with Blacklist screenwriting blog where you can also check out the full short using the password: 25toLife)
Melissa Rivero – Contract Writer and Published Author
(This setup was pretty common, actually – the “writer by day, different writer by night” scenario. As someone who also still holds a day job and loves it, this makes me happy.)
Amelia Mellor – Playwright, Contest Winner, Poet
Ian Barr – Living the Reality Many of us do 🙂
(I’ve been there)
Noah Bogdonoff – Writing for Practice Standardized Test
Maybe five hundred bucks over three years for my short stories, but somewhere around $30,000 from writing passages for practice standardized tests
— Noah Bogdonoff (@yaybody) June 5, 2019
Mike Chen – Traditionally Published, Technical Writing, Content Marketing
Kasey Anderson – Writing on Medium
I had trouble deciding how to cap this post. Should I leave you on an emotional high, or a reality check?
I choose both.
Reality check: Probably 97% of people who replied to this tweet are NOT full time writers. Meaning, they do not make enough money to live off writing alone.
The ones that do have been at it for years, dogged and determined to figure out how to make it work.
BUT
Even if that’s the case, what if you would pay your water bill with something you do anyway? What if you could pay off some debt?
What if you don’t need to be James Patterson to still enjoy your life?
My takeaway from this whole adventure – You can make as much money as you want, IF you are willing to figure out what it takes.
Whatever you do – don’t stop writing
<3
