I have no idea what I should be doing. I want to write. Make a dozen or so quality articles. Make a portfolio, apply for jobs, and start earning. Make a following on Medium, and maybe earn from there too. I know it's commonly said that "writers don't make much", but I don't need much from this, either. I just want to start earning. It's just going to be a side hustle. But I don't know what I should write. I honestly have no idea. You need to write what there is a demand for to make cash, of course. There are some things that I am interested in that may be worth exploring. Psychology, mental health, self-help, men's health, digital marketing, maybe talking about my own experiences in life. I feel like I usually don't know enough to write about something unless it's literally my own experience (which may or may not be a profitable/popular niche). Maybe there's a whole bunch of different things I could try. I really don't know yet... yet to switch around from these posts would feel like I'm being very inconsistent? Maybe I should just mess around for a while and find out? I don't want to do tonnes of research, and I don't want to feel awful while writing. Things that are complicated or boring tend to make me feel like that. I'm not completely sure. I know I don't necessarily need to be "passionate" to succeed or "enjoy" what I write about, I just don't want to feel so opposed to it. PS: I did enjoy writing some/half of my articles. It's just trying to rush and feeling lost and confused that kind of ruins it for me. And if I don't know what to write or do, I won't even write anything sometimes, which isn't any better. It's annoying. I could link my medium account so you could see my articles if anyone would be interested?
The OP wants to write... and they have! So our culture is working. And what's more, their earnings from this post are already statistically representative of all writers' earnings. For they have an upvote, the feeling of a job well done, and potentially the ultimate prize: immortality! (subject to the durability of the medium) Sadly there are financial costs that will never be covered. On a PC each word uses electricity - a small fraction of a cent - but it adds up. If it's any consolation the readers pay many times more. Well, rightly so. They are a burden: semi-literate most of the time. Damned parasites. As much as anything we write to bleed them of their undeserved electricity. But I digress, and I'm anxious in case I'm not helping with the OP's real question. I've always ostensibly been paid to write - but probably I have been a sort of gilded-cage pet, of occasional amusement to god-knows-whom. My advice would be to be silent. Don't write a thing until your patron calls on you. Silence shows your patron that you're receptive. If somebody didn't ask you to write an article, probably they won't pay you either.
If I don't write I'll never rack up experience or build a solid portfolio which doesn't increase my chances of getting hired in the future.
I want to be financially independent, and it's likely the only/best marketable skill I have. My writing has always been better than my peers growing up and I enjoy writing thoughtfully. Although I might lose some of that when I'm trying to build a career. It's something I feel I either have developed a bit before (or have some "talent"...wouldn't think that though) and I'm more likely to be able to develop this strength than something else.
Yeah, don't write then. There's probably no worse profession you could hitch your wagon to if you're parsing potential career paths by financial gain.
You want to make money writing as a "side hustle", but have no ideas, no desire to do research, don't want to write things that are complex or that bore you, you don't feel the need to be passonate about what you write, and you "just don't want to feel so opposed to it." This is not a good recipe for success in any field.
I think it would be a shame for a writer to just... write, especially if he's not big on research. You're clearly literate, which means you have a competitive edge over 1/5 of the population (if you're from the US). Consider going out and do something daring. Or do something that appears mundane to an outsider. Most things are more complicated than we think. Enrichen the writer, enrichen the writing, and maybe he make some money along the way. As far as demand for articles goes, that was maybe ten years ago? People generally suck and would rather watch a Youtube video than read an article. Transcript-turned-video would be the best way to get short form non-fiction reach these days (assuming you have anything to say in the first place), but that means becoming a one-man studio. If you're pretty, use that face, as all's fair in media and war. Whatever you choose will take commitment. If you'll just 'try' a few articles/videos and stop, then you didn't try, but that can be said about many endeavours anyway.
