As a writer, you essentially have two options to earn money for your work. You can find clients to work for and write according to their specifications, or you can write your own material and hope someone has a need to purchase it from you. Obviously, the safer bet for earning income as a writer is to spend your money on the sure thing, which is to work on specific projects for clients. However, many writers find that constantly writing for other people stifles their creative energy. In fact, many writers report that devoting a portion of their day or week writing on topics of their own choosing makes them a better writer for their clients by nurturing their creativity.
While many writers often want to nurture their spark of creative energy and exercise the freedom to write for themselves, many often find it difficult to find great topics that other people will want to read about. Even when you write for yourself, you want to write something that will make money. So you do have to target a certain audience in any writing that you do. Here are some strategies for finding great topics to write about:
Know What You Are Writing. In most cases, a writer should have an idea in mind for where they will sell or otherwise earn money from their writing. Will you be using freelance websites such as Yahoo Voices, Ezine, Constant Content, or others to publish your content and earn money? Will you write for your own blog with Google ads to get paid off hits to your blog’s website? Are you writing a book or writing an article for a print publication? When you have an idea which publication or website you will be writing for, you can better determine who your target audience is.
What’s the Buzz? Once you know who your target audience is, you can pinpoint a few topics to write about. Writers are always keeping their eyes and ears open for great topic ideas. Whether you are standing in line at the grocery store, talking to your dental hygienist, or chatting with parents at your kids’ sporting events, you are faced with a lot of great fodder each and every day. Chances are, if people are talking about it, they are probably interested in reading more about it. Keep a notebook and pen on hand in your car, bag or purse so you can jot down great ideas as they come to you. You will be surprised how many great ideas you will come across over the course of a few days or weeks. In fact, you may not be able to keep up with writing about all of the ideas!
Take a Fresh Angle. The truth is that many topics have already been written about. If you want your writing to be fresh and edgy, you need to find a new spin to take on topics that have already been written about extensively. Another option is to right about current events. However, waiting even a day or two to write about today’s news may be too late. If you are writing about current events, you need to both write and publish your content immediately to enjoy the highest income from your writing.
Many writers enjoy writing for themselves rather than for clients, but when you write for money you need to cater to a target audience as well. Keep these strategies in mind for finding great ideas to write about that will make you money!
