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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Get Paid To Blog

Yes, you really can get paid to blog!

In an earlier post I mentioned that my freelance writing business is not my only income. I learned from a freelancing friend how to boost my business - she suggested aiming at more than one income into my business. So I decided to try and get as many streams of income into my business as possible so that I'm not always relying on just one check coming in.

Because I love to write it's only natural that I would choose to get paid to keep writing. That's when a friend got me onto PayPerPost

These guys are amazing! You really do get paid to blog about the things you love. It's all so easy! Every day there are hundreds of people willing to pay others to blog. You can pick and choose your own choice of work, which means you can do as much or as little as you like. It also means you only have to write about the bits you want to write about!

PayPerPost have a really easy to follow website, so just join up, tell them the name of your blog and start getting paid for what you're already doing!

You get to choose what subject you want to blog about, and the PayPerPost opportunities page is always packed with new blogging jobs just waiting for you to pick them up and get paid for them.

After all, if you're going to write in your blog anyway, you might as well get paid for it!

If you're looking to increase your writing income, then don't go past PayPerPost and get paid to blog!

Re-Writing: A New Bane for Freelance Writers

Re-Writing: A New Bane for Freelance Writers
by Bianca Raven

Recently, a writing friend invited me to proofread a few of the articles she'd written for a new 'freelance writing assignment' she'd landed. She was very proud to have received a paying writing job and wanted my opinion before submitting them to the publisher.

The job description as told by her was quite simple - take 20 article topics dictated by the publisher and create 20 new articles.

It sounded good so far.

I was happy to take a look over her articles for her. Each was no longer than 500 words, and each written on a topic chosen for her by the editor. I was very impressed by the level of research my friend had put into each article - especially since they varied across some broadly different niches. 20 researched articles in under a week! The girl mustn' have slept at all.

So I asked her how she squeezed so much research into such a short time. Her answer shocked and surprised me.

Basically put - she did NO research at all.

That doesn't mean she made up the information. Far from it. A few of the topics spanned my own personal niche and they were factually correct, however brief. But the information was stolen and then copied from the hard-work of another writer and 're-written' so it could pass a Copyscape.com detection.

I left that thought hanging for a moment and wondered then how much my friend was being offered for writing 20 articles on topics she knew little about in under a week.

Rather than tell me, she proudly showed me the actual listing to which she'd responded, calling for writers.

I've listed it below:

I need a writer who can rewrite articles in his/her own words while retaining the meanings of the original articles. I will provide 20 articles (containing 500-600 words each) for you to rewrite and I should retain all rights to the articles written.

In rewriting articles you will
- Provide re-written versions that must be 100% original and unique while retaining the keywords. No sentences or paragraphs in your rewritten version can be uniquely identifiable from the original version (I will check through copyscape to detect any sign of duplication for each article. Each one will pass Copyscape and DupeFree for uniqueness of 95% minimum.)

- Provide re-written articles that have 500 words or more BUT If the original article provided by me contain 600 words or more you need to rewrite to minimum 600 words.

- Re-write each article (INCLUDING article titles) in a way that its meaning is retained.

- Provide re-written versions that are grammatically correct and in standard American English and should make sense to the reader

- Article must be in Word 2000 format

- Must save the documents accordingly and DO NOTE RENAME THE FILES so I can cross reference with the original article files

Your rewritten version of articles are not allowed to be rewritten in the following manner
- changing only a word or two (e.g., substituting synonyms) and leaving the sentences still intact and recognizable from the original text;

- simply transposing whole sentences within a paragraph (e.g., putting the last sentence somewhere in the middle of the paragraph).

- using any software ( I want all of my articles to be manually rewritten)
NOTE:I'll be having more rewrites coming up. As such the maximum bid of this project is US$30

I honestly thought I'd misunderstood the listing at first. Sadly, I hadn't.

Now, I'm a big fan of Copyscape.com. You type in the URL of your own article and it searches the net for any piece of work with similar content. Over the years it's been a great way to see who is listing my work rightfully and who isn't.

Now these sharks have found a new way to get out of paying writers the professional rates required for highly researched niche topics - AND avoid the plagiarism search engines at the same time!

