11 ways to make money from writing

Make money reviewing films, products, music and more

It’s very easy to get paid to write reviews when you know how.

When it comes to writing reviews, you might think of full-time jobs that require loads of previous experience, like professional TV and film reviewing.

But, you can actually start making money from reviews quickly by signing up for a few rewards websites. On these sites, you could find yourself reviewing anything! Gadgets, music, stationery – you name it.

For example, on Slicethepie, you can earn cash from writing short reviews of fashion items and songs. All you need to do is sign up and you can get started immediately.

Or, if you register to become a product tester or a paid survey site panel member you could end up making money by reviewing products you’d otherwise pay for. This includes things like technology, clothes and cosmetics.

As an added bonus, product testers can sometimes keep the items they review. So, you could potentially sell them on to increase your earnings.

Write articles for money

Journalism is a brilliant career route for anyone with a love and talent for writing. We recommend going for it if it’s what you want to do.

It’s important to recognise, though, that it is a competitive industry. It has a reputation for involving a fair amount of low-paid work and unpaid internships for young writers who are just starting out.

However, while it’s not always easy, it is possible to make money as a student journalist.

You don’t necessarily need to be studying journalism to start getting paid to write articles. But, you do need to be a strong writer with a great eye for stories and brilliant attention to detail.

It’s best to build up your writing portfolio. To do so, you could contribute to the student newspaper or magazine at your university. It’s also a good idea to start a blog (more on this later) to showcase your interests and writing ability.

Once you have a solid portfolio, try pitching article ideas to commissioning editors. These are journalists who commission articles for their publication. If they like your article ideas, they could hire you to write for them on a freelance basis.

The amount you’d earn per article will vary depending on the publication and length/style of the piece. However, you could be looking at £100+ for commissioned articles in top papers.

Pitching freelance article ideas to editors

Ready to start pitching article ideas to magazines? It’s worth following the commissioning editors of your favourite publications on X (formerly Twitter) and finding them on LinkedIn.

And, if you fancy writing something directly related to your degree, you could try pitching article ideas to trade magazines that cover news about a particular industry. A quick Google search for ‘[industry] trade magazine‘ will help you find ones that are relevant to your studies and interests.

Editors will often share the themes or topics they’re interested in at that time. If you see a call out for an article you’d have the experience and skills to write, plan out the pitch carefully, directly tailored to the publication, and email it to the commissioning journalist as soon as you can (ideally within an hour).

You don’t always need to wait for editors to post call-outs for articles before you pitch to them. But, it helps your chances of getting commissioned if you have a clear idea of the kind of thing they’re looking for.

When pitching, try to keep your emails short but persuasive, highlighting why it’s right for the publication. It’s also a good idea to add a link to your online blog or website so editors can see what you can do.

It’s best not to send complete articles along with your pitches for a number of reasons.

Editors won’t have much time when reading pitches, and they may ask you to go in a different direction with the article. There’s even a risk they could run an article with similar ideas themselves, so don’t send them too much too soon.

Remember that not every pitch will be successful but, ultimately, you shouldn’t give up. Learn from the rejections, improve your pitches, and keep trying until you start getting commissioned to write paid articles.

Sell your revision notes

If you’re great at making clear and concise lecture notes, you could actually make a bit of income from your revision.

In our guide to making money, we suggest a couple of sites to use if you’d like to sell your notes to other students. On these sites, it’s usually free for you to list your notes. But, some companies might charge a fee for any sales made.

And, for anyone with beautiful revision notes, you could also make money by creating a studygram account on Instagram.

Enter writing competitions to win cash prizes

It might seem pretty daunting to enter writing competitions. But, someone’s got to win. Why not you?

It will look great on your CV if you can say that you won a writing competition or award, or that you were highly commended. Plus, it’s also a rather lovely boost to your student bank balance if you receive a monetary prize.

Writing competitions and awards can come with cash prizes of hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.

See this list of journalism awards and this list of creative writing competitions.

How to win writing competitions

These tips will help to increase your chances of winning writing competitions and awards:

• Be creative – To impress competition judges, you’ll need to stand out from the first line of your entry. Try to start with something surprising. If you can, consider playing around with conventional writing techniques and present your ideas in an unusual, memorable way.
• Read previous winning entries – Try to find winning entries from previous years to see the styles and arguments that have previously been successful. It’s still important to write creatively. But, keep in mind the key features that judges might be looking for in an award-winning piece of writing.
• Check the competition T&Cs – This is so important. Before you even start writing an entry for a competition, make sure you’re eligible to apply. Some competitions might specify you need to be within an age range, from a particular area or have a certain level of writing experience (e.g. be a published writer).
• Proofread – Always check through your work several times before submitting it. It might help to read it aloud to highlight typos or inconsistencies in your argument. Also, ask family and friends to read through it in case they spot something you’ve missed.

Check out our guide on how to enter competitions and win.