Checking OP's age I get the feeling this is closely related to something I kept running into on a message board centered on drawing and painting. A few years after high school the parents are saying "Get a job and get out", and people start thinking maybe I can translate my (art/writing/singing/sculpting) into a career? The advice there was always it doesn't work to try to learn it in a big hurry—if you want a career in the arts you need to learn it properly and it takes years at the very least. Ironically at the time it's exactly what I was trying to do. I was hoping to bring my drawing/painting skills up rapidly, in a matter of months, to a pro level. They're still not there, and it 's been years, though they are considerably better now than they were. It's doubtless different in writing articles (as opposed to more 'artistic' writing like fiction). And as The Territory said, you obviously already have some writing skills. Maybe the trick in your case is to find your niche, or find a publisher that likes your writing. What you need is a portfolio, which in this case means some finished articles that show your skills. Send them around to publishers that might be interested and see if you get any hits. In the art world nobody cares where you went to school or if you have any degrees, it's all about what you can do.
There are things I could try that I know of but they're so many I'm not sure what to decide. It's like analysis paralysis. It's not that I don't want to research either, I just don't want to pour hours into doing it to write one article because of time constraints and personal targets (3-5 articles per week to make any reasonable progress). I wouldn't mind researching for a few days and then writing one article per week if I could actually gain any tangible traction with it. The pressure makes it not fun I guess. I can write complex/boring things if I had to, but why would I want to deliberately choose that if there were options to write interesting things. I'm not "passionate" about anything. Does that mean I do nothing in my life? Nope. I still do them anyway. From my own experience in other things, you certainly don't need to be "passionate" to succeed.
I definitely feel that way too tbh. I think when I start earning a bit I will invest time into finding out what I like writing about and build it up until I can switch to that. This doesn't need to be a full-time income. I just need to consistently make $35 monthly for my purposes and I'll be set. Of course I want to make more than that, and I believe I can take writing in that direction (as other writers definitely have, even in 2023), or I will explore other side hustles or income streams. But for now this needs to work, and I guess that's been limiting freedom of thought to write in the way I would like to. I would say writing for me has been an "underexplored hobby". I know I have a knack for writing (at least if you compare me to non-writers, my writing reads much better generally amongst my peers. I expect not to be particularly remarkable amongst writers who have actually dedicated themselves to the craft, naturally), but I never really developed it much and I would actually like to play with words too sometime. I wrote a draft for a novel sometime before this (albeit I never continued with it). I seldom write poetry or song lyrics when I am in a melancholy mood. I loved English class back at school. So it's not something I "don't like" in and of itself, for sure. There are a lot of YT scriptwriting jobs on Upwork but I pushed it aside because idk well enough how YT works for that. I'm not American, nor am I a native English speaker (despite having native-like fluency), which doesn't help in getting gigs.
Ouch. Yeah that's pretty much what's going on. I would like to take this more slowly and find something I'm actually passionate about and can profit off of, but I feel pressured and can't really afford to do so. What I've decided upon doing is just finding anything that can make a small regular income that fits the bare minimum since I'm still living with my parents (~$35/m), and then as soon as that is met I will invest time into finding what I actually want out of writing and develop that at my own pace. And maybe explore other side hustles later/simultaneously. Even before, when I was younger, I would do what you said, "maybe I can make this XYZ hobby a career" (although I was never serious about it before, I didn't have the right information and mindset back then). I am working on establishing a portfolio. I think I need to find some writing gigs first so I can actually write a few proper 1000-1500 word samples, and then I'll try selling my services around. I have already written 5-10 short articles entirely on my own on Medium but I want some actual clients now. Will need to look into publishers too.
Well, it's clear you're quite intelligent, and you sound like the kind of person who's going to be successful at pretty much whatever you set out to do. You write really well, especially considering English is a second language. Sorry I can't be of any more help, but article writing is way outside of my wheelhouse. Best of luck to you!
