How I Made $3525.71 in My First Two Months as a Freelance Writer

After debunking some serious misconceptions about freelance writing, I started my journey with zero expectations. I don't regret it for a second as the last 2 months have flown by.

I am doing this as a side gig in addition to my 9–5. Those additional hours have proved to be more rewarding and more meaningful than the 8 that I spend in the office, zoning out in meetings, writing arduous emails, doing small talk with coworkers and eating my lunch at my desk.

I have a firm plan to leave my job so I can pursue this full-time. I'm excited to continue sharing my journey with you, my avid readers, fellow writers and supporters.

Before we get into strategy, here is an earnings breakdown for each type of work I did in the months of April and May 2021:

• Income from writing platforms that pay: $1216.01
• Income from revising and editing a webinar script: $1105.00
• Income from writing paid articles for websites: $689.16
• Income from writing marketing content: $500.00
• Income from Amazon book sales: $15.54

Total income: $3525.71

Here's exactly what I did to earn this income in my first two months as a freelance writer.

I reached out to my network

I was still a bit gun shy to tell everyone what I wanted to do, so I started with the few people I knew who understood the value of pursuing your passion over collecting a paycheck.

I didn't even directly ask them if they wanted me to work for them. I messaged them, casually saying that I'm planning to do some freelance work and if they knew anyone who needed help with writing.

I kid you not! A couple of them immediately responded, asking if I could help them with the writing part of their business. They said they loved reading my stuff and resonated with my style. They've been following me on social media and seeing me post new stuff consistently for years. And because of that, they knew I have a strong work ethic and I'm dedicated to what I love doing. They just didn't know I was looking for work.

It was so sudden, and I still didn't know if I was good enough. I asked them if they wanted to see some samples since the things I wrote were mainly for my blog. I even asked if they wanted a trial run.

One of my clients responded,

"Yeah, we can do a trial run but I've bought all your books, Katharine. I already know you're going to write the way I want."

After that, I started writing marketing content, emails, webinar scripts and sending invoices at the end of each month to my clients.

I started pitching to websites I used to submit previously published work to

Tons of websites pay writers to write articles. Each has specific submission guidelines and deadlines.

To find these opportunities, all I did was Google "websites that pay for writing". During that search, I found a site called Freedom With Writing that sends you a regular newsletter with a list of websites and magazines currently looking for writers.

This is a fantastic resource, but I haven't used it yet. Instead, I started reaching out to editors for who I've submitted previously published work that I wasn't paid for and asked if they were looking for new pitches and what their rate was.

Because editors have already seen and are used to my work, they were keen to accept my pitches. For one site, they accepted all my pitches, drew up a contract with specific deadlines for me to submit the articles. Having just completed the last deadline, I submitted another set of pitches and am waiting for their response.

Recently, a website accepted half my pitches and gave me a two-week turnaround. I have yet to get paid on those and haven't included them in my earnings above.

Once I'm doing this full-time, I plan to do cold pitches to websites that I haven't worked with and see where it takes me.

Kept writing in platforms that pay their creators

While doing all this, I continued documenting my progress on writing platforms that pay their creators. I've said this repeatedly: one of the best ways to make money from writing is to write about how you make money from writing (or your attempts to).

It's simple yet effective. It's incredibly helpful for aspiring writers who are just getting their foothold. I've read dozens of articles written by seasoned writers who hit the six-figure mark and amateur writers who just got paid for their first article. In addition, it's a great way to self-reflect and read months later when you're trying to remember what you did that worked (and what didn't). It's a win-win for yourself and the writing community.

More exposure = more opportunities and more $$$

I self-published 3 books earlier in 2020, and sales have stayed dormant since I humbly realized this wasn't one of the best ways to make money writing. However, the increased exposure from writing on websites helped push folks to my blog.

The beauty of writing platforms that pay creators is that I can also re-publish what I write onto my blog. My blog stays relevant and helps drive traffic.

In addition, for websites that I wrote for, I always included a link to my books in my author profile. It helps with my credibility, but it's also an opportunity for readers to support me directly. As I kept writing, I saw an uptick in my book sales. Although the amounts were small, I wanted to include all the pennies in here.

From what I gather in the last 2 months, there isn't really an exact way freelance writers make money. It's not very structured. Different amounts of money come from a diverse number of sources. Some days, I'm just trying to make sense of it all. However, I assure you that every effort you make in your writing journey eventually adds up to dollars and sense (pun intended).

So readers and fellow writers, how was it starting your freelance writing journey? What are some things that worked for you?