Online Side Hustle Series: Make Money As A Writer (Part 1)

January 4, 2019March 16, 2019 Joyce Chidiadi 8 Comments freelance writing, freelancing, make money online, work from home jobs

This is our first series on how to create extra money working from home or anywhere on your laptop or phone. Welcome to the series. Read to the end to find where to find work as a writer and how to succeed in writing.

People spend hours on their phones and computers playing games, filling free surveys. They are always available on several social media groups and pages sharing very valuable content on groups run by others. Little did they know that they can use that time to also grow their own online businesses and leverage the network of people they already have on those platforms. So here we go on how you can re-purpose your writing skills which you have been giving away for free and turn it into a money making skill.

So many people are professional writers and have created a full-time income from it. It is no denying that many people don’t see themselves as writers but they can take out time to type 2500 words long reply to comments on social media posts. They also do not break a sweat commenting or even shelling out several posts every day on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, medium, and aha! Facebook. Most times, their comments are always related to a particular topic.

Does this define you? Then stop selling yourself short. Put all that energy together and channel your beloved skill to creating contents in an organized platform like a blog or sell your skills to paying clients who do not have the time to write but are willing to pay any committed writer to do the work for them.

Table of Contents

What do you need for Freelance Writing?

In this day of gig economy and availability of remote working opportunities, it baffles me to see many people who I consider to be good writers and don’t have the knowledge of where and how they can convert their skills into money and smile to the bank with it.

At a time after I had my daughter, I stayed home with her and my only option to work and earn an income was my laptop and internet connection. I had so many limitations that stopped me from getting an actual 9 to 5 office job outside my home. With many hours and days of research, I found different avenues and platforms where I could write for a few hours a day to earn some money. I worked on my laptop for a few hours, did a little research on “Mr. Google” to understand the topics I had to write about.

My first writing gig was on Upwork where my client needed 15 articles on different kinds of insurance for his Nigerian customers even though I didn’t live in Nigeria at the time but I was able to get that gig regardless of location. Another writing project I got was for a client living in St Lucia who gave me an ongoing 6-month contract to write new content on their website. You see, you can get clients from around the world as a writer.

All you need is a laptop or your phone, good command of simple English/French/Spanish etc. language (spelling and grammar are very important), internet connection, good knowledge of how to type the right question into “Mr Google” search bar, excellent work ethics and communication skills to keep your clients up to date, discipline, and a little bit of good gray matter. You are in. Here comes the spanking new WRITER.

Types of Freelance Writing You Can Use To Earn An Income

**Photo by** **JESHOOTS.COM** on **Unsplash**

Now, writing comes in different forms. You may fit into one aspect of writing but may suck at another form of writing. There are different types of writing you can actually use to make money online. You don’t necessarily have to write a book to become one. Each of these types of writing has different requirements and format.

Article Writing
Content Writing
Technical Writing (E.g Proposal, Grant writing, etc)
Editing and Proofreading
Blogging / Blog Writing
Social Media content creation

Article Writing

An article writer will write about topics they are passionate about or niche related articles for their clients.
You can write articles on blogs, magazines, company websites, or be a columnist for a newspaper. You may specialize in topics related to finance, health, exercise, beauty, family, etc. If you get your art in this form of writing right, you can make a ton of money from it.

Content Writing

Content writers are the megaphones and marketers of a business. They write posts to convince a business audience or potential customers about the company’s products and services. The content writing is geared towards convincing customers to take an action (buy a product or service, subscribe to a service or attend an event hosted by the company).
As a content writer, you have to be good with sales pitching and understand the right words that will persuade customers and convert them into buyers. You are expected to write advertisement pitches, blog posts to explain how the company products work, etc.

Technical Writing

You know all those specialized magazines you see in your doctor’s office, in the bank, from your professional association, etc? Yep, the content in those magazines is usually written by technical writers.
Technical writers write about subjects in specialized fields like engineering, medicine, electronics, nutrition, software, finance, and so on.
As a technical writer, you must have a good knowledge of the field you are writing about. You are expected to be an expert in your field so you don’t publish deceptive information to your readers. You would need to do a lot of research on the industry to produce great and acceptable work. Is technical writing for you? Let’s see how you can make money from that in a bit. Business writing, academic writing are also types of technical writing.

