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Do you love to write but think you can’t make money as a writer? I’m delighted to be the bearer of good news: there are lots of different types of writing jobs and many of them are quite lucrative!
There has always been the belief that all writers are broke, but that’s really not the case anymore thanks to the internet and the rise of self-publishing.
You don’t need to wait until you get an agent and a publishing contract. You don’t have to rely on getting published in a print newspaper or magazine. Although those options still exist. Instead, you can take control of your own career by self-publishing your books, working as a freelance writer for online publications that publish regularly, or starting your own blog!
In this article, I outline the highest paying writing jobs so you can find the best writing niche for you.
Table of Contents
What Types of Writing Jobs Are There?
There are at least a couple of dozen ways to make money as a writer. In this article, I’m going to focus on what I believe to be the ten most lucrative writing fields you can do online. I’m focusing on online freelance roles because I strongly believe that being your own boss is the way to go.
- Freelance Writer
- Freelance Blogger/Content Writer
- SEO Writer
- Self-Publishing Author
- Romance Writer
- Ghostwriter
- Copywriter
- Email Copywriter
- Blogger
- Editor
10 Best Types of Writing Jobs If You Want to Make Money
Let’s break them down so you can learn more about each writing niche, how much you can earn, and how to get started.
1. Freelance Writer
Freelance writers get paid to write all kinds of content for businesses, including blog posts, articles, email newsletters, white papers, case studies, reports, press releases, etc.
You can get freelance writing jobs with newspapers, magazines, brick-and-mortar businesses, online businesses and brands, startups, universities, and individuals. Not to mention other bloggers and entrepreneurs who are looking for help with growing their businesses. Anyone who has a need to create content to be published online or in print could hire a freelance writer.
You don’t need to have any specific qualifications to be a writer. All you need is a way with words and the willingness to put yourself out there to get clients.
Before you pitch potential clients, you’ll need to choose a niche and put together a writing portfolio/writing samples. Potential clients will want to get some idea of what you can do before they hire you!
Interested in getting into freelance writing? Elna Cain has a free six-day email course called Get Paid to Write. As someone who can command up to $1,200 per blog post, Elna is definitely someone you want to learn from.
2. Freelance Blogger/Content Writer
As a freelance writer, you can niche down even further and focus on one type of freelance writing: writing blog posts.
Most businesses need to have a blog to drive traffic to their website so they can get more customers and clients. This could be local businesses and brick-and-mortar shops as well as online businesses. You could even be writing for successful bloggers who have grown their blogs to the point where they can afford to pay someone else to do the heavy lifting.
The benefit of being a content writer is that businesses tend to need this type of content on a regular basis, so you can negotiate a retainer to write four or more blog posts per month. This means you’ll have a regular income and won’t need as many clients.
If freelance blogging or content writing sound like the right fit for you, but you don’t know how to get started, check out Elna Cain’s course Freelance Blogging in a Weekend. I took this course and loved it! She takes you through how to write engaging blog posts that rank well, how to research posts, and how to get clients.
Related Content: 6 Tips to Help You Improve Your Blog Writing Skills
3. SEO Writer
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the practice of optimizing your website content so that it can be found more easily by search engines and, in turn, your content will rank higher in the search rankings. There’s no point in publishing content if no one is seeing it!
Since the goal of publishing content on your website is to get traffic, writers who have a good understanding of SEO can command higher rates.
As part of your job as an SEO writer, you will need to know how to find long-tail keywords with low competition that your clients will be able to rank for and how to write content that will answer readers’ questions/solve their problems while beating out the competitions’ posts.
If you want to learn more about SEO writing, Yuwanda Black has a free course that teaches you how to become an SEO writer.
4. Self-Publishing Author
Always fancied being a writer but don’t think you’re good enough to get a publishing contract? Are you sure that’s not just your limiting beliefs talking?
These days, you don’t have to wait until you get an agent or a publishing contract. If you believe in your writing and are willing to invest your own money in getting it published (hiring an editor and proofreader, cover design, formatting, etc.), you can make your dream of being an author come true.
