By Carol Tice
For most freelance writers, earning more means finding a good-paying writing niche.
We all know that thanks to the content sites, articles on general topics like how to remove mold from your bathroom may never pay decently again.
So what does? Specialized types of writing that require specialized knowledge.
So here are five of my favorite good-paying writing niches. These are all niches I’ve worked in myself. Next week, I’ll post about more writing niches that I know pay well.
1. Trade publications. This is the niche where I landed my first full-time writing gig. I still freelance for trade pubs, for around $750 an article. Trade pubs usually can pay decently well even though their readership is usually relatively small, because their ads are expensive as they offer a unique opportunity to reach a particular audience.
There are trade pubs in every imaginable industry niche, and they don’t have to be terrifically technical industries. I’ve written for trade pubs about home improvement, restaurant and retail. In healthcare alone, there are more than 20 trade pubs, including America’s Pharmacist, Biotechnology Healthcare, Modern Physician, Plastic Surgery News, Managed Care, and Southern California Physician.
Have you dabbled in a technical field as a hobby, been a legal secretary, a teacher, an engineer, a medical receptionist, or had an unusual college major? Likely there’s a trade publication that could use your help explaining industry trends to their sophisticated professional audience. In my five years writing full-time for a trade pub, we were never fully staffed.
2. White papers. This is the hottest piece of collateral in marketing right now. It’s sales material that doesn’t feel “sales-y,” and it’s incredibly effective in getting clients — see this study for details. If you’ve written articles, case studies or reports, you can easily learn this niche.
I got approached by a communications firm to write a 6-page white paper in ’08 for a Fortune 50 company, and it paid $2,500 – about $1 a word – for my very first one, which was essentially three brief case studies. More complicated, longer white papers pay much more. Follow the masters, Michael Stelzner and Robert Bly, to learn more about this lucrative area.
3. Corporate web content. While writers moan and wail about ads for cheap Web content, major corporations – particularly ones that do something complicated or technical – are paying handsomely for authoritative, well-researched and expertly written Web content created about their products and services. To get the best rates, think big – Fortune 1000 companies or $1 billion+ private companies, though mid-sizers can pay decently, too.
I connected with one global private company three years ago when they were relaunching their complex Web site and rewriting all the content, and made probably $60,000 in several years, just from one client. I’ve been paid $95 an hour and/or $1 a word for content like this, straight through the downturn.
4. Research reports. Do you enjoy sleuthing around and turning up information? If so, there are a number of good-paying gigs writing research reports. For several years, I did quality-of-management research on CEOs of small public companies for investment firms. I’d find where the CEO used to work, research past news clips on the company, find former coworkers, and interview them about the CEO. Took about a week. I got paid $1,500-$3,500 a project, and I found the work challenging and fun.
5. Blogging and social media. I know what you’re thinking – that all pays $15 a blog, right? Not if you’re blogging for major magazines or corporations. I just finished a rush job of 20 short blogs for a business-services firm that paid nearly $1 a word. They were part of a $10,000 package of Web articles and blogs, mostly at the same rate level.
Because it’s so new, it’s great expertise to have and rates are high. Expert Chris Marlow did some research on people who were combining copywriting with social-media expertise in job bids, and found the typical hourly rate they reported was $350 an hour. Take a minute to absorb that concept!
I believe social media is the hottest new writing opportunity out there. You just need the right kind of clients.
In the last half of ’09, I signed my first few clients where article writing is coupled with social media – blogging for them on other sites and/or tweeting on the company’s behalf. I did a package of $1-a-word articles recently for a major company’s Facebook fan page. If you enjoy social media, the work’s fun. Often, the marketing exposure’s great, too…and I expect this niche to explode in the next few years.
By Carol Tice
Following up on my previous piece on five good writing niches, here are eight more areas that tend to have great pay.
A few of these I’m interested in getting into myself, or I’ve dabbled with them in the past. I’m going to use rate quotes from the Writer’s Market to discuss pay.
1. Technical writing. If you can talk to software engineers and translate what they’ve created into a user manual consumers can understand, you will make a lot of money. Ditto for medical device makers. The biggest problem facing most of the technical writers I’ve met is they can’t kick the habit and write anything else, because this pays so much better. Plenty of this work is still around, despite some offshoring. Writer’s Market says top rates are $125 an hour.
2. Article ghosting. How many times have you pitched a magazine or newspaper editor a company profile, written it, and gotten perhaps $100-200? What if instead, you sussed out when special sections were coming out that might need guest articles written by executives, and approached those busy executives about ghostwriting a really strong article for them. I have a friend who does this, and gets $1,200 an article, including pitching the publication. Brilliant, eh? Great approach to improving your pay.
3. Grant writing. Many of us have a soft spot for good causes. If that’s you, you might explore helping them win grants to support their work. I’ve done a tiny bit of this, and if you can carefully follow instructions and write well, you can do it. Small nonprofits may want you to do it as a volunteer, or for a cut of what they get. Do one sample and then move up. Top rates hit $125 an hour or better.
4. Curriculum design. If you’re an academic type, maybe a former or current teacher, know that there is a vast need out there for people who can write courses in a way that students will find appealing and accessible. E-learning is exploding, and someone has to write each online class. I see listings in the online job ads for this category all the time. $100 an hour is WD’s top rate.
5. Company magazines. Many large companies publish magazines for their employees, customers, or franchisees. They pay like trade pubs from what I’ve seen, $.75-$1 a word. Linda Formichelli recently related to Jennifer Mattern of All Freelance Writing how she broke into better-paying markets freelancing for AKFCF Quarterly, KFC’s magazine for their franchisees. Other company magazine examples: Here’s one Raytheon does for customers and prospects: Defender. And Tractor Supply Co. does one for its mostly-rural customers, Out Here. And of course there’s Costco Connection, which is one of the biggest-circulation magazines in the U.S. of any type. The possibilities are literally endless – look around the next time you’re in a chain store to find more of these opportunities.
6. Airline magazines. Airline mags are one of the best-paying consumer magazine types. Research which airlines pay best, and where they’re based – they love articles about their home or big-hub markets. If you like to write about travel, these are great target markets.
7. Annual reports. If you’ve written about business or nonprofits and feel comfortable around figures, annual reports can be a great niche. Both for-profit and non-profit entities need them. They’re about conveying what a great year the organization had, through stories and numbers. WD says $150 an hour is top rate, or $15,000 a project.
8. Business plans. This is one of the top new niches that I’m targeting for ’10. Every company that seeks funding from a bank or venture-capital firms needs a business plan. While the Internet is full of wannbes who’d like someone to write their plan for $300 or so, there’s another tier of companies that want a quality, intelligent plan done, and they pay much more. These can be $15,000 projects or more.
