11 Ways To Get Paid To Write: Every type of writing gig I’ve ever been paid for (and one that paid ≈$zero).

“You have to be EL James or Colleen Hoover to make a decent living as a writer! Don’t even try! Get a real job!”

Ever hear that? Ignore it.

There are countless ways to get paid to write.

To give you some ideas, I went all the way back to the early Nineties – the days of dinosaurs and all-day OJ Simpson coverage – and put together a list of every kind of writing job I’ve ever been paid for (that I can remember) up through current day – along with one kind that paid me zero (actually, less). I present…

11 ways to make money writing

(It’s such a long list, it needs a table of contents!)

Interested in a specific job/career? Use the list below to jump to that section.

Magazine advertorial copywriter 
Ad sales copywriter (also at magazine)
Social-media content writer
TV promo writer
TV ad writer
TV content (As in, actual “TV writer”)
Niche Sites
Branding and sales copywriter (and, copy coach/consultant)
Magazine articles and guest posts, as Contributor
Email writer (of your own emails, or for hire as email copywriter)
Author (or, book ghostwriter)

1. Ad sales and advertorial copy, SPY Magazine

When you’re an ad sales copywriter for a magazine, your job is to create assets that the sales team can use to persuade advertisers to buy space (and place their ads) in the magazine. At SPY, I remember creating…

• Advertorials (first one: full page in a magazine for Dewars)
• Miscellaneous, like letters to record companies asking for free CDs (John Spencer Blues Explosion and Third Eye Blind FTW!)

What it paid:

I don’t remember exactly, but I’m going to say $15k a year? After my $50/week stipend as an intern, it felt like a windfall. I remember my friend in the same department got a job in marketing for Marvel Comics for $34k a year, and we all thought she’d buy us houses and cars. RICH!

How I got the job:

First, I scored an internship on the editorial side. I had an in: an author I’d fact-checked for who was invited to be a deputy editor. She “brought me with her,” but I still had to interview for the position and buff up my resume. I sucked at my internship, but the ad side liked me and needed someone, so they hired me when my internship was up.

2. Ad sales materials, New York Magazine

This was my only 9-5 job ever. In the 6 months I lasted there (*someone’s* not meant for corporate!), I wrote…

• Tiny ads in the magazine: “Fashion is always an issue. Advertisers: call now to reserve your space” etc
• “One Sheets” – slick, 1-page promotions that go out to advertisers telling them about upcoming issues they should buy space in. EG, the Year-End Double Issue. My idea for a lovable snow creature called the YEDI was shot down as “maybe fine if it were a Nickelodeon piece.” Nickelodeon, you say? Thank you for planting the idea!
• The ad sales newsletter, an assignment handed to me as punishment for always arriving late in the morning. Instead of leaving early on Fridays, I had to wait for that week’s “news” so I could compile it into an entertaining (and, as far as I could get away with it, subversive) 2 pages. It’s now an ancient time capsule.

What it paid:

Around $25k/year. (This is in 1994 dollars, apparently $43k adjusted for inflation. We heard someone in Ad Sales complain that you couldn’t live on $50k a year in NYC, and we thought she was out of her mind.)

How I got the job:

Jana, my friend from SPY who’d gone there as an ad sales director, recommended me. I had to do a test project: a one-sheet for the magazine’s Adult Education issue. I was late for my interview, but, after asking “Did you have trouble finding us?” my future boss said my test project “knocked [her] socks off.” Actually, the magazine used it. I asked to be paid for that work. They said no.

3. Early social media content provider (Conversations as “Regular Paying User” AKA ringer, a site called The Transom)

• Was hired to write on a bulletin board for an early-90s online startup called The Transom, which was the stone-age version of an online forum, which was the middle-ages version of Facebook, which is now the old-person alternative to Instagram, which is now the also-ran to TikTok. I was a “ringer” in that other people were paying to be part of the community, and I was paid to pretend I was one of them. I kept the conversations lively, writing about whatever the F I wanted to. Mostly 90210 and Melrose Place. Easiest money I ever made.

What it paid:

No recollection, but whatever it was felt generous. “I’m getting paid to do this?”

How I got the job:

Again, someone from SPY. That was a great network.

4. TV Promos

VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, NBC, USA, Bravo, HBO, Cinemax, TBS, TNT, WE, and many more. (See a sampling here.)

