Inspired by Nicole Dieker’s weekly reports.
For the week ending 3/20/2016:
- Articles : 6
- Total words: 5,224
- Total hours (research/writing): 9
- Dollars earned: $73.14
- Dollars in my bank: $13.85
I’ve known, vaguely, how to go about being paid for writing, but I’ve never really taken an active role in making it happen. I don’t know, I guess I’ve been scared. Fear is the little death, y’all.
A couple of weeks ago, I set out to finally, finally, start getting paid for writing. My understanding of the process involves collecting some samples of my writing, finding paying outlets, and pitching ideas to them while showing off my samples, also known as “clippings”, to potential editors and publishers.
I have this blog and it’s full of samples of my writing, but I feel a bit insecure about it all. I’ve never had a wide audience – as best as I can tell, readership peaked around 200 visitors a month several years ago, and has tapered off since I don’t update as often. But being selected by an editor carries more weight than publishing to my own site. So I decided I need to get more practice writing to someone else’s specifications.
Which led me to sign up for what are popularly known as “content mills”. I realize I’m not getting paid very much, but it’s a first step. I’m hoping that it will provide a base for me, and also help me make better contacts and get a better feel for how to pitch better-paying work.
And, honestly, as it stands now, it’s providing me nearly the same level of income as one of my current part-time jobs, with the benefit of being able to work when I want, wherever I want, wearing whatever I want, without any commute, and that’s in just 9 hours of actual research and writing time. If I could spend more time doing it, even at this level of pay, I could make more.
So here goes my adventure.