First time writers have a lot to learn about making a living as a freelance writer online, and one of the lessons that many learn much later than they should is that there is more than one way to make a living writing online. If you’ve ever had a job, you understand the normal concept of employment. Work an hour, get paid for an hour. If you’re salary, work a month, get a month’s pay. While this model does exist (and is most prevalent) for freelance writers trying to make a living, there is also another payment model that writers must be made aware of.
For example, maybe you ghost write an article and get paid $10, or you write one article for an online writing website and get $5 up front. This is the one time payment, and the type of payment that most freelance writers are used to. This is also how most people are paid in the real world.
Then there is another form of payment that is often referred to as passive or residual income. Passive income isn’t a recent idea, but the changes in technology and the Internet have made passive, or residual, income more common than ever. The best example of passive income before the Internet age would be royalties from a published novel.
Residual income is the second option that a writer has. Unlike pay per job, residual income is when an article or some other bit of writing you’ve already done and finished. You won’t get as much money up front, but as opposed to one $10 payment for a single article, that article might make you $2 a month, every month, from now until the Internet no longer exists. Building a passive income is a major goal of many freelance writers because it grants a level of freedom that they won’t otherwise have with a more traditional freelance writing business.
Maybe the most common way for pages to do this online is using Google AdSense. They’re the most famous, but there are many other advertisers who offer a cut, as well as affiliate marketing, and “pay per view” websites. Beyond these examples, there are also websites who take care of the money making aspects and allow writers to simply write and then give them a cut of whatever amount is made. This allows the writer to write and keep getting paid.
Online freelance writers are in a situation where they can actually earn both types of writing income: both passive and active. This is actually one of the best strategies that a beginning freelance writer can have. The one time payments help you pay the bills, learn your craft, and get an idea of how the markets work. Meanwhile, when you have sent out query letters or have all your bids out for online jobs, you can write for yourself and build up your passive online income. It takes a lot of time for passive income to grow, which is why it’s so important to have a writing strategy that uses both.
Over time, the combination of residual income and regular freelancing gigs can help freelance writers to make an excellent living, and one that may allow for more time off during burn out, or even the Holy Grail of online writing income: a full time residual income so you never “have to” work full time again. The key is to be persistent. Most writers get fed up after a couple hard years and quit. The more a writer sells, the better his or her portfolio is and the easier it will become to get work. Passive income tends to be really slow growth, but it’s worth it because of where it can take you.
If you are a beginning freelance writer, please take heed of this article and don’t limit yourself to just one income stream. Freelance writers, especially early on, need all the income they can get, so work on both passive and active income streams and you won’t be sorry!
