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November 20, 2023
Editorial GuidelinesAlba is a writer for SideHustles.com. In addition to writing, she has done work as an independent graphic designer and has...
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NoIf you’re a freelance writer looking for publications that will pay you for your work, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a list of websites that accept content from freelancers.
On this list, you’ll find sites that purchase blog posts, educational content, poetry, fiction, book reviews, and more. Read on to learn where to go if you want to get paid to write.
If you’re looking to get paid to write articles, here are 15 sites that will pay for your work.
There’s a veritable industry of blogs centered around parenting and parenthood. Adoptive Family is one such publication, although it has a slight twist—it focuses on providing resources to parents before, during, and after the adoption process.
This includes articles and personal essays on topics such as infertility, older child and special needs adoption, parenting tips, and adoptees’ perspectives on various issues.
Adoptive Family offers a year-long subscription to writers of personal essays and will pay for “reported” (journalistic) articles. They usually take 8–10 weeks to respond to submissions.
Copyhackers provides copywriting services to businesses and also provides resources for aspiring copywriters. They pay between $300 to $1,000 per piece. Articles must be at least 2,000 words.
They accept pitches for posts on the following topics:
Check out their website for the extended list of topics they accept and their submission guidelines.
DAME is a women-led, independent, and intersectional magazine that features writing about political, cultural, and societal issues.
They purchase stories that are “unexpected, emotional, straightforward, illuminating, and human-centric.” This means that they buy opinion pieces and other articles on various topics, ranging from science to current events. They generally look for articles that examine and explain things from a feminist perspective.
They accept pitches for previously unpublished stories and pay $350–750 per piece.
Elite Personal Finance is a financial advice publication. According to their website, they cover topics such as:
They look for articles that are between 1,000 and 3,000 words and pay $300 per post.
International Living is a “niche publication for living and retiring overseas.” They solicit pitches from experienced travelers and those who have already begun living abroad—think of opinion pieces, advice, interviews, and how-to articles that could only be written by someone who’s been there.
This makes their site harder to submit to if you aren’t a frequent traveler or an expat, but if you are, it’ll be a great fit for you.
If you’re a blind or visually impaired writer looking to share your experience, LightHouse is the site for you. They’re looking for first-person stories that are “not merely about blindness, but about what it takes to survive and strive as a human.”
They pay $100 per piece and publish the following types of content:
Listverse is exactly what it sounds like. They publish listicles of at least 10 items each and will pay you $100 for each list they accept. Keep in mind that each item on your list should include at least 1 or 2 paragraphs of explanation or commentary.
They prefer content that’s interesting or “bizarre.” The idea is to produce articles that people can read quickly and that have a chance of going viral.
Speaking of lists, Longreads is another site that accepts pitches for listicles, among other pieces. They accept two types of articles:
Are you a Photoshop wizard who’s keen to pass on your secrets? If so, Photoshop Tutorials might be the perfect place for you to share your knowledge.
You can apply to write for them by submitting samples of your work (including both writing samples and a portfolio showcasing your Photoshop skills), along with ideas for the types of tutorials you could write for them.
Calling all former scouts! Scout Life magazine accepts pitches for nonfiction articles and themed columns.
Their nonfiction articles run between 500 and 1,200 words and are paid at a rate of $1 per word. Their columns run up to 600 words and are paid at the same rate.
Each magazine issue features columns on the following topics:
To learn more, check out Scout Life’s submission guidelines. Their magazine is published 10 times per year.
This one is for the technical writers out there. If you’re a software developer with a taste for writing and the drive to share your knowledge with the software community, Semaphore solicits pitches for articles of 1,000 to 2,000 words.
They pay $400 for most new articles and up to $500 for more complex tutorials. They’ll also pay a 50% bonus if your article reaches over 1,000 non-paid views within 7 days of publication.
Slate is a general-interest magazine and podcast network that’s won many awards. Their articles cover:
They accept articles in all the above categories. You can submit your pitch directly to the appropriate editor; find their contact info via the link above.
Sierra is an award-winning print and digital magazine that’s published by Sierra Club, the oldest grassroots environmental group in the US.