You read more into my comment than was intended, but fair enough. No doubt I misinterpreted your own comments as well. Let's start over, shall we? I've been writing magazine and newspaper articles since 1987. After thirty-six years as a freelancer, I have enough chops that I can find markets for work that interests me the most. However, part of the learning process was doing research on or interviewing people about subjects that were complex or that bored me personally. One may not need to be passionate to succeed, but genuine enthusiasm for the work comes in handy while one is trudging down the road to success. Here's my advice, take it or leave it as you prefer: Quit prevaricating. Choose a topic, any topic,and write 100 or 750 or 1000 words on it. Put it aside, choose another topic, write another article. Repeat until your skills shine. Excellent freelancers abound and just being a good writer isn't good enough. Learn to write compelling proposal letters. Most of the time one doesn't submit a completed article to a magazine. One submits a proposal for an article. If the editor says, sure, I like the concept, let me see 1200 words on the subject, then write 1200 words on the subject ASAP and send them off. Thoroughly research magazines you'd like to write for. Look at their submission requirements, examine the voice of the magazine, and figure out how to write an article that will fit into its format. The writer adapts to the publication, not vice versa. I've spent nine years editing a nationally distributed newsletter. Submission guidelines unequivocally state "no creative nonfiction," yet writers persist in believing I will make an exception because their creative nonfiction is sooooo good. Nope. Ignoring submission guidelines is a direct route to the recycle bin. Good luck to you, Shooting Star.
Thank you for your advice. If I may ask, shouldn't one hold back on writing proposal letters until their writing has developed a bit and they've actually gained some traction by working with real clients (rather than self-started prompts)? I think it might be way too early for me to go after the journals or magazines right now because I'm just beginning this work.
You're welcome. I'm not sure what you mean by "... actually gained some traction by working with real clients (rather than self-started prompts)?" Journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, etc. are the real clients. What I suggested is a course of study to increase the chances of finding real clients. Practice writing articles on topics that interest you. Practice writing proposals for those articles. Practice doing market research for appropriate clients for those articles. This is how you can learn the skills you need to write that first real proposal for a real client.
If you want to write to earn $35 a month, learn to copywrite and offer your services on Upwork or Fiverr - where you will be competing with the thousands of others who do the same.
In addition to that competition there is:- - competing with what the customer can write on their own - competing with a blank page / the option of doing nothing - competing with millions of pages of royalty-free text written by great authors - competing with IP theft - competing with AI ...None of which applies to kidneys: I'm just saying. Articles aren't what I do, but since Covid haven't there been mass layoffs on the online journalism world?
Ah I was referring to how I would either use ChatGPT for writing prompts or come up with something to write about myself, which doesn't necessarily translate into what the market demand is for. That is a lot to digest at once but it's solid advice. I will keep it in mind.
There's two separate areas of magazine writing... there's writing for literary magazines wherein you sell short stories, or essays or what have you, and then there's writing for trade press wherein you write non fiction about xyz subject (there's also a cross over where you write non fiction about writing for writing trade press). I don't know a lot about the former, but in the past i've sold about 80 articles to magazines - they generally require a knowledge of and interest in whatever it is you're writing about... mine were all on countryside, birdwatching, outdoor photography, small holding etc. It helps that I'm also a photographer capable of doing words and pictures I would say however that its got harder in the last ten years and a lot harder since the pandemic due to the sheer volume of competition engaging in a race to the bottom... and also articles that used to pay about £100-200 now pay £20-50 or less, I've pretty much stopped doing it because i can more easily make more money in other ways. A point of note about this is that if you write because you want to write and get pleasure out of having your words read then crack on, but if you just want to earn some side hustle cash you'd be financially better off with a job as a barman, waiter etc
I have to disagree with this based on my experience. If the OP wants to be a journalist, I suggest getting a journalism degree, and maybe a Masters from some place like Columbia. It's what you learn getting those degrees that's important. I also think having an MFA is worthwhile. Again, it's what you learn and practice during your time getting these degrees that is really important. And earning them does give you a level of credibility as well. So, I really wouldn't say nobody cares about degrees or where/if someone went to school when it comes to writing. But it doesn't seem that @Shooting Star is really that serious or interested in this.
Sadly, some of the people making the most money out of writing are the ones producing the most ridiculous crackpot rubbish out there. Sensationalism sells.
