8 money-making tips for writers

[The Writer’ s Life]( April 29, 2019 Hi {NAME}, Someone started a recent Twitter trend by asking what five jobs people have had … While some listed a series of diverse jobs (like mall Easter Bunny to lawyer), many had five jobs all within a single field, like teaching or finance. Of course, many talked about jobs where they felt stuck or unsatisfied. Too bad their most recent entry wasn't writer! Legendary Bob Bly thinks being a freelance writer is one of the best jobs you can have for making money doing what you want. Bob would certainly know! He has been writing for a living for 40 years now, and he's earned in the high six-figures for the vast majority of that time. Today, he's here to share eight money-making strategies you can use to start making more money as a writer. I'm thrilled I get to see Bob in just 15 days at our annual [Copywriting Bootcamp](. I've never spent a minute with Bob without a laugh and a lesson I could implement in my copy right away. Although usually it's more like four or five … Along with being one of the greatest copywriters of our time, he's a natural born teacher. If you're not able to join us in Delray Beach, you can still learn from Bob too … We're going to livestream the entire Bootcamp event, so you can get a front row seat — from the comfort of your own home — and not miss a thing. With the Virtual Access, you'll attend every live session … learn "how-to" from the world's most successful copywriters and marketing experts … speed through the learning curve with the same exercises and hands-on assignments … even participate in a Virtual Job Fair to land paying projects. Bob Bly and Ilise Benun are even doing an exclusive client-getting session for Virtual Bootcamp attendees. (I'll share more details about that after today's article.) [Go here now for all the details about Virtual Access.]( To your success, Rebecca Matter President, AWAI Join Virtual Bootcamp 2019 to experience the Copywriting Event of the Year LIVE! You don't have to miss out on Bootcamp 2019 … We'll broadcast the entire event — LIVE from Delray Beach — so you can watch every presentation as it happens. Plus, get an all-access pass to the Online Job Fair Member Page, where you just might find your next big client. If you've ever wanted to experience Bootcamp but couldn't make the trip to Florida, this is your answer. Hurry though. Registration closes soon. [Register NOW and Save Over 60%]( 8 Money-Making Strategies to Succeed as a Freelance Writer By Bob Bly [Making Money — Table saw cutting gold dollar signs – with motion blur] Most Americans haven't heard of me or read anything I've written. I've never made the Best Seller List or talk-show circuit. Esquire hasn't run an interview with me. Taylor Swift hasn't said she's a fan of my work, and Oprah has no intention of recommending me to her book-club members. In that way, I'm a lot like most writers. Perhaps a lot like you. But there's one thing that's different. And that's the fact that, unlike the average journeyman writer, I've earned a six-figure income as a freelance writer for 34 consecutive years. I tell you this not to brag but to convince you that my advice on making more money as a freelance writer is worth paying attention to. After all, why would you listen to tips on increasing your writing income from someone who earns less than you do? Today, I want to show you how I make a more-than-respectable income from freelance writing — and more important, how you can, too. I intend to share with you methods by which ordinary freelance writers — not superstars, not literary geniuses, and not people whose work hits it big largely based on luck — can earn an income even a lawyer, dentist, or doctor might envy. Here are some methods, attitudes, and actions that can help you create a steady income as a freelance writer. You'll handle a variety of assignments — everything from case studies to web content — for corporations and small or midsize businesses, both local and national. And you'll have fun doing it, too. Okay. Here are the eight most important things I know about making great money as a writer based on 40 years in the trade. 1. Ditch the poverty mentality. When I've told people that I am a freelance writer, nearly everyone I've met — including other writers! — has assumed that I am just scraping by and must be supported by a working spouse. Sometime in the past, the cliché of a writer starving in a cold garret while banging away at his Great American Novel became a romantic image, which many writers and non-writers alike embraced. But there is nothing romantic about earning slave wages or not having enough money to pay the bills. When you earn through your writing double or triple what your next-door neighbors make in their 9-to-5 jobs, it's a wonderfully liberating feeling. Not only are you doing what you want, unlike them, but you are also getting paid handsomely to do it. My late father always told me money is unimportant, but I disagree. My colleague, writer Ted Nicholas, says there are four things required for a happy life: good health, relationships, a rewarding career, and money. Ted is right: Money is extremely important. People who don't have money and don't make much money spend an inordinate amount of time thinking and worrying about money, which distracts you from your writing. 