“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep,
you will work until you die.” – Warren Buffet

There are many different income streams you can build from your writing. Most of these can turn into sources of passive income. 

You can treat your books and blogs like income generating assets that keep bringing in money long after the initial creation and publishing efforts were made.  Such ‘set and forget’ passive income streams would be making you money even when you are sleeping, traveling or pursuing other hobbies.

Another benefit is that you can enjoy flexible timings during your writing work and can enjoy a great life style with work-life balance.

Here are some ideas on how to make money with your writing:

• Self-publish a book / e-book

One obvious way to make money as a writer is to sell books and e-books.
Selling books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo is common way for writers to make an income.

Books will give you credibility as an expert and help to grow a tribe of loyal readers. Self-publishing an e-book can have low start-up costs and still pay off big over time.

 

Whom to write for? Well, people are looking for advice on wide range of topics, from how to manage their money to advice on training their pet. There is endless need for information that people are willing to pay for.

Using topic-specific knowledge that you may already have, you can write, publish, and sell these informative or entertaining books. You can turn one of your interests or skills into a book and earn royalties for as long as it sells. 
Ask yourself these questions:

• What are you good at and are passionate about?
• Do people often ask you about something that you have to explain over and over again?
• Do you have an idea that has been lingering in your head for years?
• Do people often say to you “you should write a book!”

Those are your leads to what you can easily write about.

 

There are lots of guides about writing and publishing e-books and about the publishing platforms. You can also watch a lot of video guides on YouTube about how self-publish e-books.

 

E-book business is a numbers game. The more books you write, the more potential passive income you’ll receive in the future. And if your books are written on evergreen topics (not temporary or seasonal fads), you could earn passive income for a long time.

• Blogging

A monetized blog is one of the most popular ways to earn passive income for writers. Blog posts last for years and can be an ongoing income source. For some writers, it is a full-time job.

You can place ads on your blog in more than one way.  One popular way is Google AdSense. But there are many others that offer banner or link advertising. It’s not a lot of work. All you need to do is add some code to your site and then wait for the money to roll in.

You can sign up with an advertising network such as Google AdSense (https://www.google.com/adsense) or adBrite (https://www.adbrite.com) to display ads on your blog or website.

There are now publications such as PsychologyToday.com and Forbes.com that will give their writers the pay per click option. They pay you, say $5 per 1,000 clicks. Let’s assume you get 2,000 clicks a month. You can calculate how much money you can make in a year? In two years? In five years?

• Income from Content

There are hundreds of opportunities to write for online content providers, such as Textbroker (https://www.textbroker.com/) and True Lancer (https://www.truelancer.com/)

 

They pay per article, and pay is often dependent on the length of the article.

You may have the opportunity to forgo an initial payment in lieu of a revenue share that is based on the number of people who view your article.

• Ehow https://www.ehow.comIt’s a website that offers answers “how to” questions. Writers register with the site and either start writing their own articles or answering the articles that have been requested. Ehow articles should be written to answer ‘how to’ questions. Based on a points system, writers can become Enthusiasts or Authorities. Authorities will get more page views and prominence in featuring their articles.

You can also choose up to five articles to be featured regularly with any article you publish. By cycling through those five regularly, you can increase your page views and potential income.

 

• Medium (https://www.medium.com )is an example of the model where you write the stories and get paid based on readers’ responses. A portion of the reader’s monthly fee is shared with the author of the articles the reader likes.

• Article Writing

There are article sites (like https://ezinearticles.com/ willing to pay writers for web content on any subject. Most of these sites pay $4–15 per short article. Paid articles are an easy way to make some extra cash for research-oriented people with well-rounded background

• Audio Books

Audio is a popular way for people to consume content, while doing other work like driving or cooking.  Turning your written content to audio allows you to offer different forms of content. You can take one piece of content and turn it into multiple streams of income. One example of such sites is https://www.audible.com/

• Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing involves adding a particular type of link to your social media posts when you share a product or service. When people use that link to buy the thing you’re recommending, you earn a small commission (with no impact on the buyer). If you’re already producing some sort of content, adding affiliate marketing links is very easy and quick way to earn some extra cash.

You can also do one-on-one sponsorships with companies to plug their product or service. You can check with the companies for any service or product that you are already using to see if they have affiliate opportunities.

It will easy to for you to promote to your audience something you already like. For example, you can be an affiliate marketer for the software that you use, such as Grammarly for your blog posts and add its affiliate link for readers to click on. When readers click on affiliate links, they will be taken to each product page. If they decide to make a purchase, you can earn a sales commission.

• Ghost Writing

A lot of people don’t want public attention that writing can bring. You can be a ghost writer for them. You would be working with others to help them write texts (e.g., books or speeches). For this work you wouldn’t be publicly credited as the author. You could be working with celebrities or politicians, making a living from writing on their behalf.

• Copywriting

As the saying goes ‘Copywriting is salesmanship in print’. Mainly, copywriting is creating written content for a business that reflects their brand and products. As a copywriter, you could be writing content that will be seen by their customers and clients. You could be writing sales letters, ad copy, web copy, and many others. Good copywriters can make six or seven figures a year. This can become a long-term career option for you.

• Training Courses

If you are an expert on something, you can produce your own course about it. There are platforms like Skillshare and Udemy that allow you to produce, upload, and sell your own classes. 

Writing training courses can generate you a lot more money per sale than a book. It may be difficult to sell a $500 book, but very much do-able with a valuable course.

• Social Media ManagementMany companies are willing to pay independent writers to take care of their social media postings. You may have written full Facebook and Instagram posts. You could charge for a single post, or charge by the bundle.
• Reviewing Books, Products, Films, Music

You can start making money by signing up for a few rewards websites, where you could be reviewing anything from gadgets to music to stationery.

For example, on Slicethepie, you can earn cash from writing short reviews of fashion items and songs. Or, you can register to become a product tester or a paid survey site panel member and end up making money by reviewing products you otherwise pay to buy. Product testers are sometimes allowed to keep the items they review, or even sell them on to increase their earnings!

• Translations

There are a lot of businesses willing to pay you to translate text for them on a freelance basis. As your homework you can first look at sites like Fiverr to see how much freelance translators tend to charge, depending on the languages they speak.