As a freelance writer, you likely spend most of your time writing for your clients, and they give you some pretty specific things to write about. The benefit of writing for clients is that you know how much money you will earn for writing certain pieces. However, you also have the option to write your own pieces and publish them how you see fit. If you haven’t considered the benefits of writing reviews, you should take some time to consider how spending a few minutes every day or two writing a review can really benefit you.
Tax Deductions. Many freelance writers will write reviews on everything from books they read and movies they write to the various different products they use. This may includes shoes, cosmetics, vacuum cleaners, and so forth. The fact is that at least a portion of the expense for these purchases may be tax deductible if you earn income from them through writing reviews. This essentially is because you are using the purchase as research for your pieces. Now, you should be careful about what you write off, and you likely will want to seek advice from your accountant or tax professional to learn all of the rules involved with this. However, if you take the time to learn what is involved with tax deductions, you will find that you can benefit significantly from a tax standpoint by writing regular reviews.
Recouping Expenses. The tax advantage aside, consider the up-front payment that you will receive when you publish an article. Depending where you publish your review, you can earn anywhere from a dollar or two to ten dollars or more per review. Consider the fact that you can write multiple reviews on the same topic, and you can see that you can really recoup most, if not all, of your expenses for some things. In fact, you likely will even come out ahead in many cases! You will want to be sure not to publish the same article or review in two different places, and you will need to do a true re-write. However, the time will be well worthwhile.
Recurring Income. Many of the sites that allow you to post consumer reviews will pay you not only a small up-front fee but will also pay you recurring income based on the number of hits your articles get. So you can see that writing reviews regularly can also create a great stream of recurring income. This is especially true if you regularly write about items that are not likely to go out of style quickly. For instance, a movie review has a shorter shelf life than, for instance, a coffee maker would have.
You most likely will not get rich, or even earn a full living, off of writing your own consumer reviews. However, there are some great financial benefits available through writing reviews, and they can help freelance writers really stretch the financial benefit of their skills in new ways. If you have not yet considered what writing reviews can do for you, spend some time exploring the options and benefits today.