For online publication, they accept reviews and opinion pieces (paid at $250), as well as longer analyses of environmental news and policies (paid at approximately $350).
For their print edition, they accept writing that falls under the following categories:
These include works of narrative nonfiction (e.g., essays or investigative reporting) tackling environmental and social justice issues. These can be up to 4,500 words and are paid at $1 per word, rising to $1.50 per word for well-known writers. Acceptable topics include:
Columns should be between 250 and 2,500 words in length. They’re generally paid between $250 and $2,000 (unless otherwise noted).
Note that Sierra also accepts photography submissions.
The American Gardener is the official publication of the American Horticultural Society, and it caters to “experienced amateur gardeners.” They emphasize environmentally responsible gardening practices and are interested in articles on garden design, botany, conservation, and profiles of prominent horticulturists.
They accept feature articles between 1,500 and 2,000 words and pay between $300 to $600 per piece. Columns run between 600 and 1,000 words, depending on the category, and payment ranges from $150 to $200.
The Financial Diet is a popular multi-platform media company that’s all about helping women get comfortable talking about money.
They accept pitches on all sorts of topics relating to women and finance, including investing, career development, entrepreneurship, and budgeting.
You can pitch your article ideas by following the guidelines on their website and emailing their editor directly.
If you’re more of a literary type, try one of these websites, which will pay you for fiction, poetry, and other creative writing.
We’ve also included several magazines and websites that will pay you to write about writing, in case book reviews seem like they’d be more your speed.
If you’re a big reader (which most writers are!) and you have strong opinions about books, give this site a try.
BookBrowse will pay you to write book reviews of at least 300 words for both adult fiction and nonfiction, as well as some young adult books.
Alternatively, you can write book summaries for a company like getAbstract. They specialize in breaking down the key ideas from books, podcasts and articles, making them easier for their readers to digest.
To work with them, you’ll need to submit an application with an unpaid test summarizing an article they provide. If you’re accepted, they will then assign you your paid tasks.
Bella Magazine is a women’s magazine that features lifestyle, health, and travel content. They’re looking for real-life stories in these niches, and they’ll pay up to $1,000 for them.
Once you submit your outline, their editors will contact you to corroborate your story and let you know to start writing. Note that this site caters to a predominantly UK-based audience but accepts pitches from writers from all over.
Blue Mountain Arts is a greeting card and gift company. They accept seasonal poetry submissions online and by mail. To submit seasonal poems, follow their guidelines.
Be aware that they won’t pay you directly for your work; instead, they hold periodic poetry contests. The prizes are as follows:
Blue Mountain Arts also accepts book proposals. You can pitch ideas that fit into the self-improvement, personal growth, family, and “inspiration” niches.
Chicken Soup for the Soul purchases inspirational (and true) stories about “ordinary people having extraordinary experiences.” These stories must be under 1,200 words and will be published in their joint book collections. They pay $250 per story.
As of November 2023, the topics they’re currently collecting stories for are:
Cricket Media is a family of award-winning children’s magazines. Their publications include:
Each magazine has slightly different requirements for pitches, as well as slightly different rates. The work they accept is fairly broad in scope—they take short fiction, poetry, nonfiction articles, activities, games, and recipes.
Stories and articles are generally paid up to $0.25 per word. Poems are up to $3.00 per line, with a $25 minimum. Activities, games, and recipes are paid at a $75 flat rate.
Dilettante Army is an online journal written from a feminist perspective. They publish pieces that involve visual analysis, critical theory, and close text reading.
Their preferred article topics center around issues of social justice, politics, and art. They also publish “imaginative pieces” (i.e., personal essays and narratives), poetry, and visual essays.
They accept submissions during their open call periods for each issue, which are published on a quarterly basis. Note that issues are themed, so be sure that your submission is appropriate before sending it in.
Dilettante Army pays a standard fee of $500 per contribution.
Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine publishes science fiction and fantasy stories of up to 25,000 words each. If you grew up reading and watching sci-fi and always dreamed of writing your own stories, this is for you.
They accept whole manuscripts, not pitches. If your work is selected for publication, they’ll pay $0.8–$0.12 per word, meaning you could be paid up to $3,000 for your story.
