Can I Make a Living as a Writer?
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, “It’s complicated.” It depends on what you want to write, for one thing. Some writers easily earn more than $100,000 a year, some are novelists, yes, but most write in less flashy areas like technology or education. Other writers may earn $38,000 or less. Your salary as a writer depends on several factors.
I love writing short stories, but it’s very hard to make a career out of publishing literary short stories. In the last few years, I’ve been paid $500 for one short story, $75 for another story, and $5000 for yet another story. They were all equally difficult to write. And yet, I make it all work, financially. Here’s how.
Factors Influencing Writing Income
Writing Experience: Your experience and expertise make an enormous impact on your earnings.
Client or Employer: Some clients or employers (such as small-town papers) pay little, while corporate clients pay handsomely. However, if you’re self-employed, your income will depend on your ability to find and retain clients and keep them happy.
Writing Field: Screenwriters make more on average than travel writers, and so forth.
Hours worked: Full-time writers will usually make more than part-time writers, although some bestselling authors claim to work only a few hours per day.
Remember that not all of a writer’s time is spent writing. There’s a lot of boring, everyday stuff involved too—choosing a health insurance plan, managing your taxes or business license, or following up on unpaid invoices.
How Do I Make a Living as a Writer?
Big-name companies like Amazon and Microsoft hire hundreds of writers, as do companies like Nordstrom, which needs a great many copywriters. For these jobs, just like any other job, you apply and go through the interview process. These jobs come with health benefits and other typical job perks.
Other writers are self-employed and earn a living from various clients or contract-based work. Contract workers may be hired part-time or full-time by an agency, which may help manage the writer’s taxes or provide limited benefits.
However, the agencies typically take a cut of the writer’s earnings and pay per hour, which reduces your writing salary overall. Contract work is particularly common in creative agency work (such as advertising) and technology.
Making a living as a writer often relies heavily on your creativity and ability to pivot. But you became a writer because you are already creative.
Many writers struggle with the business side of writing—marketing in particular, along with day-to-day finances and taxes. Thankfully, there are experts you can hire to handle some of that work as you continue writing.
Can I Make a Living as a Fiction Writer?
Yes, but the income may be inconsistent at best. Some authors get lucky with a bestselling book that sells for millions. Others may churn out titles that sell consistently but don’t quite supply enough money to live on. Most authors who publish books end up needing other forms of income to survive, very often through teaching.
Speaking from personal experience, I’ve sold two literary novels. Then, I shifted to writing and publishing short stories for around a decade while building my teaching and writing coach careers.
It’s nice but inconsistent, and even selling a book may not be enough to pay the rent. An advance is typically paid in installments that can lag for months, even after signing. Your rent is due monthly. You see the problem.
Making Extra Money as a Writer
So, making a living as a novelist often involves adding this more regular work alongside your daily writing routine:
MFA Teaching: Many best-selling writers also teach at universities in MFA or creative writing programs. In the last ten years these jobs have become incredibly competitive, however, even as more jobs have become available.
Non-academic teaching: There are dozens of writing centers and other small or large organizations that offer writing classes. Many people do WITS (teaching kids in school).
Writing coaching or editing: Coaching other writers along the path to publication or editing their work.
Writing grants and fellowships: Hundreds of grant opportunities (AKA free money) are available to writers.
Speaking: Authors may be hired as speakers by organizations or schools, typically working with a speaker’s bureau.
That said, if you don’t love teaching, editing, speaking, or other roles in addition to writing, you may have a rough go making it as a writer.
Can I Make a Living as a Poet?
You can, but it can be among the tougher paths that require complementary approaches.
There are a few famous poets who sell quite a few books every year, but even they do not live off of their book sales alone—in most cases a large amount of their income comes from speaking fees.
To make a living as a poet, you'll likely need to do a variety of work— a poem may sell for just a few dollars, and you might well be paid nothing for the publication of your chapbook.
For example, poet Ken Waldman adds teaching, storytelling and performing music with his fiddle. He works in middle schools and gives away books to pay the rent. Another poet writes songs and recites anti-smoking poetry for city campaigns. Others hold down part-time jobs in the arts field or keep trying to win competitions.
Other poets might pen greeting cards, work as copywriters, or otherwise offer freelance writing services. The very successful poet Matthew Dickman has also become a very successful writer in the world of advertising, even as he still publishes poems in the New Yorker and elsewhere.
Can I Make a Living as a Freelance Writer?
Yes, easily—freelance nonfiction writers have some of the best income rates, depending on specialization. Nonfiction writers are a broad type of writer though, and the most versatile are rewarded with higher incomes.
A freelance writer might spend the morning composing website copy for a corporate client, the midday on interviews for a news article, and the afternoon on SEO-driven content.
Freelance writers find their work through networking, cold-pitching potential clients, and responding to requests to pitch from publications. There’s a lot of hustling for work.
Other writers are now finding success through Substack and gathering subscriptions to their regular writing, particularly if that content isn’t as readily available elsewhere.
How Much Money Do Freelance Writers Make?
According to surveys, high-earning freelance writers have a few things in common. According to one writers’ survey by Pam Neely, earning more in annual income correlates to:
Experience: The best-paid writers have 10 or more years of writing experience
Client type: Companies with 50 or more employees or agencies
Client loyalty: Clients return to the writer again and again for work
Hours invested: High earners work between 15-30 hours a week.
Sourcing: Highly paid freelance writers get work through networking and client referrals.
Content: Writers who can draft long-form articles involving interviews, blog posts, and web copy are paid best.
The worst-paid writers are new, don’t have consistent clients, or work for content mills or content services, and don’t write frequently. They’re also more likely to get work through a very wide array of sources, including websites for writers, content platforms, and social media. Ebooks aren’t that well-paid.
Can I Make a Living as a Screenwriter?
It is possible to make a living as a screenwriter—and screenwriters make some of the highest writing salaries, but this is an intensely competitive area, and it’s very difficult to break in unless you live in or near Hollywood.
According to the Writers Guild of America, the top-reported first-draft screenplay was sold for $4 million. Experienced writers earn more, but even new writers without any previous experience sell for around $100,000.
That said, only a percentage of screenwriters make those eye-popping six figures. Screenwriters typically first attend film school, then work lower-paid jobs for a while while screenwriting at night.
Selling a script involves connections and luck. And just because you sold the script doesn’t mean it will get made into a movie or that you’ll sell another script. Studios may ask for free rewrites. It’s not a very secure path.
Can I make a Living as a Travel Writer?
This one is challenging. Many people now making a living as travel writers are travel bloggers and influencers. Travel writers who simply write about travel and nothing else aren’t that common.
Often, travel writers need to write about additional topics such as health or personal finance. Or they might work more closely with large brands, rewriting web copy or crafting taglines.
Travel blogging is a different beast altogether, but it can lead to significant income if you understand SEO and how affiliate marketing and other income streams work. Also, if you’re living abroad in a more affordable country, making a living is a little easier.