Make money writing translations

One great way to make money from your language skills is to write translations.

There will be plenty of businesses willing to pay you to translate text for them on a freelance basis.

Some languages will earn you more than others. Have a look on sites like Fiverr to see how much freelance translators tend to charge, depending on the languages they speak.

When monetised, your website will act as an online portfolio of your work, while letting you earn some cash.

There are lots of little changes you can make to your blog to start earning money from it. These include affiliate marketing, advertising, sponsored content and more.

One site you could use to create your website is Bluehost (get a 70% discount and a free domain name using this link). You can find out more about this in our guide to setting up a website in 20 minutes.

And, for more advice on monetising your blog and maximising your profits, see our full guide to making money from blogging.

Earn money writing social media content

Writing social media content can be a great money earner. It’s ideal for anyone with a strong understanding of how to build online followings and create viral social posts.

Love writing and reading? You could try to make money on BookTok. When making TikTok videos about books, write captions that are eye-catching and engaging. If you get the attention of brands, this could lead to lucrative sponsorship opportunities.

Another option is to try affiliate marketing.

We explain it in detail in our full guide to making money from affiliate marketing. As a brief overview, it 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 make a purchase, you can earn a small commission (with no impact on the buyer).

You could also get paid to create social media content for businesses, such as by crafting engaging Instagram captions or tweaking the bios on their social channels.

To do this, it’s worth reaching out to small businesses directly. You can use your own successes on social media as examples of why they should hire you on a freelance basis as their social media assistant.

You could also use sites like Fiverr to find clients. We have more info about this in our guide to easy gigs to do on Fiverr.

At the time of writing, Glassdoor says that the average salary of copywriters is around £30K (£10k less than technical writers).

If you’re unsure what copywriters do, here’s an overview.

What is copywriting?

A key part of copywriting is creating written content for a business, both for online and offline resources, that reflects the brand’s identity.

As a copywriter, you could write for an audience of customers, clients or even other staff members within the company. Regardless of who the content is for, the brand’s voice will run throughout it.

If writing content for customers, this is known as business-to-consumer copywriting (or B2C). And, when writing for a target audience of other companies, this is business-to-business copywriting (B2B).

For an example of copywriting, have a look at the written content on ASOS. The tone of writing in their product descriptions, confirmation emails and newsletters is fun, informal and focused on a young audience.

Or, as another example, the dating app Bumble has a strong brand identity running through its advertising, notifications, emails and blog posts. It’s focused on being witty, empowering and positive. Again, copywriters play a massive role in this.

It’s quite a skill to adapt your usual style of writing to take on a business’s individual voice. However, it’s definitely something you can develop with practice.

To prepare for copywriting roles, try to contribute to a number of publications with a range of audiences. Tailor the tone and arguments within your writing to suit each outlet, and develop a portfolio that’s as diverse and versatile as possible.

Write a book

Writing a book is definitely not the quickest way to make money on this list. Nor is it the simplest. But it is possible (and perhaps not quite as difficult as you might think).

There are so many different things you can write books about. For example, you could write a fictional novel or collate a series of poems/short stories. Another option is to write non-fiction, like advice for students, based on research and your own experiences.

You may want to go down the route of finding a writing agent and getting a publishing deal. But remember this isn’t the only way to make money from a book.

eBooks are pretty easy to self-publish and can earn you a passive income from your writing.

Unsure how to get started? We have guides to writing and publishing an eBook and the best eBook publishing platforms, as well as tips on how to make money from your eBooks.

Wondering what a technical writer does? The exact nature of the work would vary depending on the specialisms of the company and the industry you’re working in. But, generally, you’ll be expected to explain complex technical info in clear, concise texts.

A common task for technical writers is writing instruction manuals. To do this, you’d need to do thorough research around the processes you’re writing about. Then, you’d have to explain how they work in a way that’s easy for the target audience to follow.

You’ll likely need a fair amount of work experience as a writer to get into this career. To get started, you can try some of the other suggestions in our list to build up your writing portfolio.

Once you’re working as a technical writer, you could be looking at an average salary of around £40K according to Glassdoor.

If you’re talented at research, have good communication skills and are comfortable working with challenging, technical information, this could be a great career for you.

Make money as a ghostwriter

A lot of people have great writing skills but don’t fancy the public attention that writing can bring. If that’s you, ghostwriting could be ideal.

As a ghostwriter, you’d work with others to help them write texts (e.g. books or speeches), but you wouldn’t usually be publicly credited as the author.

It’s difficult to say what salary you could expect as a ghostwriter. It depends heavily on the industry you work in and the clients you write for. But, for big, high-profile writing projects, it could be pretty lucrative.

As with technical writing, you’ll need writing experience to start ghostwriting full-time. It will help if you can develop a strong portfolio to boost your writing credentials.

It will take time. But, you could eventually be working with celebrities or politicians, making a living from doing what you love: writing.