• On-air: show launches, stunts, network campaigns, cross-promotions with sponsors or other shows, funny vignettes, regular tune-in spots
  • Clip-based spots. I would screen all the episodes given to me (sometimes, and unnecessarily, with shows I loved like St. Elsewhere or The Odd Couple, all the episodes ever made), take down great soundbites, and find repeating patterns that could make for a great spot. For instance, “The Unger Leap” spot, I wrote after noticing that Felix Unger was always jumping up onto tables.
  • Shoot-based spots. These were more conceptual and expensive. Example: in a spot I wrote for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, in each woman’s presence, everything freezes and ices over. Lisa Vanderpump steps in a puddle, it freezes. Kyle walks past a pool, it freezes. Etc. GRAPHIC: “Sometimes….sunny Beverly Hills…can be a cold, cold place.”
  • Voiceover spots. In the bumpers in, or out of, commercials, you might hear the stars of the show – or the network voice – deliver a “keep watching” message. These were fun and easy to write because you didn’t have to worry about visuals. But you had to get them under ten, or sometimes five, seconds.

• Off-air: upfronts, print and outdoor ads, one-sheets, premiums/swag, company events, trivia quizzes, radio ads. Any promotion that doesn’t go on the (TV) air. Examples…
  • The “Bewitched” chapter of the Nick at Nite Bedside Companion. I wrote a synopsis of every single episode of the series. This gig was my gateway to working at Nick at Nite, which was *the* network to write promos for.
  • Tony n’ T Upfront tape. At the Upfronts, the networks put on a show to let media buyers see how awesome their upcoming programming is. Inspired by the odd pairing of Elton John and Eminem at the Grammies, TV Land created a music video featuring two oddly paired classic TV stars: Mr. T and Tony Randall. I was tasked with writing the rap they performed together, mentioning all the shows on tap for TV Land in the coming year.
  • Secret Spongebob tributes. Videos featuring Spongebob, Patrick, and co. for special events, like charity fundraisers honoring the president of Nickelodeon or, most exciting, a birthday tape for Malia Obama. I was never allowed to share these publicly because they were for internal use only.
  • Copy for a heat-activated coffee sleeve promoting a WE TV Bachelor-style show. I think the line was, “So hot his shirt will melt…along with your heart.” Something like that.
  • Copy lines for full-page ads in magazines and big posters on buses and bus shelters – favorite was for an NBC show called “Up All Night” starring Will Arnett and Christina Applegate. My winning line: “Sleep is for babies.”

What it paid:

From $1200/project or $1000/week when I started to $1000/day – $2500/day in recent times, depending on the client. “Per day” is a loose measure, since sometimes a day’s work would be boiled down to a couple of hours, or even one hour. But I rarely had the creative bandwidth to take on more than one project like that per day.

How I got the job (or, career):

My friend Adam, husband of Jana (who got me my job at NY Mag), came in for lunch one day and told me about his new job writing “promos” for VH1. When I demanded to know, “How can I get that job?” he introduced me to the creative director there.

They always needed more writers. I had no reel to bring in because I’d never written a promo, so I brought in my advertorials, one-sheets, and all the dumb conversation threads from The Transom. I think it was the Transom stuff that convinced her to try me out on a promo assignment. That first job was my “in” for all the others.

5. TV Ads

Yes, regular, good ‘ol TV commercials for big brands. As far as I can remember, I wrote spots around campaign concepts that were already pitched and signed off on. Coming up with the overarching idea is the tougher part, if you ask me. I prefer executing on the concept.

• Ad for Fandango starring Kevin Hart
• Spots for Khol’s featuring Carson Kressley (from the original “Queer Eye”)
• Others I might be forgetting. The Fandango one was the biggest deal. To me, anyway.

What it paid:

This work was for my TV promo clients, usually paying $1k/day. I often heard that “agency writers” – writers who came from ad agencies or had an agency pedigree – charged multiple times what I did.

How I got the job:

Normally, you probably have to work in-house for an ad agency to write on these. I was fortunate to write a few of them as production companies I regularly wrote for, like Stun Creative, became agencies and expanded from network promos into big, national ad campaigns.

6. TV Content (actual TV show writer)

1990s – Through my promo connections, I started doing this early on, writing Top 20 Countdown scripts for VH1. My scripts were for the VJs, like Moon Unit Zappa, who needed a fresh way to say, “At number 8, for the second week in a row, it’s Cheryl Crow’s ‘All I Wanna Do.'” Most of that job consisted of brainstorming puns for Hootie and the Blowfish.

