Week #35: Freelance blogging for money?

Even though I call myself a writer, I spend a goodly portion of my working life not writing. Unless I’ve just signed a book contract, most of my income comes from copy-editing rather than writing. Most of the time, I don’t think it’s a bad way to earn a living. But that’s not to say it doesn’t get frustrating editing other people’s rubbish rather than writing my own.

If I love it so much, why don’t I write more? The answer’s simple: it isn’t always easy to get regular paid writing work and as I said earlier, I’m not a great fan of writing for free. Thus, I’m always on the lookout for more writing opportunities, and recently have been exploring blogging.

Not too long ago, I would laugh at the very term ‘paid blogging’. Blogs that pay you to write? You mean real money? *die laughing* Most of the blogs I’ve come across are always looking for guest bloggers, but they are usually not interested in paying for content. (The notable exception was when I wrote for JustFemme.in, run by journalist, filmmaker and runner [and now friend] Padmalatha Ravi.)

Thus, I was intrigued and interested when I came across BeaFreelanceBlogger.com, which talks about the reality of earning a living from blogging. (No, not being clever there: it is possible to earn a full-time income from blogging, says blog owner Sophie Lizard, who learnt it by doing.) So not only will you find a downloadable list of blogs that pay (availabe on signing up), there are resources about how to get started (including courses and mentoring, which don’t come cheap) and a user forum.

I have to admit, I haven’t yet used any of Sophie’s resources (apart from downloading the free Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs) and have no guarantee that this is a sure-fire way to blogging-for-a-living success. If I find out one way or another, I’ll make sure to let you know.

~PD