Writing side hustles

7 Easy-to-Launch Side Hustles for Writers in 2024

Victoria Kurichenko

written by

Victoria Kurichenko

posted on

September 30, 2021

Looking for lucrative side hustles for writers? Whether you are looking for writing side jobs or want to make a living writing from home, you are in the right place!

As a marketer and content creator with a few writing gigs, I’ll share my proven strategies, part-time writing jobs, and platforms that helped me double my earnings in the past years. 

Here is the table of contents for your convenience:

How to make money writing from home?

I started writing as a side hustle in the mid of the pandemic in 2020. Back then, I got at least four extra hours a day that I did not know how to use wisely. It felt mindblowing that I did not have to commute to work, spend hours on team lunches, or chit-chat in the office. 

I could focus on being results-driven instead of an action-taker. 

I’ve also realized that having a single income source is risky, and I needed to act on launching a side hustle that would let me earn more than a basic salary. 

I had zero experience in writing and blogging. Besides, I am not a native English speaker, and I never thought my writing could be appealing enough to hook readers. 

Despite fears, I started writing from home. I took a few writing gigs besides my full-time job. I thought I could quickly nail writing and make a fortune by creating case studies and blog posts for my clients. 

In reality, I’ve spent way more time writing and revising clients’ articles than expected. I worked on weekends with no breaks and no mood. My clients seemed satisfied with my work, but the only one who did not feel proud of it was me. 

Here is what I learned the hard way:

You don’t need talent to get paid to write about anything. Anyone can do it. It only requires persistence and consistency.

Don’t charge your clients for unsolicited writing. They can pretty much do it themselves. 

If you are a beginner but want to make money writing from home, there are many ways to do it. I’ll share all my strategies in this post. The good news, you don’t necessarily have to work with clients to get paid to blog and write articles from home. 

In one year of working from home, I’ve published over 200 blog posts on Medium, tried a few more writing platforms, and launched this website to share my experience with soulmates worldwide. 

I worked overtime and on weekends. I sacrificed friendships and relationships, but my desire to become financially sustainable was stronger than any excuse. 

If you want a part-time writing job and get paid to write about anything, the following options will help you reach your goals.

Side hustles for writers in 2024

The following list contains blogs that pay writers and writing gigs anyone can try. 

All you need is a desire and a few hours a day to get paid to write about anything. 

I have a marketing background. I’ve been an online marketer, developing strategies, measuring, and optimizing websites’ performances for several years. However, I’ve unlocked a new passion during the pandemic – writing

I’ve made over $15k with my writing side gigs in two years, spending a few hours daily writing about whatever I wanted. 

I’ve tried Upwork. I’ve gained a few writing gigs through my Medium blog and discovered the massive potential writing offers. 

I’ve overcome my inner fears and launched this website that reached Google’s second page a few months after release. 

Opportunities are endless. Literally. 

All you need is a laptop and internet access to make money with writing. 

If you are an established or novice writer, look at the following side hustles for writers. In this article, I share my proven platforms and strategies that helped double my income in the past two years.

Medium

Medium writing side job

Medium is an open writing platform where anyone can register, set up a profile in a few minutes, and reaches thousands of readers worldwide with their content. 

No blog setup is needed. No coding or design knowledge is required. Medium gives you a digital environment to blog about anything you want!

The beauty of Medium is in its business model. Medium charges readers a $5 monthly fee and gives away this money to its content creators. I have an in-depth article on how to make money writing on Medium

In short, here is how you can make money writing short stories on Medium.

  1. Set up a writer’s profile.
  2. Publish at least one story and gain 100+ followers to join the Medium Partner Program to get paid monthly. 
  3. Stay active and keep publishing at least a few posts weekly.

This is it! Medium will take care of all the rest duties. The more readers discover your content, the higher your monthly payouts will be!

I regularly post 5-8 minutes reads about side hustles, marketing, and self-improvement and get paid to blog and write articles from home. It’s crazy! 

Medium is one of my favorite side hustles. I dedicate roughly 10 hours to creating content for Medium and posting 2-3 articles a week.

In my best month, I made $1025. 

My highest-earning article has made me over $1,259. 

My top-performing piece has got 56k views.

My stories reached over 300k readers worldwide. 

Besides, Medium is an excellent lead generation source. You can gradually grow your email list by inserting a CTA at the bottom of your articles. No matter what happens to Medium in the long run, you own your subscriber’s list. You can send newsletters to your fans, give them additional value, offer your products and services, etc.

How cool is that?

Medium opens up lots of opportunities. All you need is to be aware of them, and this is why I am here to help you out!

Vocal media

Vocal blog that pays writers

Vocal.media is an online platform for content creators. You don’t necessarily have to write articles to be active on Vocal. Besides sharing stories and getting paid for views, content creators can advertise and sell their products right on Vocal. You can write product reviews, create galleries and monetize your content through paid mentions and affiliate commissions. 

Vocal runs numerous writing challenges, where you can get up to $20,000 for your article. Some challenges are free to join, but a few require you to be a Vocal+ member.

