Basic Steps to Earn Money Writing

“What do you think about these websites for making some extra income.” The post on the Google+ community seemed innocent enough to me – until I read the first response. He wanted to know the why behind the action that was driving her in the direction of the websites. I understood what he was saying, but I also understood the need to make some extra money.

My freelance writing career started with working as a paid poster on forums. I would find posts on subjects I knew something about (or wanted to know something about) and reply to those posts. I made a little extra money, but more importantly I began making the connections that would help me launch my freelance writing career.

Along the way, I began to understand just what it was I wanted from my writing. I did want to make money, but it was no longer about making a little extra. I wanted to build a writing career. My search for opportunities began to center around that objective. My freelance writing career took off, but I discovered that I liked writing my own content more than I liked writing others. My writing career began to evolve and take a new direction.

Building a successful writing career will mean different things to different people. I will ever be able to tell you if one site will work for you or not – based on my experience. You have to share more about what you are doing and what you want to do with the words you create.

Take Three Steps to Earn Money Writing

1. Define what you want from your writing. If you need to earn a particular amount of money from your words, then define that. If you want to pursue a certain career with your words, then define that. Know what you want if you want to know how to get it.

2. Determine your ability. You need to know how fast you can write an article. You can figure it up by choosing a subject and writing an article of 450 words. Be sure to time yourself from start to finish including the editing process. How many words would you be able to create in an hour based on this exercise. Now you have an idea of what you can do so you can begin to determine what you can charge for that service.

3. Search out the opportunities that meet step 1 and step 2. There are plenty of sites that list writing opportunities. Now that you have your rates in mind, you can begin to match up with the best options in those long lists.

Building a career – and even just earning a little extra income – takes some time and effort. Know what you want, what you can do and then find the jobs that match with you.