"7 Ways to Make Money Writing"
I recently read a list titled "7 Ways to Make $1,000 as a Writer a Month," and the article was almost literally just this:
Freelance writing
Blogging
Content writing
Technical writing
Copywriting
Ghostwriting
Self-publishing
After each point, it gave a one-sentence explanation and that was it. That list doesn’t help me—or anyone. I don’t need definitions; I need solutions. How do these things actually result in $1,000 a month?
Let me talk about my actual numbers. I do some of this writing, and I can tell you: I don’t make that much.
1. Freelance Writing
As a freelance writer for Coinbuzz, I made between $5 and $10 per article. I had a base payment per word count plus a payment per view. To make $1,000 a month at those rates, I would have to write 100 articles—over three articles every single day (and that’s on the high end of the spectrum). Even if I could produce that much, I think the editors would eventually start rejecting them. There is simply no way I could write that much and maintain quality.
2. Blogging
Likewise, for my blog, even during the "best of times" when my Google AdSense was working, I would get paid a few pennies per thousand views. I did get paid a dollar per click on one of my ads once, but that wasn’t predictable. In reality, across all my websites, I earn less than a penny a day in ad revenue. To hit $1,000 a month, I would need to increase my website traffic by over 3,400x. That is not something I have total control over. Sure, I could do better SEO, but that is a completely different skill set—it isn't writing.
3. Items 3 through 7
Are these all just different flavors of freelance writing? It feels like the same thing, just with different clients. Maybe I need to read those definitions again, but the core problem remains the same: the math doesn't add up.
4. Self-publishing
I have experimented with self-publishing on Payhip and Amazon. On Amazon, you get a 70% commission in select countries if you price your book in a certain range. The lowest price in that range is $2.99, which is what my books sell for. To make $1,000 a month, I would need to sell 478 books every month. I can assure you, I don't get anywhere near those sales.
How would I even get that many sales? Amazon provides very limited data about who views or buys my book. Based on my conversion metrics at Payhip (a platform I used for my Bitcoin book), I have received 2,414 product views and exactly 2 orders. At $3 a book, I would need 403,000 product views per month to hit $1,000 in sales.
How do I get 403,000 people to look at my listing? Well, if 1 in 20 people who hear about the book actually click the link, I would need to mention the book to 8,060,000 people every month.
Wrap Up
Content creation, particularly writing, is incredibly hard. Sure, other products probably convert better than mine, and perhaps a different niche would have lower "required" numbers. But my numbers are crazy, and that is the only reality I can speak to.
So, why do I keep writing if I don’t even make $1,000 a month doing it?
Skill Maintenance: I do business writing at work. Writing is a skill that needs to be practiced to be maintained. Even though creative writing is different from business writing, they still positively impact each other.
Self-Expression: Writing is a useful form of self-expression. You learn about yourself when you put thoughts to paper.
The "Big Break": While I don’t make much now, there is always the hope of a breakthrough. We will see if that ever comes, but if you never try, you certainly will never succeed.
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