According to Self-Publishing School, self-published authors can make between 40% and 60% royalties on a single book sale while traditionally published authors usually make between 10% and 12% royalties.
The downside is that you’ll have to market the book yourself and that can be difficult without the clout of a publishing house’s marketing team behind you. It’s still possible though if you start collecting email subscribers and grow your social media presence. This article on the Kindlepreneur website outlines over 70 book marketing tips you can use to sell your book on Amazon.
Check out Self-Publishing School’s FREE webinar to learn more about writing and publishing your own book in 30 days.
5. Romance Writer
I want to highlight romance writing specifically because it’s possibly one of the easiest genres to make money in. Romance novels tend to be shorter, and readers of this genre read A LOT! So if you can write two or three of these shorter books a year and gain a following, you can make a lot of money.
The key to making money in this niche to publish frequently! It’s also a good idea to choose a popular sub genre within the romance genre and stick to it to grow your readership.
Yuwanda Black has written and self-published over sixty romance novels, so she’s cracked the code on how to write books that will sell on Amazon. She has a free romance writing webinar if you want to learn more!
6. Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is someone who writes content for another person and doesn’t get a byline. The credit goes to the person or business that hired the ghostwriter.
As a ghostwriter, you can write blog posts, articles, emails, and books. Celebrities, influencers, and politicians often hire ghostwriters to write their books for them. They have the exciting content but not necessarily the skills to write a book.
The drawback of being a ghostwriter is that you can’t include these pieces in your portfolio because your name isn’t on them. However, you can charge more for ghostwriting to make up for this.
Book projects in particular can be lucrative. You can earn as much as $35K per book depending on the length and complexity of the book, the level of existing content, and the timeline! However, it can be time-consuming to research and write a book so don’t forget to factor that in.
Nick Pavlidis grew his ghostwriting business to the point where he was able to quit his full-time job as a lawyer within just ten months of starting as a ghostwriter. He’s ghostwritten several books that have appeared on the bestseller lists of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the LA Times, and Amazon. He also helps aspiring ghostwriters learn how to ghostwrite and how to get clients with his Ghostwriter School.
7. Copywriter
Copywriters write sales and promotional copy for businesses with the aim of encouraging customers and clients to buy something or sign up for a service.
They usually write persuasive and engaging copy for sales pages, landing pages, and email sales funnels. They know what pain points to hit and how to present the company as the best solution to these pain points. It’s all about using the psychology of marketing to convince people to buy things without coming across as overly salesy.
Storytelling forms a big part of copywriting, so if you’re a good storyteller, you might do well as a copywriter.
One drawback to writing sales copy for landing pages, for example, is that it tends to be a one-off thing. You don’t really need to update a sales page every week or month. However, many businesses have more than one product, so if they’re impressed with your work on one sales page, they may hire you for others.
If you want to improve your copywriting skills, Tina Lorenz’s Authentic Copy course will teach you everything you need to know about writing persuasive copy.
8. Email Copywriter
There’s a saying that “the money is in the list.” The email list, that is.
According to SaleCycle, “59% of respondents said that marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, while just over 50% buy from marketing emails at least once a month.”
And according to HubSpot, “73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email” and “78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.”
So as you can see email is a hugely important component of a company’s marketing strategy. But not everyone has the time to write weekly emails, and many people struggle with this kind of writing because it’s about making sales and they don’t want to come off as salesy.
That’s where email copywriters come in. Email copywriters can be hired to write weekly email newsletters, launch emails, welcome sequences, evergreen sequences, and email funnels.
Emails tend to be shorter than blog posts or sales pages, but they can still be challenging to write. It’s about finding the balance between writing engaging and helpful content vs. selling.
9. Blogger
Don’t want to write about stuff you’re not interested in or rely on anyone else for your income? What about starting your own blog?
Bloggers make money through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, ad income, and product creation.
The key to being a successful blogger is being aware of the problems your ideal reader has and answering/giving a solution to those problems in your blog posts. That’s how you get your blog posts to appear high up in search results. People type in their questions, and Google returns blog posts that answer those questions.
Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but if you’re willing to stay the course, it can be very lucrative and rewarding.
