Making extra living as a writer (full time)
By nicregi
@nicregi (1934)
Malaysia
August 22, 2011 9:49am CST
Hi guys.
I am wondering, is it possible for a writer (full time) to be able to earn enough income a month. Say the income of a normal working adult? I know it takes sweat, time and even tears but, honestly, I need to know this and I want to hear what the pros out there saying.
What do you think?
1 person likes this
11 responses
@subhakars (932)
• India
22 Aug 11
Hi,
It is very easy to earn a living writing online part time.. not even full time. However you need to be serious about building a career as a writer. I work as a freelance writer on sites like freelancer, elance, odesk etc and get paid between $5-$10 per 500 word article. One article takes 1 hour for me. So If i work 2-3 hours per day I earn around a decent income.
Many of my friends earn more than $1000 per month writing for 4-5 hours per day. Go to elance.com or freelancer.com or odesk and check profiles of few writers and their hourly rate.
However, it is not easy to get your first assignment. It takes time initially but it is worth. Again there are multiple opportunities to earn as a writer.
I am talking about working 4-5 hours as a part time.
1 person likes this
@beingwell (3625)
• Thailand
23 Aug 11
Hi nic! I haven't seen you here for ages, I think. How's it going?
How's your day job? I hope everything's well. Still writing with Hubpages?
@beingwell (3625)
• Thailand
23 Aug 11
I'd love to see your blog. Send me a link and I'll visit it. I'm doing well, same old!hahahah! Let's see, I'm writing for Triond. I gave up on HP but I still have an account there. I'll re-publish my articles in other writing sites soon, not in the near future though. Perhaps some months from now.
@nicregi (1934)
• Malaysia
23 Aug 11
Hey how have you been? I been really busy lately as I got a new one job and moved to a new place. HP my older articles are there but need time to modify them. I started a blog recently and hoping to get it into page rank say 6-9 months time. I totally lost contact with you! Drop me a pm wz your email and we can chat there. :) hope you been doing well with your family and writing too!
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
22 Aug 11
I am not sure how much you want to make but presently I am doing pretty good writing. I'm not sure I'm doing enough to make a real living but I haven't missed a meal yet! My biggest thing is trying to keep up with the demand. That's where the sweat and tears come in for sur!!
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
23 Aug 11
That's probably a reasonable goal. I would try to find one client and see how well you can keep up with that and then build from there.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
23 Aug 11
Hi nicregi 
Friend you have been away for a while and were missed.
I think there are some training institutes in UK that provide you with writing skills in the distance learning mode. During the course they also tell you how you can get published. And by the time you complete the course, you have some experience.
Though they train you on almost all spheres of writing, you pick up the one that you are passionate about. After the course of course, it is your struggle and creativity lead by your passion.
And yes, if we start with smaller things (not beliving that we are all JKR or Agatha Christie or even Harold Robins), I think it is possible to make a living by writing.
Maybe, you can try technical writing, or even general writing - something that comes naturally to you instead of following the leaders.
Friend you have been away for a while and were missed.
I think there are some training institutes in UK that provide you with writing skills in the distance learning mode. During the course they also tell you how you can get published. And by the time you complete the course, you have some experience.
Though they train you on almost all spheres of writing, you pick up the one that you are passionate about. After the course of course, it is your struggle and creativity lead by your passion.
And yes, if we start with smaller things (not beliving that we are all JKR or Agatha Christie or even Harold Robins), I think it is possible to make a living by writing.
Maybe, you can try technical writing, or even general writing - something that comes naturally to you instead of following the leaders.@nicregi (1934)
• Malaysia
23 Aug 11
Hi thesids!
Oh my God! You still remember me?
Yeah I heard about that but currently, looking for something like online study or so. Living in Malaysia...haha!
About starting small, started back a writing blog at bloggers and getting started back from scratch. Well, I guess I have a lot of time to do so. Taking my own time but at same time, trying to balance up work + play + writing + Android XD
Technical writing and General Writing? Not bad. Honestly thought of general writing but yeah, now I am with general writing at the moment. Got to find back my writing 'specific' mood back.!
*p/s hope you are doing fine buddy!
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
23 Aug 11
Of course I do remember you dear. I am pulling along as usual hehehe
Yes, I do remember that you are from Malaysia but the course I mentioned about was via correspondance. They also make promises that you would be refunded the fee in case any of your task summissions go unattended. I hav been planning to take up that course but as my earnings are quite low since the last few years, I have to hold back.
Blogging too is a great thing to start up with. In case you spend time writing good informative articles related to a specific subject (anything that suits you, I have heard stories that they can help in making lots of money) but you would need to market the blog too :)
In case I ever happen to join the course, I would try to scan the documents and send the across to you... maybe you would find them useful.
Take care buddy and if possible, keep showing up here more frequently
@Dominique25 (9464)
• United States
22 Aug 11
I think that a person can make some money from writing. I'm not sure about full time income. I guess if you found the right companies that paid regular for articles or for contract perhaps you could earn a good deal. I think the key though to this would be to find companies that pay a good amount that you could really earn from. I hope that you are able to find something that pays well and regularly and that allows you to recycle certain articles.
@GemmaR (8517)
•
22 Aug 11
That would depend entirely upon where you're writing and what you're planning to write. I use a couple of online websites which I write articles for, but I couldn't earn a full time wage from that no matter how hard I tried to do so. The biggest amount that I have got was by approaching a company and asking them whether they needed anything writing for them. You will find that they prefer to employ people when they need things done rather than on a full time basis, so if you find a couple of places that will hire you, you could soon be earning enough to keep yourself going. Just make sure that you know what you can cope with; as you don't want to be taking too much on.
@yspmyl (3435)
• Malaysia
23 Aug 11
If you were to turn yourself into a full time writer immediately without having a concrete base, and if you are not famous at all, I don't think you can survive from being a writer. Unless your books can make a miracle like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. If you insist to be a writer, it is better to start as a part time writer, that will be less risky.
@Sanitary (3968)
• Singapore
23 Aug 11
It should be enough if u have what it takes to survive. ONCe u are good enough, everybody, every company will be head hunting for u and that's where u get famous. There are many types of writers. Those writes colums, books, newspaper articles, sports, and many all. IT depends on where your interest lies in and concentrate on just a few.
And I believe they got more than a normal income of a normal working adult.
