“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”  So runs the famous line from my favorite zombie movie. But the threat you need to watch out for is far more dangerous and prolific than pixelized undead, and it offers no thrills, but a ton of regret and destruction. Though we all know it when we see it, before I name it, let’s take a moment to focus on its victims. You have dreams, ambitions, a passion for the written word—in particular blogging. You want to make a career of helping other businesses express their dreams through your words. In this way, you’re free to use your talent and make a diffe ..read more

Freelance blogging is an amazing career. You don’t have to write about something you don’t care about to make money. There are so many niches that you’re bound to find one (or several) that is both lucrative and fun. You can find clients that make payment arrangements work for you, and you set your own hours. It’s possible to spend time with family and friends while still working on passion projects. However, it’s also ripe with problems and complications that can drive you mad: disappearing websites, changing regulations, unpaid invoices, ghost clients, writer’s block… you name it. And life’s ..read more

If you love horses and have experience working with or just riding horses for fun, you could get paid to write to do it. You may be surprised how many publications are dedicated to horses and the people who love them (and we may have missed a few). How Can I Get Started as a Freelance Writer in the Horse Niche? You can get your foot in the door in the horse or horse-riding niche with your personal experience as a horse lover. Let’s say you have spent many years around horses and love them. You can use your years of accumulated knowledge of horses to get horse magazine and blog editors’ attenti ..read more

Tired of earning small money for paid blogging? If you’re looking to move up, article writing can be a great next step in your freelance career. After all, you already know how important headlines are online. And you know how to focus an idea into an article-sized slice, organizing it into subheads or a bulleted/numbered list. All great fundamentals for article writing. How can you cross over from the world of $50 blog posts to earning $1 a word and more for articles? Here are five proven paths for moving up to writing articles: 1: Get interviews into your blog posts There’s one major differen ..read more

Are you one of the thousands of journalists holding your breath and watching as the industry declines? 28,000 people in the United States lost their newsroom jobs between 2008 and 2018, according to the Pew Research Center. (That’s a quarter of all the news jobs in the US.) If you work for a print publication, you’re probably taking the brunt of the downturn. But digital media isn’t off the hook. Nowadays, layoffs of digital media employees happen with frightening frequency, too. Being laid off is nerve-wracking in any industry. Most of us knew the downturn meant taking positions that offered ..read more

Does the thought of a potential client checking out your freelance blogging portfolio make you so nervous, you get the hiccups? When you’re freelancing, your portfolio is one of your biggest assets. It can get you hired on the spot, or dumped on the pile of instantly forgotten applicants who failed to impress. So let’s ask the obvious question: what does your portfolio say about you? It’s a tough question to answer for yourself, and there isn’t always someone around who’s qualified to give a second opinion. (Your parents and friends will always tell you that your freelance blogging portfolio l ..read more

Are you an animal lover looking for paid writing jobs with animal magazines and blogs? You can find paying freelance work in the animal niche (especially if you’ve got formal training or tons of practical experience with certain types of animals). Some animal publications pay poorly, but if you can offer in-demand expertise (your own or through interviews), you can land better-paying gigs with bigger-budget magazines and blogs. Want more blogging gigs on other topics? Check out our Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs here. Do I Need to Be an Animal Expert to Get Paid to Write about ..read more

If you’re looking to grow your freelance writer portfolio, you may be ignoring the low-hanging fruit of the freelance writer world: regional and local print magazines and blogs. Don’t write these usually free local magazines off. They make money from local ads for small businesses and they need and pay local writers for niche or lifestyle topics. Want more blogging gigs on other topics? Check out our Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs here. Do Local Magazines and Blogs Hire Beginner Freelance Writers? If you’re a new freelance writer looking to get some experience and add articles ..read more

When you decided to become a freelance blogger, did you immediately write up a 5-year business development plan? Calculate a full financial forecast? If you did, you have everyone’s permission to skip this blog post and order more champagne while you wait for the rest of us to catch up. But most freelance bloggers start with a talent for writing and then pick up a bit of business sense along the way. If that sounds more like you, don’t worry — you can still grow your blogging into a lucrative business. We just need to fill some of the gaps in your understanding of how your business works ..read more

If you live or hail from Canada, you might be wondering where all the Canadian freelance writing gigs are. You’ve got the hometown advantage when pitching to Canadian publications (and some of them pay extremely well too). But most freelance writing job lists only include a handful of them. So where are they? Want more blogging gigs on other topics? Check out our Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs here. Where Can I Find More Canadian Blogs and Magazines That Pay Writers? If you’re looking for more Canadian publication to pitch, this list is far from complete. You can do a Google s ..read more