Making Steady Money From Writing?

Have you considered writing articles or reports during your downtime that you then sell as PLR? Or publishing your own books on Kindle? I've found it helps to have other income streams besides ghostwriting.

Rose

There are those who can't get enough work to fill their time...and those who can't find time to do their work. If you want to be one of the second group, put out superior content every time you get an assignment, collect recommendations after work well done, and look for work when you are not on an assignment.

Making a name for yourself in the social media realm and letting those people know you are available will help also.

From what I gather in my experience here at WF, one of the most qualified people to answer your question would be Alexa Smith. If she does touch upon your question, you may well have an answer you could practically use. Good luck with your endeavors.

There are many avenues to make a full-time income writing, you can put an ad here in the forum as a freelance writer, start writing for sites like Constant-Content.com or write and publish your own content, in the form of Ebooks, PLR, etc.

I would put together some PLR packages in your spare time and sell them here on the WF or on other sites. These can be very popular and make you some decent cash while you are not getting so many orders from clients.

I have not yet reached the point where I don't worry about money, but I have gotten to the point where I make a decent middle class income from my writing and tend to get a steady stream of work. I also learned to put money away when work is flush to help make up for the times when things slow down. As to specifics of what I do to ensure steady work:

First of all, I offer fairly steep discounts for steady customers to keep them coming. Second, I also write my own stuff when work is slow. Third, I diversify and write on many different subjects, as well as offering many different types of writing, including eBooks, content writing, fiction, articles and more recently, copywriting. I also occasionally do technical writing which can be very lucrative, though it's pretty dull.

I also taught myself certain skills which can help improve the chances of being hired, including promotion, SEO and basic graphic design (I also do layout and design work when I do eBooks which often helps to close the sale even though I'm more expensive than some other writers).

The key is to always provide the best material you can offer and to ask your customers not only if they have more work for you but also if they can recommend you to their friends or colleagues.

Hope that helps a little.

Eric

P.S. Even with all that, I am now working on expanding into website development since I learned enough about Wordpress to be able to put together quality websites using the software. Again, for me, the key is diversifying so I don't rely on any one income source.

I know someone who is writing on a full time basis. She is so much in demand that she has to turn down large scale projects by the dozens.

I used to believe writing was for people who are willing to work at ridiculously low rates, but after seeing her success, I realized that there is a place for good content writers like her.

I recently asked her how she managed to get such a strong list of clients who paid a fair amount of money in exchange for her articles. She said she made an account on three outsourcing marketplaces, and bid on writing jobs for weeks.

She said it took her thirteen days on forty six bids to land her first project, and she barely earned any money from that for a whole lot of work; but she managed to get a great recommendation because she did not compromise on the quality of work.

Not only did she get that recommendation but that employer asked her to write 100 articles over a period of 20 days. She said he was willing to pay a better rate too, since she

Slowly, she got clients on other outsourcing marketplaces as well, and now she has a whole barrage of fantastic testimonials - and is doing really really well. It just goes to show that you can make steady money from writing - whether in one form or the other. You just need to prove to others that you can write good quality content.

I got started with vWorker last June. I didn't really know where else to go, and it was free to use (unlike Elance or oDesk), so I jumped in. I think I threw out bids for 2 days before one was accepted. Over the next 2-3 weeks, I landed 10 jobs on the site and got a perfect 10 rating each and every time. At least half of the employers contacted me off-site and continued to use me, upping their rates since they weren't paying vWorker a percentage.

At the same time, I'd found another IM forum (it's now defunct, no point in mentioning it here) where I quickly established a no-BS reputation. I was able to get a fair price for my work, and I struggled to keep up with the demand. I ended up going to my local Craigs List and hiring a local writer to help me stay caught up.

Unfortunately, I started back to college in late August and shut down the business...now I'm getting ready to start it back up since I'm off for the summer, and I have to start the whole process over again. I'm going to contact my old clients first via email and see if any of them need work, and I'm also partnering with an IM guru. He's going to setup a new brand on his main site for my article writing, so that should generate business for me also. (He gets a finder's fee or royalty deal, and I get a lot of business, so it's great for me!)

I plan on trying some of Alexa's tricks also...I've read a lot of her posts and she has some amazing ideas she uses. Maybe I can be a WF success story by the end of the summer.

-- j

First off, we could start with your signature.

Define "quality" content. What does that mean? How will I know "quality" content from crap content?

Is a resource list of suggested reading "genuine" enough, or is it just "responding to respond"? See if any of this stuff helps, anyway?

Making steady money from writing is all about the markets in which you choose to compete.

First, if you read through the following recent threads, you'll find many helpful observations and suggestions.

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...g-pricing.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...g-service.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...e-writing.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ng-career.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4218809

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...les-money.html

Secondly, if you want to think a little more about "the markets in which ones chooses to compete, as a writer", you might find some of these resources helpful/interesting (and most of the recommendations in them for "further reading" will also be pretty reliable ones, I think) ...

Jennifer Mattern's blog

Carol Tice's blog

Freelance writing jobs (minmum payment requirement of $50 per article to be listed there)

Free report on how to attract new freelance writing clients during a recession

The Renegade Writer Blog

The "Irreverent Freelancer" blog

The Well-Fed Writer: Lucrative Commercial Freelance Writing - Land Lucrative Freelance Writing Jobs

Words on the Page.

Good luck!

That's going to change as how google panda slaps content that are of low quality. Haven't you noticed? Many websites have been de-indexed because of spam contents. Eventually writers are going to have long-term relationships with their employers.

how about joining iwriter ? those gues pay like 2.5 at the start but later on you can get 15$ or more article

I've found that, as you mentioned, most of my clients only need my services for a short period of time.

In the downtime, I do a few things:

-Write PLR
-Look for new clients
-Create Kindle books
-Play video games....I mean, SEO

I have found that you need to keep your finger in lots of pies. I have one client that has been with me for 3 years. I have some that come and go and some that are one-off jobs. I run an ad in Gumtree and also scan the site for people looking for writers. I have picked up work from there.

I have done more than 50 jobs on vworker. It is a good site because you don't have to pay to bid or ask questions, unlike elance.

I also get referrals.
I also do pick up work from this forum and another one I moderate at.

I don't make a full time income but most months it is fairly good.
Having said that, this month, it seems to have gone very quiet and I am hoping it will pick up again as I am in a position where I need the money more than ever for medical expenses.

I have found that this forum has so much great advice that it is always worth checking out. Alexa's threads are amazing mines of information and I savor every nugget.