Now tracking 20 ways to make money through freelance writing.
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Freelance Writing Background Information
One of the easiest ways to earn a few dollars and build a passive, recurring income online is through freelance writing. Many sites will pay you initially per article you write and then will give pay you more depending on impressions on the article and revenue generated from the article’s page.
You also don’t have to be a professional writer in order to apply and make money. If you have a passion for a subject and are able to write an article containing anywhere from 300-2000 words, you’re more than eligible to make money through freelance writing.
Recommended Freelance Writing Programs
- Helium is the best website when it comes to getting paid for freelance writing. Initially, your submissions won’t receive that much money, but as you develop your profile and submit more, Helium becomes one of the highest paying websites that freelance writers can join. If you only join one website on this list, make sure it’s Helium.
- Constant Content is a bit more for the advanced freelance writer. You submit articles for purchase by those seeking content for their own websites, magazines, etc. There’s the opportunity to make a lot more money at Constant Content, but there are more rules and guidelines here. You are able to set the purchase price of your articles.
- About.com Guide isn’t always accepting guides, but if you are selected, you’ll be compensated for your knowledge.
- eHow is now paying its members to write how to guides on nearly everything.
- CyberEdit
- EditFast
- Epinions pays its members for reviews on just about anything. No experience is required. If you have an opinion and can type it up, Epinions will pay you.
- JustAnswer is hiring experts to give their qualified answers to their member’s questions.
- Manuscript Services hires native English speakers for various writing tasks. Great pay, no upfront fees.
- Proofread Now
- Review Stream operates along the same lines as Epinions: write a review, get paid.
- Squidoo is a new Web 2.0 approach to freelance writing. You create a “lens” which is just a name for a page dedicated to the topic of your choosing. You are paid if any revenue is generated from your lens.
- SunOasis
- TextBroker – Pays for articles. Higher quality articles earns you more stars and increases the amount of money you can make. A definite must-join for article writers.
- Wordfirm Inc. sometimes seeks highly qualified freelance writers, editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, and indexers. Submit your application to be considered.
- WordGigs
- WordsRU – Masters Degree required
- Writers Weekly
- Writing Assistance Inc is seeking technical writers, copywriters, and web content writers. They act as a broker between writers and businesses.
- Yahoo Contributor Network is another great program to join for freelance writing. You usually receive $3-$20 per article that you write with the opportunity to earn a share of revenue generated from more popular articles.
Hi,
I love to write, and started off as a humor blogger a year ago – no pay of course, but lots of giggles (even if they were sometimes only my own).
I wanted to give kudos to another great writing site I just signed up with in February – London Brokers. I believe it used to be under another name, but I’m not sure.
What I do know is the pay is decent, especially for freelance newbies – $4-6 plus dollars for most SEO articles of 400-500 words. You submit them through a software program that checks your work, and tells you the errors that need correcting. There’s teaching videos, newsletters that get emailed to their writers, and a LIVE chat line with professionals that are extremely helpful and want you to succeed.
They also have bonus pay assignments for those they consider to be A-list writers. It costs nothing to sign up – just taking a basic writing ability quizz first.
Although you’re allowed a maximum of only two article submissions per day at the beginning, you can request an increase whenever you want. They will approve your increase, or not, based upon your writing skills.
I know I’m leaving a lot of other good things out, I think I covered the basics.
I just wanted to let all you writers out in cyber land know about this wonderful freelance writer-friendly company that seems to really value their writers.
And once you pass your little online test, and sign up – all this can be yours! :)
PS: More great news for all us broke people – You get paid EVERY Friday through Paypal, once you’ve reached the $10 threshold. And one and 1/2 500 word articles will make you that – even if it takes two days to complete them.
Question for L. Rigdon: Could you be specific about the “certain job boards” you find the most useful? It would be a great help. Thanks.
Agnes
Ms. Blogalicious:
I am also on Examiner, and just published my first post there. I am the Milwaukee craft beer examiner. I was referred to Examiner by a person on Associated Content. She told me that, per page view, you may about one cent. That’s not bad, assuming you can build up a readership and keep publishing articles that attract attention. Oh, and if you refer anyone else, you make $50. Good luck to you, and if you’d like, let me know what your examiner title is, so I can throw a few page views your way. Thanks!
Halina
I just signed up with Examiner.com (a more dynamic version of About.com). I’ll let you all know how it goes!
Hey Everyone,
I’ve been professionally freelancing for about six months now. It’s taken me this long to develop a few regular clients, and land two ghost writing book deals.
