It’s Not Hard to Become a Writer
Actually, it’s never been easier
It’s really easy to become a writer.
Like…surprisingly easy.
And I don’t mean that in the, “If you say you’re a writer, you’re a writer” kind of way. I mean it in the literal, professional sense of the word.
It is simple to earn a living as a writer—freelance or otherwise. And I don’t know why I’m apparently the only person that thinks so.
The myth of the struggling writer
There’s no shortage of writing gurus on Medium (and other places) sharing their horror stories of how they finally become a professional writer. You know, the ones.
A struggling writer recounts their years of brutal bosses, deadbeat clients, and earning pennies an hour while their inbox fills with rejections. Every night their dreams are crushed and they can only afford gruel for dinner.
Oh, and every step of the way their friends, family, teachers, and mentors were all telling them that they’d never make it as a writer.
Ever read one of those?
Yeah. Here’s the thing, I respect the majority of writers on Medium, and I’m happy they share their professional journeys. Most are very good at what they do, and I’m not trying to put anyone down.
But I never understand these rags-to-riches horror stories or how it takes years of failure to become a writer.
Because…that’s just not how professional writing works.
How to become a writer: you write for money
Becoming a writer isn’t some inscrutable arcane profession with secret rites or hidden wisdom. It’s a job. And a fairly common one at that.
Sure, it’s a little more creative than pumping gas or stocking shelves, but at the end of the day, writing is just semi-skilled labor that you get paid for. And you don’t even have to be all that smart to do it.
Here’s exactly how to become a writer:
- Find a place that will pay you to write for them
- Do your job
- Get better at it
- Find another place (or many more places/clients) that will pay you to write for them
- Get better at it
- Earn more money
- Lather, rinse, repeat
“But how do you find a place that will actually pay writers?” you scream into the keyboard as you sob.
Good question. Here’s the two-part answer:
Type “writer jobs” into the search bar at the top of your browser. Then hit enter.
I’ll wait.
People want to pay for your writing
There are literally thousands—no, millions—of websites, companies, and publications that will pay you to write for them. What’s even more unreal is that you don’t have to scour the internet for these writing jobs.
Looking for writing jobs isn’t a scavenger hunt in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s an Easter Egg Hunt. For five-year-olds. Spend twenty minutes looking for writing jobs and you’ll find paying work. You might even find a gig you love.
I don’t understand the problem. What are you waiting for? An invitation? Because guess what—thousands of paid writing job listings are an invitation.
Heck, you’re literally on a website that pays writers. Right now. This very second. I am getting paid because you’re reading this. (Thanks, btw).
What’s even more mind-blowing is how easy it is to land a job as a writer—either salaried or freelance.
Thanks to the internet you can browse dozens of job boards, submit your profile to thousands of employers, or go rogue and just email hiring managers and editors directly from their “Write For Us” page on your favorite websites. They literally tell you what they want you to do.
It’s never been easier to be a writer. You just have to apply.
How to become a writer: apply
Do you know how I got my first (good) paid writing gig? I applied for it. (You know…like a job).
I subscribed to an email newsletter form a company I liked. One day the CEO of this small startup sent an email asking for writers with travel experience.
I had some travel experience.
So I read the (very straightforward) submission guidelines, sent in my piece, and guess what happened? They started paying me to write for them. Still do, actually.
Imagine that. Getting paid to write about travel. I must be one of the lucky ones, right? Not really. I just responded to a “help wanted” ad and learned how to contribute to this company’s mission with my writing.
That’s the important part about being a writer that a lot of people don’t want to do. You can’t just sit in your bubble and write what you want (at least not unless you’re very talented).
Working as a paid writer means creating something valuable for the people that hire you. If you can do that you’ll always find work as a paid writer.
Don’t get me wrong, not all of my writing gigs have been glamorous. But they’ve all been on my terms. I’ve applied or accepted every writing job I’ve ever had. No one forced me into it, which is why I don’t really get these sob story “how to become a writer narratives.”
If you don’t like the writing you’re doing or the job doesn’t pay you enough, don’t take it.
