9 replies
Hey Guys I wanted to know what is the best way to get started writing for money. I went to school for two years for english so I am a pretty good writer. I know it does not pay anything but I am broke and tired failing on none working methods. Any advice that can help me out with this will really help me out. Bills are about to be due so I need to get a move on it and I am ready to work.
#advice
  • Profile picture of the author StarHead
    Banned
    According to me you can do this:

    1- Register an adsense account
    2- Register at hubpages,squidoo,docstoc,etc
    3- Write as much real articles you can and publish on these sites.

    You will earn money from adsense because these websites share their earnings with their members
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    • Profile picture of the author Lee Glynn
      If you want to be a professional writer, you would probably have to establish yourself as a brand. The easiest albiet time consuming method is to build yourself up a very good repuation through something like elance or odesk. Get loads of quality references and build a reputation. Once you have that you could easily target larger, professional even corporate companies with your portfolio. The best place to do this is Linked In. Never underestimate the power of a good reputation, good references and Linked In is amazing as you can contact decision makers directly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Abby Gibbs
    Be a member of EzineArticles and post your articles there. At Ezine you can establish your name and then you can start money by working as a writer. There are many sites offer online jobs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I know it does not pay anything
      Where did you get that idea? I make four figures a month writing. If you want to write for income, get signed up on freelance sites, learn how to write good bids, position yourself in niches where you have some interest or knowledge and WORK at it.

      When you bid on jobs on a freelance site you may "win" only 1 in 15 of the jobs you bid on. I recently tried to help a friend get started on elance and after a month he gave up. His claim was he had "placed 10 bids" and got no work ...so he quit.

      I don't use elance now but I still think it is the best place to get started IF you are able to deliver what you promise and don't mind working hard.

      When I started with elance - I placed 20-30 bids a DAY week after week. You have to be aggressive and you have to work at getting the writing jobs.

      For quick money, there's Fiverr but I'd never write that cheaply so I wouldn't use it. You can buy a "for hire" classified here - I haven't looked for jobs on the WF but I know some people have good results with those ads.

      It's a lot of work to get started but on freelance sites if you get some good ratings it gets easier to get work.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author angela99
    Originally Posted by letsmakemoney View Post

    Hey Guys I wanted to know what is the best way to get started writing for money. I went to school for two years for english so I am a pretty good writer. I know it does not pay anything but I am broke and tired failing on none working methods. Any advice that can help me out with this will really help me out. Bills are about to be due so I need to get a move on it and I am ready to work.
    Oh dear... Writing "does not pay anything"???

    Um -- I hate to state the obvious, but what do you think makes money online?

    I'll tell you -- Internet marketing, on some level, is always WRITING.

    OK, I'll stop laughing.

    Pay attention: YOU CAN make money writing...

    Here's my advice.

    1. Create your own product.

    2. Sell it as a WSO.

    Repeat #1 and #2.

    Another poster suggested making money writing by bidding on the outsourcing sites. That's good too, but as the poster suggested, you need to make LOTS of bids, because you're starting from zero. Make 200 bids, and you're good to go.

    The big benefit of writing for others on the outsourcing sites and elsewhere is that you LEARN. Indeed, the learning is more important than the money. At the moment, you're in a position where you don't know what you don't know... And no one can tell you. You need to DO IT YOURSELF.

    I decided to be a writer at age eight. I had endless arguments with my father who said "writers don't make any money -- become a lawyer"...

    Heh. I took great pleasure in handing my dad my first published book, and my first article published in a national magazine. That was way back in the 1970s. In those days it was HARD to make money writing.

    These days, if you can write an email message, you can make money writing.

    Do this:

    * Read the WSO forum for 2 days. Make a list of product ideas that you could create, based on what's selling. (Don't COPY anything. You're researching what currently sells.)

    * Write/ create your product, based on what you know. Don't spend too long on it. You can write a short ebook in a couple of days.

    * SELL IT...

    At the moment, your biggest challenge is YOU.

    You need to convince yourself that you can make money writing. Ignore everyone who tells you otherwise. Not only can you make money writing, you can make money beyond your wildest dreams.

    Believe it. :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author ranjith
      The best thing could be working for online writing jobs.
      There are many article sites like ezine, hubpages. You can prepare a quality content and post your article to earn money. Other way is joining in freelancing sites, micro jobs sites like 3to30.com-where you can sell your writing services.
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  • Profile picture of the author JennSpencerIM
    I'd post on the forum here: Warriors For Hire

    Also maybe a WSO special on articles?

    Those are two places you can start right on the forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author kevincanda
    You can earn money from do writing projects at odesk, freelancer, elance or guru.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Faber
    You can start out by doing smaller writing projects for other warriors. Do you have any special skills, or do you have a job in a position where you have specialized knowledge about a subject that has a trade journal or niche focused consumer publication? If so, then write to the editor of each and propose a story idea.

    That worked for me, to the tune of about $12,000 in a year for a couple of feature articles and a series. I learned then that writing actually does pay, and sometimes quite well, too.

    Get The Well Fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman. It's good, and it reveals solid strategies to earn a great living as a freelance writer. Also, pick up The Writer's Market. It's an industry staple, and has most of the trade journals and consumer periodicals, along with their editorial contacts and publishing requirements. It is a must have resource for freelancers, aspiring and otherwise.

    Cherish editor relationships once you get them. They're pure gold. Remember to invoice your publishers when you do get a submission published, or the check may be a long time coming.
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