How to Make Money From Your Writing

Times are tough for writers. The print media is drying up. AI is encroaching on our territory. Article after article is announcing the death of writing as a profession.

Of course, times were never easy for writers. Yes, Vanity Fair might have been offering tens of thousands of dollars for freelance pieces in the 90s — but you probably were not going to get commissioned by Vanity Fair.

Still, it seems undeniable that 2026 is an unusually difficult time to be a writer with professional aspirations. As someone who has spent many years scribbling on the peripheries of journalism, I thought I would offer some advice on how to be a professional writer.

1. Have rich and generous parents.

Having rich and generous parents is a cool trick because it means you don’t really have to make a lot of money. You can be a professional writer on the strength of an occasional book review for The Spectator. There is one flaw in this strategy, though, which is that most of us don’t have rich and generous parents, and you can’t feasibly acquire them.

Moving on …

2. Freelance.

Okay, most people who want to be writers want to get a book contract or a column. Well, aspiring football players want to play for Arsenal, but first they might have to play for Doncaster Rovers. If you want to be a writer, you’ll probably start by freelancing. As someone who has been on both sides of the wall, as a freelancer and an editor, I hope I can offer some solid advice here.

• Have another job. Don’t have the rich parents? You’ll almost definitely need a day job. Sorry — I’ve never been a full-time freelancer and I live in Upper Silesia, which is not exactly London when it comes to prices.

• Write a lot. If you just want to get your writing out there, disregard this. If you want to make money, though, you’re going to have to be prolific. Writing doesn’t make a lot of money — if it makes any — so nor do writers. You’re going to have to read, read, read and write, write, write. Say goodbye to a normal work-life balance. That’s the price of being in a competitive yet unprofitable field.

• Sell your ideas. A lot of people feel uncomfortable about promoting themselves. Alas, someone has promote you, and it isn’t going to be anyone else. But you don’t have to promote yourself as much as you have to promote your idea. Hardly anyone will read 1000+ words if you don’t make them excited first. If you are excited to write, prepare to convey your excitement to others.

• Be nice to editors. Okay, I am an editor, so of course I would say this, but I would have said it before I became one. Ultimately, editors have a lot of pitches and a limited budget, so you’re going to have to get used to (a) waiting and (b) being rejected. Being irritable about either of these things is a good way to make sure you never get accepted. That said — disregard this if you have to wait a long time before getting paid. It’s always nice to be polite, of course, but you should never feel bad about reminding someone to pay you. No one has to accept your pitches but they do have to honour their financial commitments. To paraphrase Tony Soprano, you shouldn’t let someone act like they are doing you a favour if they pay you what you’re owed.

Picture credit: Martin Colyer

3. Substack.

The best time to launch a Substack was five years ago. At this point, the market is almost as saturated as the market for podcasts and Dubai chocolate. Still, if you have good ideas and a lot of style, this is a great platform. I suspect the best way to thrive here is to find some sort of thematic niche. (I’ve always written about anything and everything, which means that anyone who comes for the chin-stroking philosophical reflection gets annoyed by the pro wrestling, and anyone who comes for the pro-wrestling gets annoyed by the chin-stroking philosophical reflection.)

4. Shill.

You would be surprised by how many PR people will pay you to mention their policy, product or service in what poses as a straightforward journalistic or creative piece. On the plus side, it is easy money. On the other hand, you are absolutely selling your soul, and if it came to light that anyone was doing this I would never publish them.

5. Copywriting/Ghostwriting.

I would have turned my nose up at this in the past. Is it really writing if someone is telling you what to write? Well, no, but after years of working in journalism, I have a lot more respect for copywriting that is open, honest copywriting rather than copywriting that pretends to be journalism or literature. It seems far less immoral to write an advert that is presented as an advert rather than an advert that is posing as something else. (Of course, AI has made this a less profitable side gig.)

6. Get a patron.

In the past, many writers had patrons. Harriet Shaw Weaver supported James Joyce for decades. (He repaid her by writing Finnegan’s Wake.) I gather that many writers are still being backed by billionaires and multi-millionaires, though I’m not sure how they find them. Supposedly, a lot of people are being paid by Peter Thiel. Me, I was aiming for Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, he became the subject of sexual assault allegations. Plus, he never read me.

7. Move to a country with a lower cost of living.

I didn’t actually move to Poland to be a writer but I happened to be living in Poland when I became something of a professional writer. This was great because the money went a lot further. £75 in the UK? It isn’t much. 350zł in Poland? It was a lot! Granted, again, I couldn’t make a living out of it. But people with “English as a first language” privilege should not find it impossible to get other work.

8. Rob a bank.

Granted, there are ethical and logistical concerns here. Besides, even the average successful bank robbery makes about £10,000 per robber. But that’s a lot more than the average book advance! Besides, if you get caught, you’ll have a lot of time for writing the book. Score!

In all seriousness, you can make money from writing. But if you want to be a writer, you should love the writing more than you love the money. “Writers” who plagiarise, or use AI, or shill for companies confuse me, because if you are going to be corrupt, there are far more profitable ways of being corrupt. Money is great but writing is first and foremost about being honest, playful and precise on the page.