I participated in a few writing challenges but unfortunately did not make it. However, you can always see winners on their challenges page.

Here is my in-depth Vocal.media review if you are interested in learning all tips and tricks about the platform. However, I want to briefly share how to make a living as a writer on Vocal. 

You can create new content and share it with the Vocal readers. You can also republish your old content on the platform. It takes a few minutes to copy-paste an article and submit it to one of the Vocal’scommunities. 

Vocal has a great bonus system and can also feature your work among its top stories for additional exposure. For instance, you can get a $50 bonus for publishing your 50th story on Vocal. 

Some writers create SEO-optimized content to rank high in Google and attract readers to their Vocal posts. This way, they make hundreds of dollars monthly from reads and help Vocal increase its brand awareness.

It’s up to you which strategy to choose. The main point is this — the opportunities are limited. Grab yours!

Quora

Make Money Writing on Quora

Quora is a popular question and answer platform that’s been functioning for over a decade. 

It has over 300 million users, primarily from the USA (34.9%), India (22.2%), and the UK (4.9%), according to Foundationinc

I joined Quora in 2017 and used white and grey tactics to get better exposure. Eventually, I was banned, and that experience taught me a lot of valuable lessons. 

If you want to build a sustainable business, never use grey strategies! It is neither ethical nor practical anymore. The online platforms are already smart enough to detect any malfunctioning behavior. 

In July 2021, Quora announced its Partner Program for content creators who want to side hustle from home and write for money. 

The program is open for particular counties, and it’s invite-only so far. Quora made it clear that it will open doors to more countries and users in the future. However, we can see that the latest country list update was five months ago, which is April 2021.

Quora Partner Program

How to make money writing on Quora?

First, you should reside in one of the countries mentioned above. 

Second, you must be an active writer with hundreds of thousands of views. I assume Quora exclusively rewards top authors on the platform so far. This is why their posts are behind the paywall. However, I could not find any information to verify my guess. 

Questions and answers are compensated based on user engagement and the money earned from advertisers. Once you submit your answer, it will continue making you money for a year.

Third, set a payment method —  either Stripe or PayPal. You can withdraw once you make at least $10 on the platform. 

If you get a closer look, Quora’s partner program is very similar to what Medium has offered its writers for a while. One of the reasons Quora launched its monetization program, I assume, is to compete with established online writing platforms and attract more professional content creators. 

Content is a new currency these days, and people are ready to pay for it.

If you are a content creator, it’s worth being aware of this opportunity and being ready to apply once the doors are open.

Newsbreak

Newsbreak writing gig

If you are always up-to-date with the local news and have a strong opinion on any topic, this side hustle for writers might be a good fit. 

Newsbreak is a US platform to read and share local news, events, deals, and governmental updates. 

The platform was launched in October 2020 and quickly attracted massive attention from content creators worldwide. Initially,  Newsbreak rewarded handpicked writers with $1000 for 12, not necessarily original, written pieces a month. It was pretty generous from their side, but it lasted for only three months. 

In time, Newsbreak attracted a bigger audience, raised $115 million, felt ground under its feet, and opened up its doors for all content creators worldwide.

It takes a few minutes to set up your creator’s account. However, don’t rush just yet! You have to publish 10 posts and gain 100 followers to apply for monetization. Some writers, I know, did it in a month, but others needed more time to reach this milestone. 

In August 2021, Newsbreak updated its monetization policy, drastically affecting writers’ views and income. They no longer offer fixed fees. Instead, Newsbreak switched to a paying rate per thousands of views. 

What’s better for content creators? I honestly don’t know. I’ve heard various opinions. The only thing that seems to work on Newsbreak, though, is the quantity. Those, who take this side hustle for writers seriously and post daily, see better engagement and higher views.

Niche website

Launch a niche website if you want to make money writing, control your content, and make it your full-time writing gig.

None of the writing platforms give you as much freedom as your own site. You have to comply with their requirements to get paid to write articles. However, what if they disappear one day? All your content is gone! You will lose your income source along with your work. 

Your website lets you set up your own rules and make a living as a writer in many ways. 

I’ve launched selfmademillenials.com after a year and a half of active blogging on Medium, intending to make it my full-time occupation one day. 

It takes months and sometimes years to grow a website. However, monetization opportunities are endless. 

  • Run ads
  • Accept paid mentions and guest posts
  • Monetize through affiliate programs
  • Sell physical or digital products 
  • Offer writing or consulting services
  • Etc.

Owning a website is more sustainable and reliable than any other writing platform, with quick wins. Here is why.  You don’t depend on any content distribution algorithms, and you can make a passive income if you don’t want to sell anything on your site. 

Google AdSense, paid mentions, and guest posts can easily make you at least $1000 monthly, depending on your website traffic and niche. 

Andrej Ilisin, a CEO and co-founder of Alpha Investors, estimates that your website should have at least 2,000 daily views to earn $100 if your CPC (cost-per-click) equals $1, while CTR(click-through-rate) is at least 5%.

