Other Ways to Earn Income from Writing

Everyone's on the "write articles" band-wagon right now - but is it really the best way to earn a decent income from your writing time and effort? I don't think it is.

Especially not if you're wasting time on ridiculous "revenue-share" sites that pay pittance and make you work like a slave for a few cents. Why bother?

There are so many options available to a writer willing to be creative and diversify just a bit that your income really should be reaching the full-time levels within only weeks. Mine sure did and I've never regretted it.

Yet I see so many newer writers struggling all the time, trying to make ends meet by selling off articles for a couple of measly dollars. Why bother? There are so many more lucrative options available that it seems insane to bother for anything less than quick easy cash instead.

Take a look at some of the income-producing writing options I personally use to make my writing income each and every day.

-- I write short fiction stories

This is where I make up the characters and the events and I tell whatever story I feel like telling. There are hundreds of magazines, ezines, periodicals and anthology markets just begging for more short fiction and the pay ranges from $10 per story up to several thousand dollars per story.
Not only is it fun and creative, it's good money for doing something enjoyable

-- I write ebooks

I haven't written a post on this one yet, but it's the most lucrative part of my income. It's even higher than my articles income. What's even better is that once you've done the work once, you can potentially keep getting paid for it over and over while the ebook is still for sale!

-- I get paid to blog

When I'm tired and just want to vent or just to clear my head, I'll jump onto my blog. It's my place and I just write what I want - so I went and found ways of making sure I get paid to blog . Time is money - and time spent on my blog contributes to my overall writing income

-- I get paid to post on forums

I'm a member of so many writing communities and other social communities that I thought it silly the amount of time I'd take away from writing just to be social. To a freelancer, this means time away from getting paid.

So I found a way to do both! I can be social AND get to visit forums and make new friends at the same time while being paid.

And of course, I still write articles on anything and everything, because they are still a vital source of income to a freelance writer.

Just don't think that writing articles should be your only source of freelance income. Branch out, try something different and watch your freelance income grow!

Avoid Revenue-Share Writing Sites

I'm an active member of many writing forums, ezines, sites and communities. The reason I visit these so often is because I'm willing to keep learning more about being a freelancer so I can progress and keep improving my writing skills.

After all I'm a freelance writer, so why wouldn't I want to keep improving? Improved skill plus more knowledge of the markets and what editors require equates to me earning more money in the long run - right?

But one thing I've learned by being an active member of so many writing sites is that there is a growing number of people willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel and only work on the lowest-of-the-low payment scale - Revenue-Share sites.

These are sites like Helium, Triond and the like, which expect writers to contribute to their "articles" in order to receive a couple of cents of the shared revenue generated by that article.

What an absolute rip-off. No wonder so many new writers feel as though it's impossible to make any real money through writing!

Let's be honest - if you were an accountant or a shop keeper, would you put in all the work and then hope someone paid you maybe at some point in the distant future at a rate of a few cents per day? You and I both know you wouldn't - so why should a freelance writer be any different?

The answer is: they shouldn't.

If you do the work, you deserve to get paid. If they don't offer upfront pay for your time and effort - find somewhere else to submit your writing. Easy.

There are so many legitimate freelance writing sites out there willing to help and point new writers in the right direction, so why be fooled by these sites offering pittance in return for your precious time and skills?

Avoid them. You can do better - and so can your writing career.

Boost Your Foreign Writing Income

In an earlier post, I pointed out that I like to keep my income flowing in several different currencies. One of the places I frequent to keep my UK pounds income up is the PeazyShop.

Here's a quick run down of how they work:

Basically, PeazyShop will pay 10p for each useful forum post you make in their specified topics. The topics change fairly frequently, so there's plenty of variety to write about.

On top of basic forum-posting, they'll also pay 40p per shopping review and 20p for posting about any bargains you might have found online.

They don't sound like large amounts of money, but remember you're being paid in GBP (UK pounds sterling), so once the money hits your PayPal account, the exchange rate will show you a much nicer sum of money than you thought you were getting.

Here's an example:

Let's say you wrote 25 posts @ 10p per post = ₤2.50
Then you submitted three shopping reviews @ 40p each = ₤1.20
And you post about four great bargain sites you found = ₤0.80

You've got a total of ₤4.50 - but if you convert it to US dollars, it's $8.93

Of course, I could also change it to Australian dollars (because that's where I am) and my little ₤4.50 becomes $9.88

(well, that's what the rates are today - they will change from day to day depending on the exchange rate)

Not bad extra cash for 30 minutes of quick, easy work each day before getting into work on a longer, more involved article or three!

If you'd like to earn a bit of extra money and boost your foreign currency income a bit, give PeazyShop a go. They're a lot of fun!

Increase Your Writing Income

Ways to increase your writing income don't always mean writing and selling more stuff. There are plenty of other options available for increasing your writing income. You just need to know where to look - and how to add it up.

What I mean by this is many writers are benefiting from the global sweep of the internet so that they might be earning incomes in varying currencies from different writing sales in different countries.

For example: if you live in the USA and write an article for sale in the UK, then you're likely to be paid in GBP (British pounds). This means you might have to pay a foreign exchange fee at your bank to change that check into US dollars, which would reduce your income.

The easy way out is to request payment via PayPal in US dollars. Paypal handle the conversions for you so you're already receiving US dollars straight away. Most people willing to hire and pay writers internationally are willing to use PayPal for the ease and convenience of currency exchange.

So… even though it's easy, is it really the best option for your income in the long run?

First - sign up for the PayPal Money Market. This gives you the option of investing any funds you have in your account and earning some interest on it while it's just sitting there. You can still access your money at any time - but a few dollars interest earned is one less article you need to write to make that money!

