Profit From Writing

If you’re passionate about writing and want to make it your career, you need to be resourceful, professional, determined and self-motivated to succeed. Writing for a living isn’t easy and unless you’ve already landed a five figure book deal for your latest novel, you need to be as creative in generating income as you are with your words.

To help you profit from writing, here are a few opportunities to explore:

Write Greetings Card Verses

Greetings card companies often seek original verse or prose for their range of cards. If you have a forte for writing short humorous or meaningful passages, this could provide a successful opening for you.

My tips: Take a look at the verses in greetings cards to study their style. Create a few sample verses. Note the name of the greetings card publisher and contact them for their current requirements.

Writing for Magazines
This is the starting point for many freelance writers who want to be published and paid. Magazines require good content and many editors still rely on freelance writers to provide it. Although the market is competitive, if you can produce well-researched, original articles to suit the magazine’s style and readership, you’ll have a greater chance of winning a commission.

My tips: Focus on writing about what you know, drawing upon any specialist knowledge or interests. Use the Internet to study publications all over the world to increase your markets.

Create Copy for the Business Sector

One of the more lucrative writing opportunities is copywriting for businesses and public sector organisations. If your writing is concise, clear and fresh, you’ll find there is a market for your services producing leaflets, guides, press releases, advertising copy and web content.

My tips: Produce a portfolio of your work to show the diversity of your skills. Attend a business network event to market your services.

Take a Staff Writing Job

Freelance writing is great but if you prefer the relative security of a regular income and the warmth and vitality of a creative office environment, you might consider applying for a staff based writing position. Many opportunities exist for journalists, copywriters, web content writers, editors and feature writers. Recently, a major company even required the services of a dedicated letter writer! The skills of a quality writer are in demand and you’ll find that most salaries reflect this.

My tips: Spend time writing a professional CV and produce some sample writing. First impressions count!

Become a Ghost-writer!

Some writers make a reasonable living ghost-writing other people’s life stories. You can receive payment on a work-for-hire basis or on a royalty share agreement. If you enjoy interviewing people and writing at length, this will have great appeal.

My tips: Speak to other ghost-writers and research the book publishing field so that you gain a reasonable working knowledge of the current trends.

Compile Crosswords, Puzzles and Fillers

Writing short filler material, from anecdotes to puzzles, can be quite rewarding. Many publications feature a regular crossword to entertain their readers. Although considered to be quite a closed-market, it is worth approaching publications with ideas or samples for consideration.

My tips: Research your markets carefully. Target new publications where there may be openings. Offer fillers and puzzles relevant to the target readership.

Expand Your Range of Services

Some writers find it easy spotting typos or English grammar mistakes. If you’re one of them, consider taking a course in editing or proofreading to expand on your range of wordsmith services! There is often a decent demand for these services so it will provide an additional source of revenue.

My tips: Take a course and gain a qualification. Contact publishing companies as many now use the services of freelance copy editors and proofreaders.

Self-Publish

If you have specialist knowledge, consider writing and self-publishing a book or a series of guides or newsletters! With the right topic and good marketing, you can build a niche publication. For example, some authors have turned their hobby of walking into providing guidebooks and newsletters on local walks. You could do something similar, whether your interest is sewing, cycling, cooking or woodworking.

My tips: try print-on-demand publishing or publishing electronically to keep costs down while you’re building your publishing venture.

Good luck in your career as a writer! With the right approach, you’ll find there are many opportunities to become a successful wordsmith.

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Your First Steps To Becoming A Writer

What's the first step to becoming a writer? You'd think it would be "write", but it's not. In speaking to other writers and from what I know of my own journey to becoming a writer, I've come to realize that the biggest obstacle for new writers is that they don't think of themselves as writers. They have trouble developing the belief that they are writers and yet it's something you have to do. When you haven't developed that belief, that conviction, it becomes a source of sabotage--you don't value your work enough to give it the time and the space it needs. How do you come to think of yourself as a writer, especially when you're not earning a paycheck as a writer? Here are a few tips: 

What Happens When You Write? 

If you want to be a writer, I'm assuming you feel you have something to say and a strong desire to say it. You may not know how you're going to say it or in what form (poetry, novel, essay, etc.) but you know something is there. Okay, you pick up your pencil or pen or you sit down to your computer or typewriter. Write something. Whatever you write, just make sure your heart is in it. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be neat. It does have to be expressive.

Next, as painful as it may be, you have to show this writing to someone. It can be a friend, it can be a family member. Then, pay attention to what happens. Did the person reading your work cry, laugh or get angry? If so, you did that! It means you can have an effect with your writing. It's worth something. You have to keep going! 

A teenager recently wrote to me concerned because she's writing fiction and she's worried her mother will read it and get upset because she thinks it's stuff the teenager really did. On the one hand, that is a bummer to have to explain yourself to your mother, but on the other hand--wow, that means the young lady's work is believeable and effective. That kind of feedback is hard to ignore. It's powerful motivation to keep you going--if you take the time to notice and honor that it's happening. I once had a writer say to me, "I don't know if my stuff is any good. I just know that when people read it, they cry." I told her you can't get a message any clearer than that kind of response. Now she just has to listen to it. 

Cultivate Silence 

If you're having trouble thinking about what it is you have to say, it may help you to spend some time each day in silence. Some writers pray. Some meditate. The idea is to get used to clearing your brain space and tuning in to your inner voice. You'll also be more aware of those little scraps of possibility floating around in your head that can later grow into big ideas.