If you have an unstoppable imagination and the talent to jot down your imagination into words, then you are blessed with an amazing gift. Creative writing is a special gift that is not granted to all. Even though some of you may find it fun, exciting, and easy, but for others, it takes a lot of brain work and time.
If you are one of those passionate writers with the skills to write amazing stories and out-of-the-box scenarios why not put it to use? To know how you can make money as a creative writer read our article! We have discussed plenty of ways you can prove your worth as a creative writer to the world,
How to Make Money as a Writer
1. Become a Magazine Writer
Many of us grew up reading magazines. When was the last time you came across an article and you felt you could have written a better creative article? No matter how beautiful an article is, if it does not have the creative content you are looking for, it will not satisfy you.
If you think you have the skills to write articles in a magazine then join as a freelance journalist or as a remote writer at any company. Nowadays, many companies hire freelance creative writer. You will either get paid in terms of word count or per 1000 words. Or you can also join a popular magazine as a writer,
2. Work as Freelance Content Writer
Have you heard of Fiver, Upwork, or People per hour? These are popular freelancing sites where you can work as a freelance content writer. You can create profiles on these sites as a writer. People looking for writers will reach out to you for a task. Since these sites are strictly professional there’s scope for people to rob off your money.
Hundreds of freelance content writers have earned a lot of money from these sites. If you are a newbie. We suggest you start with Fiver, as it’s the most user-friendly freelancing site connecting freelancers and their respective clients.
3. Enter Competitions and Try to Win
There are several writing competitions hosted every year which offer at most half a million pounds as price money. Starting from the young writer’s competition, the Commonwealth competition and such offers a handsome amount of prize money for the top three winners.
However, if you are looking for a monthly income why not enter the Writing Magazine competition? All you do is write an excellent story and get it published. This would be an easy achievement and help you monetize your writing skills.
How to Make Money Out of Creative Writing
Creative writing covers different styles of writing. Creative writing is not only limited to stories, but includes poetry, science fiction, advertisement writing, and script-writing. It also includes speech, personal essays, and many more. You can use your creative writing for educational, entertainment, or other purposes and earn money.
There are plenty of sites from where you can make money out of your creative writing.
1. Poets & Writers
Poets and writers is an online magazine where writers can share their writings and interact with each other. This site has plenty of jobs for young writers who are looking to make money out of creative writing. There are other job posts available too such as editor, designer, etc.
2. Writing Bunny
Writing bunny is a popular site that offers jobs to writers of different skill levels. You need to open your account on their website. They will ask you to pass a writing skill test and check if you are eligible. If you pass the test you can set your payment rates in your profile and let people hire you.
3. Sports Networker
Sports Networker is a writing site that hires skilled writers. If you have research skills with a good typing speed you can apply here. If you have previously worked in WordPress and have SEO experience it will be a bonus. It is a commission-based site, where you can earn 20% commission from your content based on its sales.
4. Contentor
The Contentor is another website where you can apply as a writer. If you are a good creative writer and great with translations you will be hired easily. They pay their employees through PayPal or Payoneer so even if you are a remote writer, you will get your monthly payment.
How to Make Money as An Author
An author’s money depends on the number of sales. Normally, most authors receive an advance payment and royalties that can extend up to 10% to 20%. For instance, if you sell a copy of your novel for $25 you will need to sell about 4000 or more copies to get a payment of $5000. However, if you get popular some publishing companies may pay to be on an hourly basis just like author Mack Collier.
Do you know Mack Collier, the writer of the book “Think Like a Rock Star” earns $15.63 per hour? He worked 25 hours every week in 9 months to release his book, which is on the best sellers list.
So even if you are just a beginner do not worry! As a new author, you will need to find an agent who will be responsible for selling your book. Agents do not charge from authors; they derive their profit after the book is sold.
How to Make Money by Writing About What You Love
If you think your write-ups will only end up in your desk or at most your college yearbook, then think again!
1. The Sun
The Sun is an ad-free magazine. It has won many prestigious awards and pays $250 to $2000 for creative write-ups. You can be a novelist, a short story-teller, a poet, or a comic, if your work is good enough The Sun will hire you. If you love writing and can use your writing to connect to people on an intimate level, you will get a permanent position here.
2. Slice Magazine
The Slice Magazine is a platform for aspiring writers to make their mark in the literary world. Slice Magazine has a specific theme every month, so keep an eye on their website and drop a CV along with a write-up. They pay $400 to $500 to their writers.
3. The Threepenny Review
If you love wiring critical articles, memoirs, short stories, or poems, try submitting your work at the Threepenny Review. They will value your work and pay you a good amount of money. Usually, they pay $400 to story or article writers and $200 for every selected poem. The best thing about them is that they take submission all year round. So do not miss this opportunity!
4. Virginia Quarterly Review
The Virginia Quarterly Review magazine calls itself the national journal of Literature. So no matter what topic or issue you love writing about, you will find an outlet about it here. Apart from famous writers like Robert Frost and Eleanor Roosevelt they also take submissions from newbie writers.
The short fan fiction stories need to be within 3000 to 8000 words, non-fiction from 3000 to 9000 words. Poems do not have any fixed word limit. They pay $200 for every poem. As for stories or fan fiction, they will pay $.0.25 for every word.
How to Make Money Writing Fanfiction
1. Wattpad
Wattpad is our go-to site for reading all sorts of fan fiction. Did you know in 2019 Wattpad launched its Paid Stories Programme? Now you can both read and publish your fanfictions on Wattpad. You need to email your fan fiction to Wattpad Stars Programme, if it gets selected Wattpad will notify you. To get selected your stories need to be within 50,000 words. Once it gets selected you will also have the legal right to copywriting it. Wattpad generally pays writers starting from $1000 to $2000
2. Kindle Worlds
If you want to get paid for your fan fiction story and face absolutely no issues with copyright policies send them to Amazon’s Kindle Worlds. Amazon Kindle World has about 86 fandoms that are fully licensed. This means if you belong to any of the 86 fandoms you have the right to publish from any of them licensed universes.
For instance, if you want to publish your fan fiction of the Vampire Diaries or The Twilight Saga, by being a part of the fandom in Kindle, you certainly can! However, you need to keep few guidelines in mind. You need to self-post your fan fiction using the submission portal.
Final Thoughts
Do not try to hide your creative writing talents from the world. There are many ways how you can make money by creative writing. Who knows, if your writing is good enough you might get approached by a publication agency too.