Next - Inside your PayPal account, you have the option of retaining your funds in several different currencies at any time. I usually maintain balances across three currencies most of the time.

Let's say my account looks like this:

USD $50 = USD $50
GBP ₤35 = USD $70
EUR €40 = USD $60

You'll notice that the currencies inside your PayPal account should have an automatic currency conversion listed beside your amounts. This is where I keep track of when and what to withdraw from my account.

For example: I might have only earned a tiny ₤35 (that doesn't sound like much, does it?) but it's really the same as getting $70 US in my account because the money is worth different amounts. This amount could vary from day-to-day because of the "exchange rate" - which means one day your money could be worth US$70 and the next day it could increase to US$75 or it could even drop to US$65. It all depends on the exchange rate on that day.

Obviously, if you watch your exchange rates every time you log in, you'll start to notice when you're earning more than you were paid and when your cash is worth less than you earned.

Are you still with me?

It's worth just watching your account some days to see what differences in your balances look like to get an idea when is a good time to cash out and when is a good time to leave money in PayPal to either collect interest or just wait until the exchange is in your favor.

Every extra few dollars adds up - and it's your income we're talking about here!

Get Paid to Review my Posts

You're reading my blog posts right now, yes? Wouldn't you like to get paid for doing what you're already doing right now?


Yes, PayPerPost really do want people to review blog posts!


Basically, PayPerPost are offering payment for anyone wanting to review blog posts. Simply sign up (It's free) and review the blog posts you're reading. Imagine reading three or four blogs a day, reviewing the posts you read there and receiving cash for what you already do?


You don't have to just review my stuff either - you can review whatever you prefer to read! PayPerPost have lists of thousands of blogs to choose from, so select the topics that interest you and review how well that blogger has done with each post - and you get paid! What could be easier?


Give PayPerPost and their Review My Post system a go. The extra cash adds up really quickly!

Income from Writing Articles

The biggest source of online income for me is writing and submitting articles.

I have made sales all over the world and had work translated into 4 languages over the past eight years. I've even won awards for my work. The most exciting part about writing is that you get to say anything you want to say- and get paid to say it!

The research part of writing is actually quite fun, once you get used to it. There are many, many websites that list writer's markets for free. These market listings are actual calls for submissions from publishers wanting to pay you for your articles and stories.

Before I got to the point of having editors contact me directly for work, I registered at a couple of freelance work sites. Some were pointless. Others were great. GoFreelance was one of the better ones that made sure I had plenty of work all the time.

This is what truly got my online writing income up and running so that I could quit my job and focus on writing more!

GoFreelance was the first place I signed up with. They taught me the benefits of working to a deadline and researching my topic content properly before submitting. They also taught me the value of spell-checking my work before submitting it to anyone so that my articles looks more professional.

If you're looking at launching a freelance writing career and writing articles from home, give GoFreelance a go!

Paid to Write In Forums

Edit: Forum Booster don't pay their writers. Here is a list of paid forum posting companies who DO pay their writers. http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/12/paid-forum-posting-jobs.html

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In my travels over the internet, I learned a very interesting and very fun fact... I can get paid to post in other people's forums! I mean what could be a better job for me? I'm someone who loves to write and just loves to meet new people.

A friend told me about ForumBooster, which is the place that pays me to post in forums, so I thought I'd sign up and give it a try.

I've been working with ForumBooster for a couple of weeks now and I've really started to rack up the earnings! Basically, they provide you with several forum-assignments at a time (I have 22 forums on my assignment list right now) and you post on whichever you feel like whenever you can. They add up all the posts from all the forums and pay you every week!

I thought it would only ever come to a couple of extra dollars for my little writing business, but once you get on a roll with the conversations you find yourself writing more and more without even knowing you're doing it - and you're getting paid for it.

That's not even the best bit! I'm even getting to like some of the people I've met on some of these forums that I might not have ever met before. They're really kind of fun.

If you want to earn some extra dollars from your writing, give ForumBooster a try. They're really nice guys to work with!

Associated Content Don't Pay Non-US Writers

I am really offended today. A lot of my writer friends write for Associated Content. They receive a small upfront payment for articles and the rest is accumulated from revenue-share. Unless you're not in the US. Then you get no up-front payment and ridiculously low share of revenue.

Isn't this just a form of discrimination against Non-US freelance writers?

Apparently the content site, Associated Content, will accept articles from any writer anywhere in the world - but for tax reasons they won't pay the upfront payments to anyone who lives outside the US. Non-US writers are only eligible for the miniscule "pay-per-view" amounts (I think it's something stupidly pathetic like $1.50 per 1,000 page views).

Now, if they're not going to pay for work submitted by non-US writers, then why on earth are they encouraging submissions from international writers in the first place?

More to the point - when is another freelance writing company going to give Non-US freelance writers a fair break at earning an income from our writing efforts?

If you're NOT from the US, then perhaps you might like to look elsewhere than Associated Content to create your writing income?

That is - until they start paying us the same way they pay them.

Now I have my rant out of the way about non-US writers - I'll begin my tirade on Associated Content in earnest.

I'll put it as plainly as I can for you: If you join AC you'll never be a full time freelance writer.

Simple enough?

They might promise you a tiny upfront payment and a miniscule share of the revenue they might maybe perhaps raise from your article - but is that enough? After all, you're the person who sat down and wrote the article. You worked and typed and checked and uploaded.

And you're given a few measly cents for your hard work.

So what do Associated Content get in return for paying you a pathetic couple of cents? They get increased page views, higher page ranking in the search engines, more content to use for keyword optimization - and WAY more revenue than they bother to pay you.

Hmmm.... sounds like a one-sided relationship to me. You have better options, writer!

This post definitely goes in the Writing Jobs to Avoid bin.

Enough said.


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