Make Money Writing: 16 Ways to Get Paid to Write ($20 Per Hour)

We're living in an era of Artificial Intelligence. That means, a lot of tasks can be done automatically, if we provide the right prompt to the right Artificial Intelligence resource. While this might make writing much easier for those who lack this skill, using AI also has own pitfalls. Firstly, it lacks human emotions and often can throw up wrong or misleading content including book chapters, blogs or research material.

While we can't really sell AI generated content due to various reasons and especially since it might infringe copyrights, we can always use these resources for research, spelling, grammar and punctuation check or even to get out of the proverbial ‘writer's block', when the brain goes into deep-freeze and we're unable to continue.

I have over three decades of experience of writing for money. I will share my experience and explain all possible ways to get paid to write articles, essays, reviews, and even short stories.

You can easily earn $50 to $250 per day if you have good writing skills and use the correct way to make money writing articles.

Here are the 16 best ways that will be useful for you to make money as a writer. All these 15 ways are simple & anyone with little or no experience can start doing money writing.

16 Ways to Make Money Writing

I make $2000-$3000 per month writing online for others. An average writer can easily earn $2000 to $10000 every month writing articles, essays, stories, etc.

Here I will show you 16 excellent ways to get paid to write.

1. Content Writer

Content writing is always in demand worldwide. You can simply visit any good freelance work website such as Upwork or Fiverr or FlexJobs and find countless posts needing the services of content writers. This online writing job can pay anything between $5 and $100 per hour depending on your skill and the nature of content.

This is one of the most popular ways to do money writing. You can find a number of different ways to get paid to write for others: bloggers, advertisers as well as companies or businesses that require written content for their blogsites, websites or social media posts.

There is a great demand for writers for doing all these writing works. If you have experience in any given ways above, you can do money writing.

You can find such online writing jobs here or see many other freelance websites where you can signup as a writer and get writing assignments.

Here are some of the most popular sites for writers-

Upwork: One of the most popular platforms for freelancers. You can signup on Upwork and write for money. It's not difficult to find regular writing jobs here.

Fiverr: I have not only worked as a seller on Fiverr, but I have good experience as a buyer also. You can join Fiverr as a seller and then create writing gigs related to your writing assignments for $5 or multiple of $5. Getting your first order is essential at Fiverr. So, get it the way you think is good.

iWriter: This is one of the exclusive sites for writers where you can find all types of freelance writing jobs. You can start with $5 to $10 for 500-1000 words content, and once you are promoted, you can make up to $100 for a 1000 words article.

Contently: There are two ways to make money writing on Contently. First, get paid to write for their clients and another for Contently.

Freelancer: If you are an expert and confident, it's easy to make money writing at Freelancer.com. Here you can get paid $25 to write 1000 words.

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2. Blogger

I recommend every writer to start their blog even if you don’t want to make money writing from your blog. A blog can showcase your talent through the content you will publish on your blog.

Creating a Blog is EASY!

If you believe me… it's so easy that it'll hardly take 15 minutes to make a blog from scratch…

So, If you want to start your BLOG, read this guide, which will help you create one FAST…

An article written for others will earn you only a one-time income, but an article written for your BLOG can make you a lifetime income.

and… that’s why blogging can make you lots of money.

There are many ways you can make money from your blog. One of the easiest ways is by placing AdSense ads on your blog.

Another popular method is affiliate marketing. You can promote different products related to the topic you are writing on your blog and make money from each sale that happens through your blog.

3. Author

All of us have stories to tell. These could be factual stories or something we imagine or even a blend of both. Sometimes we feel that our knowledge or skill in something could prove useful to others. Or, we have some secret skill that people might love to learn.

Should you have such skills, I recommend that you become an author. Write your book- one page or even one para at a time- depending on its intricacy. In fact, I've written a book that spanned over 180 pages- A4 size- blending one of my real life stories with a bit of fiction.