Sounds promising, right? Nevertheless, it’s not an easy side hustle for writers. Apart from writing, you should master SEO (search engine optimization), keyword research, competitor analysis, and optimized headline writing to rank high in Google and attract relevant users to your site. 

My well-optimized article reached the 20th position in Google after being published on a brand-new website. It’s a fantastic result! However, you should know that I spent more time on keyword research than on actual writing!

If you think you are late for the party, you are not! It’s not too late to create a website as long as you are ready for a long and exciting journey!

Upwork

Upwork part-time writing job

Writing for money on Upwork, a marketplace for freelance jobs, is another side hustle for writers. 

You might have heard various opinions about Upwork that formed a negative attitude toward this platform. However, don’t scroll down just yet. Let me share my story about freelancing on Upwork. 

I joined Upwork at the end of 2020 to find more writing gigs. Besides, I had ambitious goals to double my monthly earnings, but my regular job could not afford to increase my hourly rate significantly. 

The Upwork myth: You won’t find full-time and part-time writing jobs if you are just starting. 

If anyone tells you so, they do not put in enough effort!

My very first hourly rate was $25. I had no experience with Upwork and no client testimonials displayed on my profile. 

Nevertheless, I found a fixed-time writing gig for $200 and helped one of my clients proofread his course content. 

I’d submitted around five proposals before I landed my first part-time writing job on Upwork. Once I finished my first collaboration, the second one appeared out of the blue. 

The client needed a case study writer with a UX background. I was a perfect fit, and the new writing side job was arranged in just one day. 

Having a few successful projects in my portfolio let me increase my hourly rate to $35 and decide whether I want to accept incoming offers or not. 

Upwork is a reliable freelance marketplace that won’t disappear overnight with your money. According to Backlinko stats, Upwork has over 145,000 core clients, and its 2020  revenue was $373,63 million. 

Surprisingly, content writing is one of the most popular side jobs, according to Upwork. The content writers’ hourly rate varies from $15 to $80, giving you room for experimenting. 

If you decide to start writing from home on Upwork, I have a few decent points for you to remember:

  • Your profile sells your expertise. Make sure to add as many relevant details as possible, such as your former work experience and examples of your work. 
  • What you achieved is more important than what you did. Highlight the impact of your work and how you helped your client/employer reach their goals.
  • Apply to the most recent jobs only. This way, you’ll catch the juiciest offers and make sure they are not taken yet. 
  • Take a one-time writing gig with the possibility of an extension. Clients often look for long-term collaborations, but you should not necessarily agree to them right away. First, ensure you feel comfortable, and the work is paid per your agreement. 
  • Don’t worry about the number of connects. You need connects to apply for jobs. However, Upwork gives many opportunities to earn them, such as “rate the conversation with the client.”
  • 20% of your earnings will be deducted as an Upwork fee. You have to pay this fee apart from the taxes. It costs a lot! However, the fee will decrease to 10% once you make over $500 with one client. 
  • Don’t move your first collaboration off Upwork. Some freelancers find writing gigs on Upwork and negotiate the conditions off the platform. This way, you are not protected! The client can stop responding anytime or disappear without paying for your work. Keep it in mind.

Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting side hustle for writers

Ghostwriting is a way to get paid to write articles without being credited as an author. 

The logic is simple. You write content for businesses that post it on behalf of their name or for individuals who want to use it for particular needs, like e-book creation. 

In the case of ghostwriting, you write for money. Nothing else. No fame, no author mentions, no backlinks to your site, nothing. Once you deliver the required work, the content is not yours anymore. The client can use it according to their needs. 

It’s similar to Upwork, and you can definitely use this platform to search for ghostwriting gigs. 

Reedsy, an online British author service firm, shares their estimates on how much you can get paid for ghostwriting:

Per word

Rate: $0.15 to $4 per word

Applies to: articles, blog posts, primarily short content

Per hour

Rate: $35 to $140 per hour

Applies to: editing, proofreading, consulting

Flat fee

Rate: $2,000 to $7,000+ per project

Applies to: book proposal writing

If you wonder whether it’s worth joining the ghostwriters’ club, here is what Dr. Jennifer Banash, an author, editor, and a New York Times-bestselling ghostwriter, says about ghostwriting:

“I’ve been ghosting fiction for 15 years now, so I think the demand has always been there to some extent.” 

The creator economy has been booming in the past years, and the demand will only continue growing. Why? Because every solid business needs to communicate with its audience. How do they do it? Through content

Consumers can’t touch, wear, or smell the products online. This is why we make buying decisions based on the product description. The more good-looking and persuasive it is, the higher might be the sales. This is why content creators will never run out of writing jobs. – 

Victoria Kurichenko

Hello there! 

My name is Victoria.
I am an SEO expert, Medium top writer, solopreneur, and the founder of Self Made Millennials. I help companies create optimized content and attract potential customers through organic search results. In addition, I share how content creators can monetize their writing skills.

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  1. The article you have shared here is very good. This is really interesting information for me. Thanks for sharing!

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