Arts
Are you good with words but wondering how to make great money as a writer? Maybe you studied creative writing or literature in school (as one of your majors anyway!), love diving into stories and the land of imagination, and care about things like pacing, syntax, and the oxford comma… ...But don’t want to spend your life doing a job you hate or simply settling for pennies. Well, the goods news is you don’t have to! You don’t even need to be that good to make great money as a writer (I’m talking 6-figures plus). In this episode, I’ll share the myriad of ways you can make money as a writer so you can take those word-smithing skills all the way to the bank! The good news is that opportunities for writers are actually EXPANDING as we move more and more digital and “online” as a society. But your first step is asking yourself how you want to make great money as a writer? Show Notes: (03:36) Maybe you have another thing you do to make money and writing is something you want to pursue creatively, but you don't necessarily want to pursue it as a revenue generating area of your life. (04:25):If you want to consider writing as a revenue generating area of your life, let's talk about options. There’s work for hire and there’s “working it.” Do you want to be a writer for hire or do you want to be your own brand and voice? Those are two different things. (06:30): What is copywriting? It's writing that is designed to help market and sell products, services, and offers. It's writing for businesses with the intention to sell. (08:17): The type of copywriting I specialize in happens at the consideration stage where someone is very close to buying and already in the buying decision phase. (09:11): That is typically known as direct response copywriting. (11:32):If you go down the path of blogging, it could take three to five years of consistent content creation to get to a place where you can make six figures a year. (13:08):I've chosen to have consistent revenue based on a skill that I can turn around to support and help people. And then on the other end of it, I have my creative writing. (14:00): So you decide what your risk tolerance is at different stages and creative writing is something that absolutely can make money for you. But, you want to be mindful about how you want to build that into your life in terms of money. (15:46): There are absolutely authors that make money. There are some bestselling authors that just from book sales alone, make money. (16:39): If you're a blogger and you build your own audience, you will get the opportunity to get paid and maybe get a book deal. You will get the opportunity to self-publish a book and make even more money off of self publishing. But again, is that going to be the highest earning potential you have with your blog and with your writing? (18:23): The average fee a writer gets paid to ghostwrite a book for someone else is about $30,000. (20:47): There are some publications that pay a thousand dollars for a piece. But the going average is closer to 300 dollars for an article. And that's IF the publication even pays the writer, which oftentimes they don't. (21:42): With copywriting, you're in a position where you can charge a couple thousand dollars or more because of the level of value you're delivering for their business. (25:17): My first year copywriting full time, I had five figure months within three months and made $80,000. Then, I was making $160,000 the next year and it kept growing from there. So I will never say that copywriting is not the best, fastest, most efficient and rewarding way to make great money as a writer. (26:16): Is your desire to be a professional writer because of the lifestyle you think it can afford you? Like working from home, working alone, working in a coffee shop, having flexibility, being able to do projects that allow you to travel and explore the world and do cool things? (27:52): When you're considering all the different avenues where you can make great money as a writer, I would ask you to consider what is the lifestyle you really desire? And do you want your revenue to be attached to writing? (28:34): You can work from home, travel, work in a coffee shop, have that flexibility. Be sure to check back next week to learn the Six Pillars of a Six-Figure Copywriting Business, where I'll be walking you through all the different pieces that you need in place to have a copywriting business and hit six figures. I've worked with lots of copywriters over the years mentoring them in their business, so I'll be sharing my exact process next week! If you’re a talented writer who’s already aching to hit that 6-figure mark with a copywriting business, I’ve got good news for you! Doors are now open for a special case study round of my program Create Your 6-Figure Copywriting Business. In it, you’ll learn and implement the agency-style approach that had me hitting 5 figure months just THREE months after going full-time in my business. Click here for more details and to apply right now. Create like you mean it, Jamie Resources from this episode: Subscribe to the podcast + leave a 5-star review here Continue the conversation inside the Creatives Making Money community Learn more about Create Your 6-Figure Copywriting Business here.