6 In-Demand Side Hustles for Writers

These side gigs desperately want to pay writers for their work

Most writers know being good at writing is only half the battle. The other half is making your writing profitable.

You could be the world’s greatest writer but if you don’t know where to put your writing so it’s in front of readers’ faces, then you won’t rack up many wins in the profit column.

A few years back, I created a blog and tried to attract readers by writing consistent content. I’m definitely biased but I thought my writing was good enough to bring in at least a few readers on a daily basis.

I soon found that not only did I waste $80 on a domain name and hosting service, but my confidence as a writer quickly diminished because I didn’t have any success.

Back then I didn’t know there were a variety of platforms out there that I could write for and make money on. The nail in the coffin is that most of these platforms are free to write on.

I didn’t need to start my own blog to make money because these platforms are always looking to pay writers for their work.

Radio ads

Rachel Yerks was able to earn $44 an hour writing radio ads online and you can too.

The platform is called Write Label and you don’t have to have previous experience writing radio ads to make money.

On the platform, you’re able to select from projects on the job board. You can also opt-in to receive email updates when new projects are posted.

Some projects pay writers a guaranteed couple of bucks just for submitting an ad.

Basically, writers grab “tickets” to projects they want to write for and start working. The catch is you can only work on one ticket at a time. After you finish, you can snatch up another ticket and then rinse and repeat.

Newsletters

The popularity of owning newsletters seems to be growing. This might leave some writers wondering how they can profit from sending out email blasts to their newsletter lists.

There are two common ways to do this:

• You can ask subscribers to pay for your newsletter by using a platform like Substack.
• You can use affiliate marketing links in your newsletter and make a commission from people that buy things with your link.

Either way can provide income to the pockets of writers, especially if you’re able to build a solid email list with a lot of active subscribers.

The Side Hustle Club’s newsletter is completely free and includes absolutely 0 affiliate links. The goal is to spread the word about freelance job opportunities, side hustle experiences, and more.

Writing courses

From English teachers to bloggers, if you’ve had success in the field of writing then you can sell online writing courses.

It’s all about how you market yourself to potential buyers.

When you’re advertising your online writing course you need to focus on bridging the gap between marketing your skills and selling the benefits attendees will receive from learning your skills.

I’m a big fan of attending online writing courses because I genuinely feel like I walk out of them knowing more than I did before.

Content mills

I LOVE content mills. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again:

If you need quick cash then you should write for a content mill.

Content mills are always in need of writers and even though the pay isn’t great, it’s easy to quickly get a lot of work done and make some fast cash.

I even once compared writings for content mills vs. writing for clients and concluded that even though clients pay better, content mills pay more people.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a brand new writer or a veteran blogger, if you’re looking for work then you can always turn to content mills.

If you don’t want to write for a content mill, but you still want to sell online articles on a job board then Constant Content might be worth it for you.

Check out the full review of making $40 per story by writing on Constant Content:

E-books

Writing an e-book is great because you’re taking the power of writing into your own hands.

Think about it. As long as people are still reading e-books, they will be in demand. To meet this demand, all you have to do is write and create your own supply.

E-books are great stepping stones to a higher level of writing. Even if you don’t have instant success with an e-book, you can always make passive income over time if people buy your book.

You can also market your e-book so it reaches larger or more specific audiences that have a higher chance of purchasing your e-book.

Blogging

I had to include blogging on this list because even though I wasn’t able to make money from starting my own blog, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. I’m not ashamed to admit that I went about creating a blog the wrong way on my first try. It sucked but it was a learning experience.

Now I know that you already have to have somewhat of a following to create a successful blog and eventually make it profitable.

There will probably always be a demand for blogs, especially as SEO becomes even more relevant and Google continues to its dominance as the number one search engine.

If you want to start reading more stories like this and learn about making more income from the comfort of your couch, subscribe to The Side Hustle Club’s newsletter.