I promptly jumped onto the site where she'd found this listing originally and not only did I find the above listing, but I found many more just like it.

Take this gem from a completely different 'editor' for instance:

Rewrite 20 articles
What I need:
An excellent writer who is willing to rewrite 20 articles (350-400 words) that has no errors and will pass copyscape. Two days is the timeframe (10 articles submitted for checking every 24 hours).
Take note: no payment for: 1. substandard work 2. work fails to pass copyscape 3. fails to meet deadline. Budget is 30$.
I will acquire perpetual, unconditional ownership once payment is made.

Seriously? I mean you've got to be kidding me!

Or how about this little diamond:

Urgent - rewrites
I need 7 short pieces rewritten urgently. They MUST be done by a person - not rewriting software. They need to be returned within the next 12 hours. I am posting this job for a longer period, but I will award it as soon as I have a good candidate.If your first language is not English then do not bid unless you have an extremely high level of written English. My first language is English so I will know if you aren't up to the standard I ask.
I am willing to pay no more than $20 for all 7 rewrites

It's bad enough that people are asking writers to work for this kind of disgusting payment for low-down dirty work - but it's even worse that new writers all over the world are jumping at the pitiful pay-rates just to make a buck. Yes, each of these "job" listings had multiple writers bidding to gain the work.

They may call it "re-writing", but let's be honest: it's the lowest form of theft dressed up and resold to the lowest bidder. It's outright plagiarism to steal another writer's work. What hope is there for professional freelance writers around the world when this kind of activity is not only rampant, it's growing at an alarming rate!

Let's get the word out to serious writers everywhere to help newer writers avoid "opportunities" like this like the plague.

How I've Set Up My Writing Business

I've been making a good income by writing online for a few years now, so I thought I'd get this blog going so I could show others what I've been doing to pay the bills instead of going to work at a regular job.

Most of the things I do online are things most people do every day. I surf around on the net, I check my emails. I visit forums and I chat to friends. I write what I feel like writing - stories, articles, recipes, blogs, jokes - whatever I feel like and whenever I'm in the mood.

The difference is, I get paid to do these things. I sit at home every day and surf the net. If I can't sleep at night, I'll get out my laptop and write something. When I'm bored, I'll go to the beach or walk my dog or watch TV for a while. What a difficult day, huh?

Don't think I do nothing though! Far from it.

My little home-enterprise is actually my business and I treat it just like I would treat any other business. I'm good to my clients, I get my work done on time and I keep the books neat and balanced every month. I promote my services and I actively seek out new clients who will pay me to write more.

The main thing I learned about running a home-business over the years is that it's really important never to put all your eggs into one basket (this is called "broadening your debtor base"). In basic terms, it means trying to get as many streams of income into the business as possible so that if something goes wrong with one stream, you always have some cash coming into your little business from one of the other streams you've set up along the way.

I'll keep updating my blog with each of the things I'm doing to earn my income online and keep increasing it. I hope you can find some things that interest you too so that you can work on your writing career from home as well.

Remember - what suits one person won't always suit another, so keep in mind that these are just the things I've been doing. You might not like all the options I've chosen and that's fine. You're free to pick and choose what bits you like and what bits you don't.

What's most important to remember is that I don't go to WORK every day in an office for someone else! I'm enjoying being my own boss at home while I earn a comfortable living from my own sofa.

What are you doing? ;)

Raven's Freelance Writing Life

Well I did it! I've gone and created a blog and now I have no idea what to say. I mean seriously - I'm a writer and it's my job to express feelings and thoughts into words, but I'm truly speechless right now.

What does one say to a blog with no visitors yet?

Anyway - I'm Raven. I'm a writer. I've been writing for a long time now and it's how I make my income. Of course, I'd love a pay-rise so I'm working hard on writing more and selling more of my words to various places.

I've put a few of my favorite writing links (in alphabetical order) in the links section on this page. Some writing sites are filled with so much great information - and others... well they're just crap. Either they're trying to sell me something or they're telling me nothing that isn't directly copied from the good sites.

I guess as I learn to increase my writing income and finally get my pay-rise, I'll keep you all updated. I'd love it if you came to visit me on my journey and offer me some encouragement!

Thanks for reading!