The Harsh World of Writing Articles For Money

Writing articles for money is one of the trades that many attempt, but in which only a few find success. Some people look at writing as a chance to break away from the dog eat dog business world or to take a break from their ‘real career’. However, if these same people intend to take their writing career seriously, they will find themselves cast into a world that is far more harsh and impersonal than any they could have imagined.

When writing articles for money, it is important to be realistic in one’s goals. As hard as it might be to temper one’s dreams of a full time position writing for a major publication or newspaper, the likelihood of this occurring quickly, if at all, is minimal. For most, writing articles for money starts small, either through selling work to online publications, local newspapers, or local businesses, often at a pittance or for nothing but the name recognition and experience.

Once most people have written a few articles for money, they will begin to re-evaluate their decision to spend such a large amount of time for such little reward. If they decide to stick with their article writing, they will certainly look for larger publications that will pay more for their work. The internet is a valuable resource in finding such publications. The problem is — it makes it easier for EVERYONE! Therefore, publishers and editors are inundated with hundreds, and in many cases thousands of submissions each month. This means that the chances of writing articles for any kind of real money plummets.

This often sends many writers back to internet writing sites, where they plod away writing five, ten, sometimes even twenty dollar articles, as they bide their time waiting for their big chance. The good thing about these type of writing sites though, is that they at least offer some form of income, however insubstantial, to keep the motivated writer working until their big chance does come along.