2. Don't count on luck, because most of us never win the lottery. Lots of writers daydream about becoming the next Stephen King or J. K. Rowling. But it rarely happens. Becoming a wealthy writer by having your book zoom to the top of the Best Seller Lists is like playing the lottery. Yes, it can make you rich. But the chances of your winning are about on par with the chance that Jupiter will crash into the sun today. A more sensible strategy for writers who want to earn above-average writing incomes is to think of freelance writing as a business, not as a game or as a lottery. The average person desiring a financially comfortable life does not, if she is intelligent, make buying lottery tickets her job or profession. Yet that is essentially what you are doing when you pin all your hopes or dreams on your unpublished novel or unsold screenplay, without having something to fall back upon. The realistic person aspiring to material wealth and comfort has a plan: She either gets a well-paying job or starts a small business. In freelance copywriting, you are essentially a one-person company whose service is writing. You sell that service to a roster of clients and earn a handsome living doing so. It's regular work, and done right, it can be incredibly lucrative. 3. Have an income goal and a plan for achieving it. Your income goal should not be vague — "to be rich" or "to make a lot of money." You should have a specific dollar figure as your target annual income. How much should that target figure be? Something that you can realistically hope to attain in a few years — high enough to be ambitious but not so high as to be discouraging. Figure out how much money you need to live comfortably and make double that amount a starting point for setting your income goal. If your expenses are $45,000 a year, your writing business should gross at least $90,000 annually. That's an extremely ambitious goal for traditional freelance writers, but a modest and achievable goal for freelance copywriters. The jobsite Indeed recently stated the average freelance writer salary is $28.77 per hour yet trained copywriters can earn much more. (Check [AWAI's annual Pricing Guide]( for professional fees.) 4. Become obsessive about your personal productivity. Dentists have a saying: If you're not drilling and filling, you're not billing. Dentists, highly paid though they may be, are hourly laborers who only get money when they are working with clients. With the exception of royalties and other passive income (I'll get to that next), we writers, like dentists, are also laborers who get paid only when we work. Therefore, the more writing you do for your clients, the more money you earn (assuming a consistent level of quality in your work). Top-earning writers, with rare exception, got that way because they use their time to maximum advantage. Double your output, and you can double your income. 5. Generate passive income. Writing is labor-intensive, and when you are a freelancer, you are the one laboring. To reduce your workload to a reasonable level while maintaining a high income is more easily attained when you have some passive income. Passive income is money you earn from something you have already written, not by writing more. For writers, sources of passive income can include book royalties, performance-based incentives, such as royalties (e.g., a percentage of the increased sales the client realizes from your marketing campaign) or product sales (e.g., writing and selling e-books online), or affiliate marketing via a Money-Making Website. I've made a substantial passive income from writing e-books. 6. Know something and become known for knowing it. The late Paul Sarnoff, a prolific book and newsletter writer specializing in gold, once told me that if you have specialized knowledge you will never go broke. Too many writers know only about writing. Your earnings will improve if you also master a subject, niche, industry, or technology to write about. Beginning writers ask me whether they should study journalism, English literature, or communications in college. I suggest they study geology, economics, biochemistry, or another subject they can make a profitable living writing about for business clients. For instance, a degree in biochemistry and deep knowledge of the field can help make you an in-demand freelance writer for pharmaceuticals, an extremely lucrative and