2012 – A short-lived dream job: writing scripts with my friend and longtime colleague Bruce Bernstein for the show “What Was Carol Brady Thinking?” A “Pop-Up Video”-style show, we took actual Brady episodes and overlay graphic thought bubbles to show what (in our imagination) was going through Carol’s head all through the show.

I was a Brady Bunch freak, so, for the season that we got to work on this show, adding our own subversive ideas to the squeaky-clean sitcom, I felt like I was truly living my purpose.

I used to have video and images from the show, but I think Tiger stole them.

What it paid:

$2500/week

How I got the job:

My friend Bruce, who’d been hired as executive producer, brought me in. I’d worked with him in promos for years.

7. Niche sites

In 2009, I got sucked in by the sales page for some course on how to make passive income by building niche sites. I barely looked at the course, but I got caught up in URL fever and bought a bunch of ridiculous domains like “paninipresstv dot com.” (The course recommended you build sites around topics you’re passionate about, and in that moment, I guess I thought, “I love pressed sandwiches. I can talk about those all day.” WHAT?)

What it paid:

$0.

Actually, way less than that, even after selling one of the domains for $500. I’d give an exact negative figure, but adding up the cost of the course and the domains I bought is too depressing. Let’s stick with zero.

How I “got” the job:

I mean…we’ve all been there, right? “This sounds too good to be true! And I’m buying it! Fathomless wealth, here I come!”

8. Branding and sales copy (or, copy coaching)

…for a universe of small brands, service-based experts, coaches, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, every damn manner of preneur. Mostly online stuff, including:

• Website copy
  • Homepage, tagline, about page, work-with-me page, opt-in copy
• Sales page copy
• Event page copy
• Facebook ad copy
• Youtube video scripts
• Landing page opt-in copy
• Blog posts
• Blog post titles
• Social media posts
  • Tweets
  • Instagram quote cards
• Emails
  • Launch sequences
  • Welcome sequences
  • One-off promotions
  • Regular ol’ broadcasts
• Lead magnet content
• Postcards. (Yes, actual, physical postcards you send with a stamp)
• Podcast descriptions for iTunes
• Podcast intros
• Keynote speeches
• Product descriptions for e-commerce
• Course and program names
• Product names
• Book flap copy
• Media bios

Clients and projects in this arena include:

• At least 3 psychics, one a famous medium
• an Australian office-cleaning business teaching other cleaning businesses how to market
• A physical sex toy box
• A sex toy company
• An Airbnb host who also coaches other Airbnb hosts
• The founder of England’s biggest aromatherapy school
• A mortgage broker who sends out postcards with a cartoon bee on them
• A mother-daughter team who help mothers and teenage daughters get along better
• A financial advisor who used to be a punk kid with a shaved head but is now a converted Orthodox Jew with a religious beard
• A surprising number of pelvic-health specialists
• A VOIP calling app
• A Swiss cannabis company
• A brand of bar soap with proceeds dedicated to preserving the Potomac
• A “sobriety gift” site — for people in recovery who don’t want to wear ugly jewelry
• A sober companion to the stars (seriously, big-name stars. The exact ones you’d expect to travel with a sober companion)
• An SAT tutor
• A seafood restaurant’s emails and table signs advertising 1-dollar-oysters
• A seriously disorganized personal organizer (not an ideal client – she could never find the invoice I sent her, or log in to the google docs)
• A speaker page for an expert on Millennials in the workplace
• A promotion for Chilean cabernets that comes inside your shipment from wines.com
• A French teacher with online French courses
• A chocolatier who only makes chocolate angels
• A raw-milk farm
• A farmer who teaches marketing to other farmers
• A digestion expert who wanted me to come up with a variety of poo jokes for her podcast intro. Paid to write poo jokes = 4th-grade goals come true!

What it’s paid:

$250/hour in 2009 – $1450/hour in 2019, before I retired those services.

How I got the job/career:

I wasn’t looking to branch out from TV work. But in 2009, Marie Forleo, my friend from hip hop class, invited me to speak at her first live event. I presented “5 Secrets to Non-Sucky Copy” — a talk that I turned into my main opt-in freebie — and, immediately afterward, had attendees asking me if I could help them with their web copy. Others started hiring me via word of mouth. Eventually, when I lost my biggest TV client, I put packages on my site and built a thriving practice of online-type private clients.

I built that by marketing myself using the strategies Marie (that same friend from hip hop class) teaches in her signature program, B-School. (It opens once a year. If you want to be the first to know when you can sign up and be in the loop about my B-School bonus, sign up here.)

