The other evening, I did some calculations regarding my writing earnings. For most of us who have been freelancing for any length of time, calculating what we make per batch of 100 articles can be helpful, in order to chart a course for potential future writing income.
I'm not talking about one-time article earnings, rather the writer earnings that come in each month through online writing and through blogging.
I've mentioned in previous posts that I like the idea of getting paid month after month for work I do once, over receiving a one-time payment for an article. Now, I'm not talking about payment from hard copy markets because those payments can be quite lucrative and you can send out those manuscripts and sell them multiple times if done right (that's a future post).
I'm talking about monthly writer earnings that come in as a result of your online writing efforts.
Crunching the numbers, I've seen a pattern emerge. For every 250 articles I create, I can expect to net about $100.00 each month in writer earnings. Now this figure fluctuates but it's a good average measuring line.
For writers who want to eventually build substantial monthly earnings, the trick is to set an income goal for your writing earnings and then--and this is the most important part of the equation--figure out how much you have to write to reach that goal.
If a writer can produce 5-10 good-quality articles each day, it is not unreasonable to expect that in one year or two, that writer will have created a monthly income stream--writer earnings that are bringing in hundreds each month.
Lets take a closer look, based on the 250 articles = $100.00 per month model.
- 5 articles x 30 days = 150 articles per month x 2 months = 300 articles. There's your first $100.00. (there's room in there for a 50 article flux, depending on whether you take weekends off).
- If a writer can maintain this pace, realistically, in 12 months, writer earnings would be approximately $600.00. each month.
- In 2 years writer earnings would be around $1000.00-1200.00 per month.
I've started calling this the "Rule of 5." Write 5 articles each day and in a year or two, your monthly writer earnings come out of the realm of wishful thinking and into the realm of lucrative reality.
5 articles a day is certainly something to strive for. Is it always possible? No. Is it easy? No. On a good day, I can usually pull off 2-4 articles but that depends on what's going on around me, how I'm feeling, what I'm dealing with (when you work at home, you long for an office to get away from everything else!). In other words, life happens. Interruptions are the bane of a writer's output!
It will be obvious that for prolific writers, this could morph into the "Rule of 10": 10 articles per day--a much faster accrual of writer earnings.
Never before have writers had so much opportunity. The Internet and online writing have opened a window of opportunity for those who are willing to put in the time and work.
It is my hope that this will inspire you to set goals and reach them, to transition from occasional writer to full-time freelancer, from earning occasional writer earnings to writing income you can feel proud of.
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