If you want to start your blog the right way, check out Suzi Whitford’s free blog plan to learn exactly how she went from $0 to $9K per month and how you can too!
10. Editor
Editing is not technically writing, but it does require a lot of the same skills and expertise. Editors need to understand what good writing is so they can help their writer clients polish their work.
And writers need editors, so it can be a lucrative side hustle for writers who need a little extra cash while they grow their writing business.
There are four main types of editing jobs you can do:
Developmental Editor
Developmental editing involves looking at big-picture issues rather than mechanical details like grammar and punctuation. Developmental editors look at plot, flow, tense, structure, characterization, pace, and point of view. They confirm whether the overall argument or story is sound, complete, and structured correctly, explaining the problems and giving advice on how to fix them.
Line Editor
A line editor smoothes sentences to improve flow, sense, and style. Line editors look at the content at the paragraph and sentence level rather than at the overall story. They fix awkward prose and tighten up sentences. They also check for consistency of viewpoint (who the narrator is), character details, tense, dialogue, etc.
Copyeditor
A copyeditor also edits the content at a sentence level. However, they focus more on fixing mechanical issues like grammar, spelling, and punctuation rather than rewriting sentences. A copyeditor edits for correctness, accuracy, consistency, and completeness. Clarity and readability are important.
Proofreader
Proofreading is the last step in the editorial process—the final quality check. The manuscript should have already been edited and typeset (although nowadays proofreaders often work in Microsoft Word as well).
A proofreader checks for any errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation missed by the copyeditor as well as formatting issues with font size, style, and layout.
Think you might make a good proofreader? I wrote the Ultimate Guide to Starting a Freelance Proofreading Business to help you start your business the right way.
If you want more details about the types of editing, check out this blog post about what each level of editing entails.
What Are the Highest Paying Writing Jobs?/Which Type of Writing Pays the Most?
Here are the average salaries for each of the below writing niches. Just remember that these figures are all based on algorithms and voluntary submissions from anonymous workers, so they may differ from site to site.
Freelance Writer: $63,213 (source: ZipRecruiter)
Freelance Blogger/Content Writer: $61,453 (source: ZipRecruiter)
SEO Writer: $59,249 (source: ZipRecuiter)
Self-Publishing Author: Hard to find data on this. Many self-publishing authors make less than $1,000 per year from their books. However, if you’re prolific and actively market your books, you can earn a good living. According to Amazon, in 2019 “thousands of independent authors who self-publish their books with KDP earned more than $50,000 from the sale of their books on Amazon, with more than a thousand passing $100,000 in royalties.”
Romance Writer: It’s hard to find stats specifically for the romance writing niche, but Yuwanda Black earns $3K per month as a romance writer.
Ghostwriter: $63,915 (source: ZipRecruiter)
Copywriter: $58,500 (source: talent.com)
Email Copywriter:
Blogger: How long is a piece of string? Some bloggers make $0 and some make over $100K PER MONTH! It all depends on how often you publish, how good your SEO and Pinterest marketing skills are, your niche, and your income streams.
Editor:
Developmental Editor: $61,606 (source: salary.com)
Copyeditor: $69,819 (source: salary.com)
Proofreader: $53,321 (source: salary.com)
What Qualifications Do I Need to Be a Writer?
You don’t need any qualification to be a writer! While there are degrees you can do, you can start your writing business by just getting out there and doing the work. You can learn as you go from free resources, books, and affordable online courses.
How Do I Choose a Writing Niche?
Which writing niche you should choose depends on your skills and your interests.
Do you want to write for yourself instead of others? A career as a self-publishing author or blogger would be good options for you.
Do you love to write but don’t want to be the face of it and have to do interviews? Ghostwriting is the way to go! Editing might also be a good choice.
Are you a persuasive writer and interested in marketing? Writing copy for sales pages or email funnels is a great way to use your marketing skills.
Final Thoughts on the Best Types of Writing Jobs
I hope this article has helped you figure out which high paying freelance writing career is best for you. You don’t have to choose just one if you are skilled in several different areas or are just looking for some variety. Happy writing!