You don't need to find expensive publishers and pay for editing and other stuff. With simple skills, proofread the manuscript, make necessary changes and open an account on Amazon Kindle. Here, you can publish on own name or a pen-name. Amazon Kindle offers four options- printing a book as paperback, hardcover and e-book. You can also create a series of books, as the fourth option, as long as they bear the same title and are serialized.

4. Ghostwriter

Ghostwriting is the best way to make money by writing an article or book. The term “ghostwriter” is a bit misleading because you might believe it’s all about writing scary stories or ghost stories.

A ghostwriter is someone who writes on behalf of another person. The article or book gets published in the name of the buyer. In return, the ghostwriter gets a lot of money because they’ve to also give up copyrights to the article.

A ghostwriter can charge anything from $300 to $500 for selling their work. It would usually be measured on a word count basis. Meaning one word will cost the buyer $1 or more in some instances.

Countless Americans are now signing up to work as ghostwriters because Artificial Intelligence makes the work easier.

5. Erotica Writer

Erotica writers aren't some twisted sex maniacs with unfulfilled desires, fetishes and kinks, as you might commonly believe. Instead, they're perfectly ordinary folk who have a flair of bringing intimate, carnal moments to life through vivid and tiltillating descriptions. This is a very highly paid profession because porn writers can earn anything between $100 to $250 for a single script.

Basically, erotica writers are hired by companies that provide adult entertainment or content to such producers. Their scripts are used to stage dramas that depict raw carnal intimacy on movies and short videos, complete with words, scenes and acts. However, porn producers will buy your stuff only as long as they can be acted out in real life, on film.

Sometimes, porn writers are also enlisted by authors to create steamy scenes in their books. In any case, this is a very highly paid profession that requires own skills. You cant ask any AI resource to create a steamy or tiltillating scene for you. AI resources such as ChatGPT come with limitations and can't create text or content that could be deemed as vulgar.

6. Business Writer

As the term indicates, business writers create articles relevant to a particular industry. Business writers also work for newspapers, banks, financial institutions, stockbrokers, insurers and mortage firms, among others.

They analyze business trends in the sector, study company performances, demand for products, and future projections from various sources to write articles.

For short-term project commission, a business writer, business articles are used by newspapers, business magazines, websites, industry groups, lobbies, and other trade organizations. Part-time or freelance business writers can make up to $75 per hour.

7. Travel Writer

Surely you've read amazing travelogues with full description of a destination- either in own country or abroad and actually wanted to travel there. Travel writers are a breed unto themselves. These are women and men that love to travel to exotic places, meet local people, taste local food and understand local culture, traditions, heritage and history.

However, a travel writer's job isn't all about dream vacations abroad or at local destinations, as you might believe. Instead, they have to do deep research about every place they will visit, starting from tourist safety to cost of a vacation or weekend, food choices, healthcare, local economy and shopping.

And that's not all- they have to write good things about shops or restaurants that're paying the publication for the ‘plant' or informal advertising and influencing. This can sometimes be tough because the experience could be unpleasant and asking readers to try such places could compromise their own brand and integrity.

Travel writers can expect to earn about $60,000 per year, depending on experience and employer. Additionally, they get all-paid trips within the country or to foreign destinarions. Their costs are covered by tourism bureaus, airlines, hotels, restaurants, stores and other such organizations that can benefit directly from a travelogue.

8. Cinema Critic

This is a dream job for many people. You can make up to $25 for simply watching a movie and writing an article about it. There’re many takers for movie reviews. This includes cinema companies, TV channels, news and entertainment websites, film producers and distributors.

Such reviews are also necessary to get approvals for mass screening and distribution of the movie to broader audiences. At the same time, they have to ensure that nobody's interests are harmed. A single negative review could spell doom for the career of a budding actor or actress or even a newbie director and producer.

While a good and honest review can unlock doors to millions of dollars for stakeholders in a movie or telenovela or documentary, a false or negative review can cause lots of all-round losses for those concerned.

9. Food Critic

A food critic makes up to $50,000 per year on fulltime basis.

