There has never been a better time than now to earn money as a writer.
Whether you’re looking to change careers or pick up some extra cash on the side, the remote work revolution has ensured you have the opportunity to write for money from your sofa.
Work-from-home jobs are abundant and if you know where you look, you could be earning money from your writing by next week.
This article will walk you through everything you need to know about work-from-home writing jobs including what sort of writing work you can do, the difference between full-time and freelance writing, how to find remote writing jobs, and what you can expect to earn from your writing work.
Working From Home
Once upon a time, the sort of jobs you could do from home were very limited — selling Tupperware, providing childcare — but nowadays the remote work revolution is changing entire industries and all sorts of work can now be done from your sofa.
You can manage social media, write code or blog posts, or even run your psychology practice.
What you can do for work without having to go into an office is growing and so is one of the first remote job options — writing.
You don’t have to write books or be a journalist to be a writer.
Web content creation is a never-ending project for many businesses and the old-fashioned brochures and ads still need to be written, too.
Businesses need writers and they many of them are willing to let you work from home.
What Sort of Writing Jobs Can You Do From Home?
There is a range of different types of work-at-home writing jobs you can do but some are more popular than others.
We’ll focus on the more popular ones, which are usually available immediately.
Blog
Many businesses maintain a blog as part of their content marketing strategy.
Writing blog posts for a business can be interesting and steady work.
Poetry
Some writers make a living as a poet but most just make some extra money writing poetry for various publications.
Articles (Journalism)
Newspapers and magazines hire both full-time and freelance writers to produce their articles, which are then read by hundreds or millions of people, depending on the publication.
Recipes
Recipe writing isn’t an incredibly lucrative choice but if you enjoy being creative in the kitchen, it can be a fun way to earn a little extra cash.
Resume
Being a resume writer can be quite lucrative.
Job seekers want to make the best possible impression on hiring managers so if you have a background in HR, you could help them by completely writing or just fixing up their resumes.
Romance Novels
Romance is the most popular literary genre and you could make a career of writing romance novels under your name, a pen name, or for a publishing company.
Apart from articles, all of these types of writing can be with your byline or ghostwritten for another person, whose name would go on the content.
Having your name on content is nice for your portfolio, but generally, ghostwriting pays a bit more.
Some writers refuse to ghostwrite anything and others make a career of it.
Many writers decide whether or not to ghostwrite a piece of content on a case-by-case basis.
Regardless, there are a ton of people looking to sell books on Amazon, making this gig a great way to earn through that high demand.
Full Time vs. Freelance
It’s your call whether you look for a full-time writing job or take on freelance writing around your current work or personal schedule.
What you choose will depend on your goals and preferences.
There are pros and cons to consider for each option.
Full Time
It is possible to find a full-time remote writing job online.
The perks of having a full-time job you can do from home?
It usually comes with all the typical benefits of a full-time job, like a steady salary, health insurance, paid vacation.
It also often comes with responsibilities that are not directly related to writing, like helping write and manage the businesses social media, doing some data entry more typical of virtual assistants, or taking on some project manager responsibilities for the content.
This is especially true if you’re a full-time writer for a small business.
Some businesses may also require you to come into the office for big meetings or company days.
If your employer is close by and you like meeting your colleagues, that’s fine, but it does make that perfect job in New York a bit less feasible if you live in Seattle.
Full-time employees usually need to have a work visa for the hiring country, so you may not be eligible for that full-time work-at-home writing job if it’s in Canada and you don’t have the permission to work in Canada.
Freelance
Freelance writers are generally independent contractors who are responsible for their own taxes and health insurance.
They generally have complete control over their own schedules and are able to pick and choose the types of content they would like to write.
Your income as a freelance writer may be less steady, especially at first, while you’re building up your portfolio and reputation.
Many freelance writers start out as full-time staff writers and strike out on their own after a year or two of experience, but this doesn’t need to be the case.
You can start out as a freelance writer if you are systematic about building your portfolio and can handle the fact you’ll get more rejections than acceptances at first.
How to Find Remote Writing Jobs
The first thing you need to decide when you’re looking for a work-from-home writing job is whether you want a full-time job or a part-time job.
This detail, even more than the type of writing you want to do, will determine where you look for work.
Full-Time Positions
If you’re looking for a full-time writing job, start with these job platforms.
They have the most writing job listings that are full time and remote.
LinkedIn — Many people are surprised to hear that LinkedIn has an abundance of remote writing jobs, but as remote work became more common, LinkedIn started listing those jobs and now there are many.
Angel.co — As the go-to job board for startups, especially tech ones, Angel.co has lots of remote job offerings, including writing jobs.
We Work Remotely — While We Work Remotely focuses primarily on developer and project manager jobs, they usually have a dozen or so full-time writing job listings.
Freelance Positions
Upwork — As the biggest job board online, Upwork has a ton of writing gigs for you to bid on and nearly all of them allow you to work at home.
Textbroker — Textbroker is an easy way to pick up some freelance writing work, especially if you’re starting out and aren’t sure about the whole pitching process.
Textbroker allows you to claim available work instead and pays you upon acceptance.
Freelancer — As on Upwork, clients create job postings and freelancers bid on them.
It’s a little more work but tends to pay better than the average Upwork writing job.
ProBlogger — In addition to having a pretty active job board, ProBlogger has a ton of resources for freelance writers.
Skyword — If you’re an experienced writer, you can use Skyword to find clients who are looking for freelance writers like you to write content for them.
Your writing samples will make a huge difference here so make sure they’re very high quality.
Fiverr — While you’ll have to offer a $5 gig in order to be on Fiverr (we suggest something small like a photo caption for Instagram or a writer bio), you can easily earn significantly more for your average gig with Gig Extras and custom quotes.
nDash — Exclusively for experienced writers, nDash charges clients, not writers, and allows you to pitch ideas to clients instead of waiting for a job listing.
What Can You Expect to Earn as a Remote Writer
What you can earn as a writer will depend on what you’re writing, the type of job it is (full time vs. freelance), and whether you produce high-quality content or just so-so.
Full-time jobs may ask for your resume and care whether you have a bachelor’s degree, but freelance gigs will usually only be concerned with your ability to produce great work in a timely manner.
Full-time remote writing jobs usually pay between $30,000 and $60,000 per year, depending on your experience and the work you’re doing.
Running a content strategy usually pays more than simply writing blog posts and social media content.
Freelance writing work payment will vary from $10 to $400 for a blog post and $25 to $200 for a poem.
Some freelance writing jobs pay hourly, which is great for when you’re starting out but could penalize you for getting faster and more efficient about your work.
Writing hourly rates usually start around $15–$25 per hour and go all the way up to $200 per hour for great B2B copywriters.
Stay Home and Earn Money Writing
You know everything you need to know about writing for money from your sofa.
Now it’s up to you to decide whether you want to switch careers or dip your toe in by freelancing.
Whatever you decide, the next step is clear — get your portfolio in order and start pitching!
You may have to start out on the lower end of what you can earn as a work-at-home writer, but if you’re consistently delivering great work, your income will quickly go up.
And you still won’t have to go to an office.
Happy writing!