large business writing niche. If you have work experience in a specific field, you can leverage that background as a freelance writer. Your knowledge of the industry, jargon, and competitive market will make you valuable to prospective clients. You can also find a specialty where you can focus your energy and build a solid reputation as a go-to writer. Gordon Graham is known as "That White Paper Guy." Nick Usborne is internationally recognized as a Web specialist. Heather Lloyd-Martin is a pioneer in Search Engine Optimization. Do consistent work and you will become known for it. 7. Let lucrative writing pursuits finance literary ones. It seems that, unfortunately, the fun and easy writing projects are mostly low-pay or no-pay; while the difficult and sometimes challenging writing projects are the ones that pay the highest rates. If all you do is the low-paying, "fun" projects, your writing income will remain modest. My suggestion is a balance. Do some writing for clients to pay the bills. Use the money from these jobs to support your avocation of writing plays, poems, short stories, or novels. My rule of thumb is an 80-to-20 ratio of business freelancing to literary writing, because it keeps your writing fresh and your finances flush. 8. Have fun every day. There are many professions more lucrative than freelance writing. For instance, many freelance writers consider $100,000 a year as the goal to strive for, the dollar figure that means they are really making it as a writer. But on Wall Street, a stockbroker who earns $100,000 a year in commission is nothing special, and is likely at the bottom of his office in terms of production. I never tell people to go into freelance writing as a way to make big money. If money is of primary importance to you, and you don't much care what you do to earn it, then be an orthodontist, investment banker, accountant, or attorney. But for some of us, we can't imagine doing anything else except writing. The problem is that some traditional freelance writing — articles and books — usually doesn't pay very well. By freelancing for business clients, you can have the best of both worlds. You can spend your day writing, and you can get paid handsomely for doing it. Okay. These eight suggestions lay a broad framework for doubling or tripling your freelance-writing income this year. Whether your goal is to quit your day job and become a full-time freelancer or just make a nice spare-time income to pay for that new boat or vacation home, copywriting will help you increase your revenues this year. Do you have any questions about getting a start in this business? Share with us in the comments [here](. Countdown to Bootcamp — 15 Days to Go! Special Session for Virtual Bootcamp Members: How to Get Great Copywriting Clients in 2019, with Bob Bly and Ilise Benun Bob Bly Ilise Benun During our livestream of AWAI's Bootcamp happening May 14-17, "America's Top Copywriter" Bob Bly and Marketing Mentor Ilise Benun will be hosting an exclusive session for Virtual Bootcamp attendees. In "How to Get Great Copywriting Clients in 2019," Virtual Bootcamp attendees will discover: - The best way to get new clients on LinkedIn (Hint: it's NOT what you think) … - How to attract new clients by getting people to know and like you — without leaving your office … - The secret of turning networking from idle chatter into a business-building powerhouse … - The slow demise of the sales brochure and what to use instead — and why … - How to prevent "sticker shock" when quoting your fees … - And more! Virtual attendees will even have the chance to ask questions on the spot. Didn't quite catch something or want to make sure you understood correctly? Just ask Bob or Ilise during this live session. Plus, the private Virtual Bootcamp Facebook group page is there to support virtual participants during the entire Bootcamp. Attendees can stop by the page anytime to discuss Bootcamp presentations … share takeaways … ask questions of the experts in Delray Beach … find an accountability buddy … or form a local meetup. If you want to be a part of Bootcamp and see every presentation, including this exclusive session with Bob and Ilise — all from the comfort of home — join us via Virtual Access. You'll enjoy the benefits of Bootcamp and camaraderie of fellow AWAI members without having to travel. You don't need to be in the Ballroom to completely change your life. [Sign up for Virtual Access today!]( Save 77% on Barefoot Writer Magazine Every month, Barefoot Writer brings you over 40 pages of motivation, inspiration, and insight into living your best possible life as a writer. You'll see how to get paid well, reach your writing goals, and have more time for your personal life, too. And for a limited time, you can get 12 months of Barefoot Writer for just $11 — a savings of $38! 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