This is a very specialized writing job because you need to have proper knowledge of cuisines and dishes, have keen sense of taste and an ability to write honest reviews.

Michelin and other top magazines pay food critics a lot of money. And food critics also work for travel companies and tourism organizations to promote cuisine of a certain place.

However, a food critic nowadays isn't merely someone that visits restaurants to dine and churns out reviews. Instead, nowadays they may also have to taste exotic meat such as snakes and other reptiles, worms and insects or even food dumped in garbage and salvaged for resale.

Yes, all this might sound disgusting but that's a reality of most successful food writers.

10. Reporter

Everyone knows who is a reporter. There’re various kinds of reporting jobs available with newspapers and magazines. Generally, there’re two types of reporters. Frontline reporters go to disaster zones and other places to write articles about various tragedies.

Others specialize in a specific ‘beat’ or field such as politics, health, transportation, women and children affairs, education and others. Freelance and fulltime reporters are journalists and enjoy protection under press laws of various countries.

Freelance reporters can make $25 or more depending upon the type of article and relevance. Fulltime reporters can earn up to $48,000 with a couple of years experience.

11. Feature Writer

Feature writing is also a journalism job but of a softer, more interesting nature. Feature writers create articles on lifestyles, fashion, trends, celebrities, places and lots of other topics.

These are very informative articles that aim at showing the unknown “feature” of anything in the world. Fulltime feature writers make about $40,000 per year.

12. Sports Writer

If you’re a sports aficionado, become a sports writer. This is also a very specialized skill since you need to know all rules of the game and remember top players and their teams. You will also require access to records of these players and teams at various tournaments.

Sports writers are hired by sports magazines, TV channels, sports clubs and sports goods manufacturing firms. This is a very glamourous writing job that pays minimum $35,000 per year on fulltime basis.

13. Legal Writer

Legal writers are generally lawyers. They write articles about court cases and analyse judgments that serve as reference material for lawyers. Legal writing is a very profitable writing job. They're also expected to explain complex laws for common persons to understand.

If you’ve sound knowledge about civil, criminal, industrial, corporate, financial, personal and other laws, it’s easy to find jobs with law publications, law firms and governments. This is a very critical profession because even a single error can change the entire nuance of a law.

14. Social Media Consultant

A social media consultant is another best ways to get paid to write for those who can write short & viral posts.

Almost all the small and large business need social media consultants who can manage the social accounts of their brands and help them grow their pages.

You need to write creative and engaging content that help to grow build their brands and get more followers.

15. Scriptwriter

Ever wondered how some of the greatest books such as ‘Godfather' or ‘Eye of the Needle' ‘or even '50 Shades of Grey' became movies? The answer lies in scriptwriting. These books are converted into scripts, complete with dialogs and scenes by persons having the necessary skills. They're called scriptwriters.

To better understand this profession, movie producers, authors and telenovela or even advertising firms hire scriptwriters.

They create scripts that includes settings, dialogs and other necessary details to create anything from a short ad to a documentary or even a presentation, where needed. Nowadays, you can get some ideas from AI resources but the best way to become a script writer is by using own skills.

16. Chronicler

The demand for chroniclers grew after 2022 and is now one of the topmost writing professions in the US and elsewhere. Basically, a chronicler is a person who interviews the client and notes their family history and creating their history.

The reason for the huge demand in 2025 stems from the fact that millions of Americans, including families were wiped out during the Covid-19 pandemic that struck the world in mid-2020s. Hence, survivors and familes of those who perished wish to keep their memories alive through such chronciles.

This is a very professional job and you could earn at least $50 per hour. It involves interviews and carefully crafting the family history, including the family tree, notable events such as births, graduation, engagements, marriages, work and others.

Wrap Up

If you're interested in working as a writer, choose any of the above jobs. Lot of these jobs- both fulltime, part-time and freelance can be found on job boards including ZipRecruiter, Indeed and Glassdoor as well as the professionals networking platform- LinkedIn. You can also find these jobs from newspapers and magazine ads or simply call them and find if they have vacancies.