Is Something Being Lost In the Earn Money Articles?
I constantly pull up Medium and find new articles drawing readers in with money-making opportunities. “This app pays writers $500 per article.” “Here are ten publications paying writers big money.” I pull up numerous other writing sites or platforms and see similar headlines. “This course will help you make thousands per month as a writer.” “Make unlimited money with these fail-proof methods.” Each time I read these articles or scroll through headlines, I find myself thinking “am I missing something?” These sources can offer amazing tips and tricks for writing and income generation, don’t get me wrong. But don’t a lot of these revenue generation articles sound too easy? If we take tips and tricks from numerous sources, does it not seem like we are sorting through our piggy banks of change rather than swimming in gold coins? In sorting out some of those more invaluable pieces from the collection, I get the sense that quite a few basic items about writing and income generation need to be clarified.
There is No Single Path to Optimum Online Writing Income Generation
“So Website A is no longer the way to go for income generation. You need to go with Site B.” “I did not make much money following the blogging route. I went to this reporting app, that is where the money poured in.” “I made $10,000 per month from ABC & D, and you could too!” Sure, these different testimonials or how-to pieces offer amazing insights. But they are usually anecdotal. When looking at the larger picture, let’s be honest that each writer’s path is going to be unique. You have to include innumerable factors like a writer’s main proficiencies, preferences, and passions. Equally true is the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of publications out there(as there always have been in one form or another) that writers can submit works with the hope of a little green return. You take into account those countless variables about the writer plus multitudinous platforms and publications out there, and you find an unfathomable number of paths to take for optimum results.
How do you find a meaningful writing path to reap great riches (both financial and priceless)? Well, you can practice some of the same principles often offered for crafting an original life path in general. For one, you can follow your own intuition to help you in the direction you need to go. Take each of those articles with a grain of salt and bring your own self to the mix. Take stock of your own interests, proficiencies, and passions that can serve as your best assets. Perhaps writing for the latest news app will bring you unexpected success as some article says. But maybe you just don’t feel the sparks running if you blog about the weather or traffic(and if you don’t enjoy it then how might your readers feel?). Instead, the best path might be writing for an unheard-of literary magazine that brings you new invaluable connections. This leads to another point — you should conduct your own extensive research for resources, publications, and platforms that might accept your writing. This includes the hard work of finding platforms or publications that accept submissions you are interested in writing. As you find some resources to which you can contribute your works, make sure you have an extensive list so you are not putting all of your eggs in one basket.
Writing Online For Income Brings Varying Results And Is Tough(Like Any Such Endeavor)
In the late 1840s to mid-1850s, hundreds of thousands of people poured into California searching for gold. Only a small number of prospectors found immense fortune, while a larger fraction did reasonably well. Far more people actually found wealth by catering to the prospectors with food, clothing, and other items. Perhaps making a living as a writer is the same sort of thing. Some professional writers, for sure, will make a whole large stack of money from published works, online projects, or other avenues. Keep in mind these avenues might include holding a more traditional type of career that has a writing component built-in, like a major news reporter who has published books to supplement their popular broadcasts.
Following the mega-earners, a slightly larger number of writers will make a decent living at the craft. Meanwhile, many others who find writing a key endeavor and past time in their lives(myself included) will mainly cherish the immeasurable benefits from the craft while seeing very little green. I myself have yet to join the Medium Partner Program but am blessed to be able to use writing in a key way at my day job. Oh, there is that small humbling detail that if some platforms paid content producers in the same way Medium, Youtube, and others traditionally have, I would have made tens of thousands of extra dollars. (My Quora activity has brought me countless other benefits, however, and actually served as a therapeutic endeavor to help me balance out many tough times at home and work over the past couple of years).
The thing is, writing online or in other formal modes is tough. The craft itself is so complex that it involves a whole elaborate process. Making writing a means of income certainly adds positives challenges and also possible pressures to the mix. You will have to find your own formula for success, which will certainly take time and effort. Also, you may have to make some sacrifices and learn many hard lessons along the way. Even writing for fun will include moments where you lose interest, face daunting challenges, and even experience frustrations. Of course, these are all part of the course to growing in the craft, just as runners, bikers, skiers, or numerous other athletes build the great strength and endurance trekking uphill.
Be Aware of the Rough Road Your Writing Journey Can Take
Since the writing life brings its challenges, be sure that if you are going to turn your writing life into a source of income — main or supplementary — be sure to keep yourself firmly planted on the ground. Don’t get too many flights of fancy about your online novel going viral or your articles raking in the big bucks. Certainly, high revenue is the reality for many and the sky is truly the limit. And you should not let anything or anyone hold you back from following your dream. You hear countless real-life stories of people who walked away from a solid, sure professional gig to venture into the unknown in pursuit of dreams and more fulfilling occupations. These stories are genuine and inspiring. Also, they certainly remind us all that any stage of life is never too late to take risks and achieve aspirations.