One Story is a literary fiction magazine that features one story per issue (as the name suggests). It’s mailed to subscribers every three to four weeks.
As you’d expect, the nature of the magazine makes it fairly competitive to get into, but if you do, it will give a significant boost to your credibility as a literary writer.
The stories it features can range from 3,000 to 8,000 words and will be paid at a flat rate of $500.
Rattle is an online and print journal that publishes poetry. It offers poets weekly opportunities to get paid to write.
They host a weekly “Poets Respond” contest that asks poets to write about a current event that happened within the past week.
Poets are paid $100 for poems on the site and $200 for poems in the print issues (which are published quarterly).
The Sun Magazine is a monthly publication. They publish personal essays, short stories, poems, and black-and-white photography in print and online. They’re particularly interested in marginalized voices and social justice topics.
They accept submissions of up to 7,000 words or 5 poems. Rates start at $200 depending on the length of the piece.
Most of the publications listed above pay either on a per-word or per-article basis. There are several websites that use a different model, calculating your payment based on how many views your content gets.
We’ve listed two of the biggest names in pay-per-view writing below:
Valnet is a media company that runs a network of popular sites. Many of these feature articles on pop culture-related topics, including movies, video games, and the like. The most well-known of their sites is ScreenRant, although you may also have read articles from The Gamer or CBR, depending on your interests.
Valnet sources most of their articles from freelancers, and if you’re a strong writer with a passion for movies or games, you have a good chance of getting your pieces published by them.
However, there’s a catch: Valnet’s pay is notoriously low. You’ll generally make between $5 and $20 per article, with an additional $0.33 per thousand views. As their articles are often upwards of 1,000 words long and can take several hours to research and write, this translates to a very poor hourly rate.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Valnet sites aren’t worth writing for, but it’s best to treat them as resume and portfolio-builders, not serious money-makers. The name recognition of their most popular sites means that once you have a few bylines, it’ll be easier to get your foot in the door at one of the higher-paid publications listed above.
If you write for Valnet, plan on submitting several articles, learning as much as you can, and finding something better as soon as possible.
If Valnet’s pay is just too low for you to consider, look into Medium. This website also pays on a per-view basis, although their rates are higher ($15–$30 per 1,000 views).
You can also write about whatever you want on Medium; essentially, when you work for them, you’re running your own blog on their website.
Popular topics on Medium include:
If you’re interested in earning passive income over time from clicks or views, Medium is a much better bet than Valnet. However, there is an element of luck in this type of writing side hustle; if your content goes viral, you could earn thousands of dollars from just one piece, but the bulk of the content that’s written and published on Medium barely generates any money at all.
If none of the sites listed above suits you, you still have several options. There are thousands of companies in virtually every industry that sometimes need people to create content for them, and more than a few websites exist to connect them with freelance writers like you.
Try a site in one of these categories:
Freelancing platforms help gig workers find clients (and vice versa). Many writers kick off their careers by establishing themselves on one of these websites:
The jobs you’ll find on sites like this are incredibly diverse. You can get paid for blog writing, ghostwriting, technical writing, and more.
The caveat (and unfortunately, there is a caveat) is that websites like this will take a cut of your profits. You’ll usually be able to make more money by pitching to publications directly or by finding clients on your own, without relying on a platform.
Of course, both of those options also take more work than using a site like Upwork.
It’s up to you whether the convenience of using a freelance marketplace is worth the somewhat reduced profits you’ll earn. Again, it’s common for freelancers to get their start on websites like this and then phase them out once they’re more established.
There are also dozens of websites that are specifically aimed at freelance writers. The jobs on these platforms are often in the SEO blog writing niche (but not always—they occasionally feature other types of writing work as well).
Look into websites like:
These sites come with the same catch as general-purpose marketplaces: they’ll take a cut of your earnings. Moreover, the base pay on them is often relatively low.
As with general-purpose freelance marketplaces (and, for that matter, with companies like Valnet), they may be worth leaning on in the beginning, but once you’ve built a solid portfolio and made a few industry connections, you’ll probably find you’ve outgrown them and want to take your services elsewhere.
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