“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn’t bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.” ― Stephen King

When I was growing up, so many people told me that I was a talented writer. Naturally, this led me to think that I could someday turn my talent into an income.

I don’t think I’m alone in this experience: As the editor of Freedom With Writing, I hear from writers all the time who say I’ve been told that I’m a good writer, but what am I supposed to do with that knowledge?

The answer to this, of course, is very personal.

Sometimes, a writer simply has a story they want to share with the world. Other times, a writer wants to find an audience that will support them in the long term. Other writers simply like the idea of getting paid. After all, what can be more validating than getting a check for your writing?

So, if you want to get paid as a writer, the first thing I recommend is to spend a little bit of time thinking about your goals.

This is where some writers get hung up. I encourage you to stay focused on the long-term here, and not on the short-term challenges that you will (of course) eventually figure out.

There are three very broad paths that you go follow from here:

1. Creative writing publishing, such as short stories, personal essays, poetry, etc.
2. Freelance writing for magazines, websites, newspapers, blog
3. Freelance writing/consulting for small businesses and individual clients

These paths are not mutually exclusive, of course, but success in each of the paths usually requires different strategies.

Creative writing does not usually involve sending a “pitch” to a publisher, unless it is a query for a full-length novel. To start, you’ll want to send complete stories to publishers. I recommend starting with literary journals. To learn more about this, you can get a free copy of the book Submit, Publish, Repeat.

Freelancing for magazines and blogs usually involves identifying publications you would like to write for, carefully studying those publications, and then sending a brief pitch to the appropriate person. If you’re interested in doing this, I recommend watching the replay of this webinar. (You’ll also get Ian Chandler’s pitch template, and a copy of The Paid Publishing Guidebook. Both of those are extremely useful.)

If you would like to establish a career consulting as a writer for independent businesses, one of the best things you can do is to choose a niche (a specialty). There are many reasons for this: It makes it much easier to establish your credibility, understand your potential clients, and craft proposals that reflect both of those things. The big difference in this path is that you should think of your writing career as a business with a product you are offering – as opposed to primarily focusing on providing just writing. This case study and this case study provide examples to follow.

Another thing that I recommend is improving your skill as a copywriter. I help teach this course, which goes into a lot of detail on the subject.

I’ve only just scratched the surface here – but hopefully these resources will help you get going in the right directly. Feel free to post additional questions in the comments below.