In regards to the listed sites, I have joined some of them and others not named, and have experienced the pros and cons. Generally, most of the listed sites on this page will not charge you an upfront fee and will give you plenty of work to choose from. The downside is that many of them don’t pay above $20 per article, or it takes a lot of work to get your rating up so that your pay goes up.
If you’re writing for supplemental income, or because you just love to write, then by all means join these pages and get some money for what you already like doing. If nothing else it’s a great way to build up a portfolio and prove that you are published online at the least. If you are looking to become a professional writer, however, you will have to venture out of the safe zone of these type of web sites.
To make real money you need to check the job boards and submit out query letters for possible projects. You should also go to certain job boards to find links to magazines and newspapers actively pursuing freelance writers, and try to come up with a concept that their editors will absolutely love.
Professional freelance writing is a process that takes a while to have any positive results, but the money will be worth your time if you keep persistent.
Best of luck,
-L. Rigdon
Hi Victoria,
Thanks much for the report on eHow. I have not received any kind of upfront payment for anything that I wrote. Are you saying that you actually received instant payment for articles that you submitted? Can you provide me with the links to these articles? I have no idea why I’m not being paid, and there is nothing on the site about payment. Hmm..
I have tried the above website and have been most pleased with the results. I have written two articles and have been paid for two articles. This is not much mind you one was $1.60 for a short article and the other $4.75 for a little longer essay. There are a great deal of topics to choose from. It is also a easy website to navigate. It will not make you rich, but if you like to write it will reach folks and give you that opportunity.
Has anyone had the opportunity to try eHow? I’ve published a few eHow’s on the Web site, and have yet to see any payment, even from just basic page views….thanks!
You may want to consider taking DayTipper off of your blog- check out the following article about this Scam:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/223073/daytippercom_scam.html?page=2&cat=15#comments
Queen Blogalina:
You’re absolutely right: I work full-time, and this past year have been doing very heavy freelance writing on both Associated Content and Constant Content. I earned about $700 last year for AC, and $400 for CC. That comes out to $1100 total. Had I been writing full-time (say if I were unemployed), that would have possibly bumped up my earnings another two-fold, to say $3300. But who can live on $3300 a year? And let’s not forget that these earnings are taxable.
What I am hoping to do is to eventually crack into writing freelance for real live, paper magazines and newspapers. At that point, you can start charging per hour instead of per word. I’ve heard that a fair price for freelance writers should be at least $80/hour, given that you have to pay your own insurance, retirement, and other costs.
The bottom line is that you will never make much money via online writing, unless you actually own a Web site that publishes other freelance writers. I just view my current earnings as supplemental income. Good luck to you!
Halina
I have been freelancing since 1989 and no magazine or newspaper has ever paid me by the hour. Papers pay $100 an article on average. Magazines — national ones — may pay $1 a word.
So,do you have any concrete ideas? We shall be grateful!a legitimate website will do.
How does a writer live on $10 per article? Or even $15? If you live in the U.S. or anywhere in the western world for that matter, forget about making a decent living as a freelance writer online.
If you’re looking for supplemental income, or to promote an area of knowledge…then be my guest. Also, it you’re looking for contract work: forget about GURU and ELANCE and ODESK and all these other bullshit sites… I’ve got children to support and these sites rarely have clients willing to pay nearly what a professional writer is worth. On top of this, they’re generally stupid and demanding.
Hi Anna,
Well, I thought I’d give you an update on my Textbroker experience so far- I already sold off one article and wrote two more! I had two Direct Orders come in as soon as my first article was accepted. I am very encouraged about this site. Thanks very much for mentioning this site here!
Halina, that’s great. Thanks for the update. How much money have you made? (Hey, it’s my blog. I can ask obnoxious, nosey questions if I want to.)
For you writers who like Textbroker, you might be interested in Oboulo.com. It pays you $15 for every document you upload that they publish. Read our review to find out how to get the $15 instead of the usual $10. It’s here.
Hey Joe,i am trying out helium but do they pay per article i publish?
I’ve just signed up to Textbroker.com, per Anna Harvey’s post here. I’m suspecting the site might be like Constant Content, which has also made me some serious money. I’ll let you all know how textbroker pans out. Thanks for the tip, Anna!
FYI….DayTipper does NOT pay per tip published. You get paid only when your tip wins the monthly contest (which means only 12 tippers get paid per year!). May be worthwhile to state that in the blog.
Thought I would share this with you. I have been writing on Textbroker.com for over a month now and I really enjoy them. They constantly are reviewing articles to possibly improve your rating and amount you get paid per word. They have plenty of articles to choose from almost every day so you can make decent money with them.
Looked into eHow. You need to be a resident of the USA to qualify in their Writers Compensation Program.