9. Articles, as Contributor

Money Magazine has paid me for all my pieces there, but it’s a nominal fee. I do it not for the moolah, but for the exposure, clout, and satisfaction of having my writing in a major publication. Others I’ve written for, like Business Insider, don’t pay a fee. But the payoffs are huge.

What it’s paid:

$300/article

How I got the job:

I met the editor-in-chief at a social gathering. We shared tater tots and bonded over Real Housewives. When I had an idea I thought would be good for Money, I reached out via FB and pitched him. I’d already written for Business Insider (which I’d pitched with help from my friend Selena), which gave me a leg up.

10. Emails – my own

How do I get paid for writing to my own list?

Do people pay to sign up?

No.

More and more writers do offer paid newsletter subscriptions these days, mostly via Substack.

That’s tougher to monetize substantially, because at $5 or $10 per month per subscriber, you need a whole lot of readers to upgrade to paid. For instance, at $5/month for paid content, you’d need to convert and maintain a list 1000 paying subscribers.

And you can make offers to your paid subscribers, but they’re not really signing up for that. Nor do you have the functionality in a platform like Convertkit, which is built for essay-style newsletter-writing, that you have in an email platform like my chosen one, Convertkit.

My emails, though worth a M’F’ING FORTUNE, are free.

So…what, do I write an email and then money comes out?

Sort of!

Here’s how the emails make money.

They sell things! Like…

• My group program, Shrimp Club
• My digital pride-and-joy, The Copy Cure (co-created with Marie Forleo)
• My Talking Shrimp signature courses,
  • 60-Minute Makeover Copywriting Mini-Course
  • About Page Builder
  • Inbox Hero (with Story Hero)
  • Launch Hero
• OPP (Other People’s Programs), which I earn a commission for. Such as…
  • Marie Forleo’s B-School
  • Selena Soo’s Impacting Millions
  • Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy

The emails do this both directly (when I provide a link to buy, and people buy) or over time (when I tell stories, offer insights, rant about terrible restaurant experiences that develop a bond with my readers, and they grow to love and adore me and one day buy from me. Or, to loathe and resent me. Maybe they hate-buy from me; I won’t object!

What it’s paid:

Up to more than $250k in a month, and upwards of $1M a year, from sales of my own products and programs and affiliate offers.

How I got the job:

Well, no one hires you for this. You build a list of subscribers – typically by offering a lead magnet (for instance, my Non-Sucky Subject Lines freebie), which they sign up for through an opt-in form – and keep them engaged by writing to them on the regular.

I’ve been doing this since 2009, when I put up my first website with this same opt-in offer…and doing it well and consistently since around 2017.

11. Book: mine

That’s Tough Titties to you, friend—now a national bestseller! (Order here and get bonuses!)

Books are rarely a great source of income on their own, unless they become bestsellers. (I plan to update this section at some point to tell you I’m making a fortune from my bestseller, thanks to you buying it for all your friends.) But a book of your own can land you speaking gigs, articles, TV appearances, clients and buyers up the wazoo. It can grow your fame, which grows your income. Or, maybe it can fulfill a life’s dream—the ultimate royalty check.

Another possibility: you could get paid to write other people’s books, as a ghostwriter. My friend Dr. Cindy Childress, who bills herself as “The Expert’s Ghostwriter,” also offers programs to help people who don’t want to hire a ghostwriter but do want close guidance through the process.

What it’s paid:

I’m choosing not to reveal my advance. It was good, but not staggering, and I spent most of it on working with my wonderful book mentor/editor-for-hire, Suzanne Kingsbury, and then more of it on PR. As for what it will pay in the long run, see above. Watch this space.

How I got the job:

By writing my ass off! And by creating a proposal, which landed me an agent, who landed me a book deal with Hachette, one of the “Big Five” publishers. Want to know more about my “book journey”? I’m offering a recording of my early peek behind the scenes, or behind the Titties, with purchase of 2 hardcovers.

I’ve also made you a training on everything I did to promote that li’l f*cker and make it a NATIONAL BESTSELLER. It’s called Book Launch Hero, and it’s available as an instant download here!

Now you.

Aspiring writer? What’s your “dream” writing job?

Already a paid writer? What kinds of writing have you done?

How’d you get your first paid writing job?

Got something else helpful to add?

TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS.

And if you want to learn to write in a way that sounds like you, sells your anything, and pays you for life, get your butt in The Copy Cure! It opens once or twice a year, so you might be in luck and catch it right now.