When most people think of writers, they think of fiction writers struggling to produce great novels. With the exception of the few writers who appear on best-seller lists, many more writers make a living at various types of business, technical, and nonfiction writing than at any other writing job. So here are 22 ways to make money as a writer.
technical writing
Technical writing is great for writers who have good technical skills. Technical writers these days are usually software documentation writers, but many are writers documenting hardware (anything from washing machines to aircraft carriers), medical and pharmaceutical products, and other technical topics.
Of course, you need more than writing skills to be a good tech writer. You also need to be able to learn technical stuff by reading engineering papers (specifications in the software business), talking to SMEs (those are subject matter experts), and working with the actual product (unless it’s a nuclear warhead or something!). . Your goal is to gain in-depth knowledge of the product and then turn around and explain it in your document.
Technical Edition
Technical editing is related to technical writing. It is the editing of technical documents, and it requires not only editing skill, but also an understanding of the technical subject matter so that you can identify potential errors in intelligent queries to the author.
Document management
Records management is the processes and systems for managing records in an organization. It may sound dry, but in industries like pharmaceuticals, for example, it’s absolutely crucial that an organization has rigorous systems in place to track its documents through the writing, editing, and shipping process. You really don’t want your pharmaceutical company to lose the patient information sheet on someone’s individual hard drive, do you?
medical writing
Medical writing includes a variety of fields: writing about pharmaceuticals, medical products, medicine and its specialties, and others. Medical writing often, in addition to its scientific nature, requires attention to regulatory or other requirements that writers need to be aware of.
scientific writing
Scientific writing is a subset of technical writing. Probably most technical writers today work in the software industry, producing documentation for programmers or users. Science writers, however, are often a bit closer to pure research, whether they work with researchers in various fields of scientific endeavor to publish their articles, write the papers needed for regulatory approval, or perhaps grant proposals for research. scientific research.
Instructional design
Instructional design (ID for those in the know) is the design of learning. (For laymen, that’s the training design, except trainers like to focus on learners, not themselves.) It is, of course, a field in its own right, but there is a crossover, especially between technical writing and identification. The training world has moved in recent years from CBT (computer-based training) to WBT (web-based training) to e-learning (also written e-learning), e-learning and distance learning.
Usability and Interface Design
Usability for websites and software programs refers to the ability of intended users to intuitively navigate through features and accomplish whatever their mission is. Interface design is the art and science of creating usable websites and software.
nonfiction writing
If you want to publish and make money on books or magazines, nonfiction is almost always the way to go. Sure, every once in a while you read about a hit fiction like Harry Potter, but nonfiction writers tend to be much more successful than fiction writers.
Marketing Communications (Marcom)
Marketing writing—that is, writing with a marketing mindset, not marketing your own writing—is, like technical writing, one of the types of writing that allows for a regular paycheck. And some would say it suits aspiring fiction writers too, though we won’t venture any opinions on the subject!
Writing of advertising texts (Copywriting)
Writing copy is another copywriting job that actually pays regularly, just like marketing communication and technical writing. If you really want to write and get paid for it, it’s hard to beat.
Public Relations (PR) Writing
Writing PR – public relations – is the art of disseminating information to the media so they print or broadcast their copy for free (as opposed to copywriting or marketing communication). And yes, it’s also a writing job that actually pays regularly.
Proposal writing
Proposal writing is another form of persuasive writing, like marketing communication or copywriting. Perhaps the main difference is in its structure. Like everyone else, proposal writing is writing to sell, but proposal structure can be quite precise. Proposals for multi-million dollar software systems, for example, can be hundreds of pages long, with a demanding structure determined by the authors of the RFP (Request for Proposal).
Concession Deed
Grant writing is a specific form of proposal writing. Perhaps the main difference is in your audience: as we see it, proposals are mostly for businesses anyway, while grants are mostly for non-profits, for research and related activities. But we admit that the lines can be gray.
Journalism and news writing
You are in a party. Someone asks what you do. You say you are a writer. Most likely, your interlocutor thinks that you write novels. But the second option is probably that you are a journalist. Journalism, whether in print (in newspapers, magazines, trade publications), in broadcast media (TV and radio), or online, is really about getting the story and telling it well. And while most journalists aren’t rich, journalism is one of those writing jobs that actually pays on a regular basis.
sports writing
For a lot of people, a sportswriter is someone like Oscar in the odd couple – lovely but messy. There are certainly sports journalists like this, although the ones we know are not. What people who write about sports have in common, of course, is a love of sports and a love of writing.
travel literature
If you love to travel and you love to write, what could be better than writing about travel and getting paid as a travel writer? Visit Far Away Places or Write About Your Own Place – People love to read about places they’ve been and places they haven’t, so there’s a market for your travel writing.
writing biographies
Perhaps the best stories are true stories from people’s lives, that is, biographies. Biographies used to be just about famous people, but these days it seems like more and more people of diverse backgrounds deserve biographies, and someone has to write those books.
Translating
To write a book, it is necessary to have an idea and be able to transmit it. To translate, you need to understand someone else’s ideas in one language and be able to convey them to other people in another language. Translating means (discreetly) entering the mind of the author and the reader. Translators are also interpreters, because they translate the author’s ideas, not just the words. If you are good at understanding what other people mean and if you have the necessary skills in both the source language and, more importantly, the target language, you could be a good translator. Of course, you also have to be a good writer before you can be a translator.
MagazineWriting
So you want to be a writer? A good way to start is by writing magazine articles. This is true whether your goal is to be a freelance writer, and it’s also true if you’re a writer of virtually any other type: there’s nothing like having “clips” (published articles) to bolster your writing portfolio (even if they’re in the Left Handed Bowling Techniques Magazine).
Of course, one of the great things about magazine writing is that there are plenty of magazines that are paying markets for writers. Another is that most magazine writing is freelance, allowing you to write on your own time. There are staff writing jobs at larger magazines, and even small publications have part-time editors.
newsletter writing
Newsletters have been around for a long time, and writing newsletters (or writing for newsletters) can be a good way for writers with a message to earn some money. Newsletters, whether print or electronic, generally have a very strict thematic focus and each issue is relatively short.
independent writing
Freelance writers don’t get rich quick. However, and this is good enough, you can earn a good income if you identify niche markets that work for you. You can also supplement your income with the occasional freelance article. And if you have a day job, there’s nothing like having published articles, or even books, on your resume to show you’re an expert in your field. Finally, freelance writing can get you a job as a journalist.
There’s another kind of freelance writing besides the common notion of a wordsmith toiling away at night in a puff of cigarette smoke or whatever. Many writers make a very decent living as technical, business, or advertising writers, moving from one contract to another. And yes, some of them also write fiction at night.
self-published
In the old days, self-publishing meant you couldn’t find a real publisher to take your manuscript. While that may still be true in some cases, times have changed. For some, self-publishing is a way to earn money. This is especially true when you know the precise market niche your book will fill, and it makes economic sense for you to be an author and self-publisher. Self-publishing is also an option when you have a pet project on a very specific topic that may not deserve the attention of a commercial publisher, but will interest enough people for you to try self-publishing.
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These 22 ideas can help you make money as a writer, whether you dream of publishing a novel one day or just love getting paid to write.