Editing and Proofreading

Are you always pissed off by bad grammar, wrong spellings, misuse of tenses, lousy language structure when you see them on articles or social media posts? Do you always find yourself correcting or making fun of people on comment threads because of their wrong use of the language? Then, you should pick up a side hustle or online freelance job as a proofreader.
As a proofreader, your job will be to read and detect language errors and correct them on an article, book draft, manuscript, publication, thesis work, novel, and so on. Many people need your services because they want to publish their work in a professional way devoid of errors. So, sharpen your fingers to start your side hustle as a proofreader.

Blog Writing / Blogging

I believe many people online today know about and have visited many lots of blogs, at least, you are reading mine now. Blog writing is in the same category as content writing.
You can make an income from blogging in many different ways. Sure, it requires a significant amount of effort, grit, patience and the tenacity to believe in your efforts even when things are not working as expected.
I have explained in full details on how you can start your own blog here.
With the right amount of effort and putting the right mechanism in place, you can make a significant amount of money from your blog.

If you haven’t made up your mind to start a blog yet but what to start making money immediately from blog writing, you can also get in the game by offering blog owners your services. You write articles for them on specific blog posts.
You will have to write about the topics the clients give you. Having your own blog will give you credibility and also be your portfolio when applying for freelance writing jobs. Your blog is a resume if you are a writer because your clients will have less doubt about your skills if they can see your already existing work.

E-Book Writing

E-book writing is one of the fastest ways to create a passive income. To earn money from writing e-books, you have to write about a compelling tutorial or educational content about a certain topic such as parenting, blogging, gardening, business, sports coaching, self-development and just about anything. You can actually self-publish. Be sure to edit it professionally by outsourcing to Fiverr or Upwork for a little fee. If you don’t have the money for that, you can get a friend with good editing skills to proofread it for you and maybe pay the person a little fee. Then publish the book on Amazon Kindle. You could sell your ebook for from $5 per copy to any amount but don’t put the price too high so that you get enough purchasing customers. Once you have published, the work is done except that you need to market it. Then your passive income starts rolling in.

Other forms of writing are Social Media Writing, and Creative Writing

Where To Find Work As A Freelance Writer

There are many freelancing platforms you can ply your writing trade on. Many people believe that freelancing is now supersaturated. It is true and false. If you make your profile stand out from the crowd, build a portfolio, and complete your freelance profiles in a very professional way, you will be surprised at the number of offers you will get.

In a future post, I am going to guide you on How To New Freelancers Can Avoid Being Rejected On Freelance Platforms. This should be applied to all other freelancing platforms. Treat your profile as your resume when applying for any other type of job. Because it is a freelancing job does not mean, you have to submit a shabby profile. In the meantime, let’s talk about where you can find work.

To get your work and skills noticed, you need to market your self properly. When you sign up in any freelance or job platform, ensure you complete your profile, add every necessary information required in a professional manner. Why? Because your profile will tell clients the kind of person you are and will determine if they would hire you or not.

Sign up on:

Few Points To Note:

The sites named below have many freelancers competing for the same job. You can also find remote writing jobs on:

These platforms mostly favour people who have established portfolios and more reviews but do not be deterred by the competition.

Have a complete profile and start your bids with lower prices until you get established and have more reviews.

Write a compelling proposal for each job you bid stating why you are the best person to deliver excellent quality work.

If there are tests on the platform, take them to boost your profile.
tell your network about your freelancing work. They may connect you to potential clients. No one will know you offer writing services if you don’t broadcast it.
Word of mouth sells any product well.

Support Group For Writers To Improve

Joining a tribe or community of like-minded people in your profession will help you find solutions to problems faster. No one should be an island. You will get a lot of professional resources and advice from established writers in these forums. Some group members here may have work overflow and sometimes send jobs to other members of the forum when their hands are full.

Many writers nest here:
1. writingforums.com
2. mywritingcircle.com
3. digitalpoint.com
4. writers.net

Required Education

Education in communication, journalism, creative writing, and related discipline will give you an added advantage but you can still excel as a writer without any of the fancy education if you put a good effort and practice your writing.

However, the ability to keep learning will always keep you ahead of the pack. You may take some of these two writing courses on Udemy;

Writing Killer Content for Web and Marketing –Master the Art of Writing Online Content for eBooks, Websites, Blogs and Marketing.
Become a Freelance Copywriter, your own boss

Do you have any concerns or questions about any part of this article? Leve your comments below. Share with friends to keep the fire burning. See you in the next week series.