There are a lot of other gigs out there. Go find a better one. Or, better yet—let it find you.
Announce that you’re a writer
Applying for writing jobs is a great way to get started as a writer, but once you get a few gigs under your belt, it gets even easier to be a successful writer.
Thanks to portfolio sites like Contently, you can host your writing portfolio on marketplace websites that connect you with paying clients. That means you don’t even have to pitch anymore. They pitch to you.
And the best part is that it’s completely free. Just add some of your work, specify your writing skills (email writing, SEO, copywriting, blog posts, website design) and make yourself available to paying clients.
Here’s what my page looks like:
You can be a working writer. You just have to decide what kind of writer you want to be and announce it to the world. People will listen (and they’ll even pay you for it).
There are many kinds of “writers”
In the past ten years, I’ve been paid to write for copywriting firms, marketing agencies, healthcare companies, blogs, travel brands, retail chains, startups, hedge funds, Fortune 500s, animation studios, countless newspapers and magazines, and even the odd poetry journal.
The list of people and places that will pay for your writing is endless.
The problem is that many writers have a misconception of what it really means to “be a writer.” It’s not just angsty teen novels and 10,000-word manifestos. That’s what your journal is for.
Working as a writer means meeting deadlines and providing value for your clients and your readers.
Expand your definition of what it means to “be a writer” and you’ll quickly learn that you can become a successful writer sooner than you think.
You can write for yourself
I’ve been everything from a full-time salaried Head of Content to a “lowly” freelance contractor, and even a ghostwriter. But you don’t have to work for anyone else to earn money as a writer.
The internet is the friggin Wild West of paid writing opportunities. The paid work I see writers generating for themselves is bonkers. If you can’t find the writing jobs you want, create your own career, you go-getter. There’s never been a better time to find your voice—or your audience.
Write that middling novel or a teen dystopian series and cash in like a boss. Craft a self-help book. Write fan-fiction. Write an online course or a cool new cookbook. Create a meditation series. Start a kickass weekly email newsletter.
You can write about whatever you want. You just might not always be able to make a ton of money from it right away. And that’s ok. Define professional success on your terms and you’ll be off to a great start as a writer.
There are no obstacles to becoming a writer
I’ll leave you with a simple truth I learned a while ago that’s helped me become a happier, more successful writer.
Here it is:
No one cares what you do.
That’s it. That’s the secret to becoming a professional writer.
Let go of your ego, let go of your fear of “making it” or producing great work, and just start writing. Find a client tomorrow and write a terrible blog post. You’ll learn something from it, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a better writer and earning more.
The important thing to remember is that no one is out there twisting their mustache and hatching plans to make you fail. In fact, the opposite is true.
Most people in this world barely notice you — even people you see all the time.
If you’re lucky, you might have a dozen people in your life that actively care about you. They may even make an effort to improve your life. A few close friends. Your parents. Some extended family. That’s about it.
And that’s if you’re lucky. A lot of people don’t even have that.
Sure, you might have some close acquaintances and work friends that like you well enough, and a few old friends from school, but the thing you have to remember is that no one is thinking about you regularly—positively or negatively.
Almost no one — literally nobody — has an enemy out there actively trying to ruin their dream of becoming a professional writer. It’s just not how life works.
And you know those horror stories about mountains of rejection letters? That doesn’t happen either. Sure, The New Yorker might not accept your “totally bitching” story idea, but you probably shouldn’t be pitching them anyway.
If you want to avoid wasting your time and racking up rejections, stop pitching to people and publications that you don’t have a relationship with.
Pitching isn’t hard. Just make the right connections, go through the right channels, and offer them something they absolutely need to publish. Your pitches will be accepted every time.
Writing isn’t rocket science
Writing isn’t rocket science. In fact, where are those Medium articles? Becoming a rocket scientist seems difficult as hell. Once you think about what it takes to launch hundreds of tons of mass into orbit—without exploding or…I dunno…hitting the moon or something, writing a few blog posts seems pretty easy in comparison, doesn’t it?
You can be a working writer. It’s easy.
You just have to do the simple, even boring work of writing. Now go write something and get paid for it.