But to reiterate from before, this type of life is hardly a walk down some colored-brick, fully cleaned, and previously explored “easy street.” Since each writer has to follow their own journey, your own personal path to success might include numerous detours off the main path where few have trekked before. Others’ footprints may serve as a guide and model for you to follow, but you are still making a unique set of tracks with a pattern like no one else’s. You will want to form your own routine and even alter much of your lifestyle. Some ingredients to a desired artistic lifestyle include creative insight, intuition, serendipity, and a whole lot of hard work. One crucial thing to also remember is that some days on your writing journey you are going to be tempted to quit. That is just the way the wheel turns for any worthwhile endeavor. Perhaps a little reminder here: sometimes professional writers have actually found it was best to quit the trade. This may be for a whole number of different positive reasons. Perhaps they found it was better just to write for fun, or maybe another craft or trade was calling.
By no means should these points deter you from following the professional writing path. In fact, if you are aware of the challenges and risks that are sure to be a part of your writing journey, won’t that make all of the adventure, fun, and growth all the more endearing? The challenge is following your own bliss and daring to set your own path, wherever that may lead. For the current season of your life, you may find that breaking away to jump into online writing is the best move. In the next season, it may be going back to a more traditional 9–5 job. Although we may not hear about it as often, there are many who once held a life of glamour on the screen, strumming a guitar, or with a pen in hand but later switched to a wholly different lifestyle. One such example is the 1971 star of the famous film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. actor Peter Ostrum. Upon growing up, Ostrum did not pursue life on the big screen but rather received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University and has spent decades as a veterinarian in New York. Indeed, each person’s life can be a unique unfolding of many amazing seasons and new unimagined roles.
Do You Necessarily Want to Give Up Writing For Fun?
We all probably know quite a few people who have an amazing talent or skill they do just for fun. Perhaps they are still athletic all-stars even as they get older. Maybe they are master musicians with the piano, violin, flute, or numerous other instruments as their main forte. Maybe they are aficionados in the kitchen, or perhaps they are proficient public speakers. We may wonder why these prodigious family members or friends do not make their talents a source of income, especially since those talents are a key part of their lives. Some answers received may be among the lines of “Well, I just never wanted to take the chance on such a risky endeavor” or even “I haven’t gotten around to it yet.” However, other answers do not imply a missed opportunity or aspiration and maybe along the lines of “then that would take the fun out of it.” People who answer in this way have often found a level of fulfillment and satisfaction in their respective talent or endeavor that no amount of money could bring.
If you try to take the road of generating income through writing(which brings immeasurable riches of its own in addition to the green), make sure you understand this journey might require giving up at least some of the thrill of writing just for the fun of it. What if getting to your laptop and typing vigorously away at your top-secret novel until the wee hours of the morning was your escape after a long day at the office? What if jotting down ideas in your pocket notebook was an exciting exercise you brought into the mundane tasks of everyday life? Keep in mind that sparks might not always fly if you have to spend a great deal of your day now crunching words together to meet deadlines and gather views. Certainly, you can find a balance between work and fun(just like other self-employment or freelance endeavors). Perhaps if you write for income, make sure to set aside a certain amount of time for “fun writing” in your everyday routine where you still write solely for writing’s own sake. Another task may be to find a new type of writing or a whole new type of creative endeavor altogether to serve as your “fun creative time.” This might be like professional athletes who try other sports for fun in their off-season in order to stay fit and active.
Of course, some writers may be so imbued by the craft that they are able to keep the sparks flying in professional and personal writing alike. For so many, following passion flows so naturally into both the professional and personal realms that there is hardly a need to distinguish between the two. But it seems that in any domain, there is also the possibility that pursuing a passion for green can diminish much of the sparks and fun that come when you don’t have to worry about keeping a roof over your head. Also, it is true that writers can have too much quill pen just like bakers can have too much cookie dough or painters can have too much color. If you do follow the path of writing for income, just make sure this is something you remain cognizant of and work to balance in all areas of your life.
But Still, the Call to Follow Your Passion Remains
If anyone is reading this who savors the numerous amazing and insightful articles regularly published on Medium about writing for income generation, I hope my few tidbits have not frustrated you or soured your excitement. Rather it is this writer’s hope that you find these points serve as additional tips and insights as you prepare for the unbounded and exciting world of writing. Perhaps these points can also remind you of the uphill strides that will undoubtedly be part of your journey. Yes, sometimes any writing pursuit will be difficult and demand hard work and perseverance. And remember the path will hardly ever be laid in color brick all clear and pristine before you. But perhaps the rugged path and the challenges are what keep the writing life exciting and renewing. Not only will your works possibly earn you some cash, but they will also be added to the ever-expanding human library containing quintillions of works. Also, the footprints you leave on your new unclaimed path might serve as an unexpected model or guide for a few or countless others who dare to set out on their own unique journey.
