10 Types of Freelance Writing Jobs

Blogs are web pages that regularly publish new articles. Blog posts vary in length, but they’re often between 1,500 and 2,500 words. They may be written for any audience and for virtually any purpose: to educate, advocate, entertain, or some combination of the three.

Blogging is a great way to get paid to write articles, as there’s a plethora of publications looking to hire freelance writers (even today, in the age of AI-generated content). You may have an easier time gaining traction if you pick 1–2 niches to specialize in, such as travel writing or food blogging.

You don’t necessarily need formal credentials to blog about a subject, although having them can certainly boost your chances of landing jobs. The key is to know how to do research and find the sources you need to write about something authoritatively.

In addition to producing content for other people’s blogs as a freelancer, consider keeping your own, which can serve as your writing portfolio (and a source of passive income, if you amass a following). There are many ways to make money from blogging, including running ads, posting affiliate links to products, and writing sponsored content.

A social media writer creates content for businesses to post on social media platforms, such as:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Twitter/X
• LinkedIn

Social media content can consist of anything from image captions or bite-sized posts (for platforms like Instagram or Twitter) to full-length blog articles (for LinkedIn). Whether you’ll be writing short- or long-form content depends on the platform.

Social media writing is often quite informal, and sometimes even allows embellishments like emojis, making it one of the more enjoyable writing side hustles you can take on. You may be tasked with finding suitable pictures to pair with your writing (something that, incidentally, also holds true for blogging; some freelancers are expected to source stock photos for their outlets).

This type of content creation is typically one corner of a business’s larger social media marketing strategy. In addition to solid writing skills, you must have a good understanding of how social media platforms work and current digital marketing best practices to excel in this field.

Copywriting consists of creating short-form text (known as “copy”) that persuades readers to take a certain action, such as making a purchase, following a social media page, or signing up for a newsletter.

As a copywriter, you may write various types of marketing and promotional materials. We’ve listed just a few examples below:

• Online advertisements
• Product descriptions for e-commerce websites
• Email sequences and campaigns
• Calls to action (CTAs) for landing pages (e.g., “Download Now” sections)

Like social media writing, generating effective copy requires you to be creative and well-versed in branding and marketing strategies. There’s a large market for this type of content, and if you have a background in communications or sales, then copywriting is one of the more practical ways to make money writing.

Like copywriting, UX writing also entails creating short-form text. However, whereas copywriting focuses on persuading consumers to take action, UX writing is meant to help people navigate a digital product, such as an app or a website.

For instance, when you receive a notification from your Uber app indicating that your driver is 2 minutes away, that was written by a UX writer. So are the 404 “page not found” messages you often see on websites.

The essence of UX writing is to facilitate a better user experience. To do that, UX writers sometimes need to conduct user research, carry out A/B testing on their copy, and collaborate with designers.

Technical writing involves simplifying complex information and presenting it in an easily understandable way. This type of writing is often used in industrial, scientific, and other technical fields.

Technical writers often work on the following kinds of documents:

• Instruction manuals
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• White papers
• Business proposals

You need to have specialized knowledge of your chosen subject to be a technical writer. It stands to reason that if you want to write about wireless technologies, for instance, you need a solid background in the field.

Ghostwriting is when you write content that’s credited to someone else rather than published under your name. It’s very common; many people dream of publishing, but lack the ability or drive to write their own pieces.

If you’re comfortable with not being credited for your work, this is a good way to generate income from creative writing, which isn’t always easy to do.

Any written work can be ghostwritten, but if you get into this side hustle, you’re particularly likely to work on:

• Nonfiction ebooks
• Short fiction or novels (especially romance novels)
• Speeches
• Press releases
• Academic papers
• Scripts (often for social media platforms, such as TikTok or YouTube)

It’s worth noting that if you become known as a reliable ghostwriter in a particular niche, such as genre fiction, that can open up doors if you decide you want to publish works under your own name further on down the line. Word often spreads fast in the online writing and publishing scene, and you can develop a reputation even when you aren’t getting credit for your work publicly.

Creating and selling online courses is another great way to get paid to write. It involves creating educational content, such as:

• Lessons plans
• Scripts
• Study guides
• Worksheets

You can create material like this for other people on a freelance basis, or create your own course in something you’re interested in and sell it on websites like:

• Skillshare
• Udemy

Your chosen material will affect the tones and structure your course should have. Some online courses are fairly serious and involved, whereas others are light and conversational. Think of what you’d expect from a course in electrical engineering versus a course in yoga and you’ll have an idea of the varying approaches you can take.

Grant writers create written proposals for organizations (often charities or nonprofits) to help them secure financial backing (i.e., grants).

You generally don’t need any certifications to become a freelance grant writer. However, as with any type of freelance writing, it’s important to have positive client testimonials and a solid writing portfolio that demonstrates your skills.

To create successful proposals, you need to fully understand:

• The funder’s values and mission
• What your client intends to use the money for
• The field they work in
• The grant’s eligibility requirements

This often requires doing extensive research, so if you get into grant writing, be prepared to devote a solid chunk of time to each job. In contrast to some of the writing gigs on this list (such as copywriting and blogging), this isn’t a very quick or high-volume writing side hustle, and you probably won’t turn around pieces very quickly.

Resume writing is what it sounds like. If you become a resume writer, you’ll work on creating resumes for other people, showing off your clients’ credentials and experience in a way that maximizes their chances of getting a job.

In some cases, resume writers may also be asked to create curricula vitae (CVs), which are significantly longer documents that detail people’s professional and academic histories.

Having basic design skills will come in handy here. You’ll be mainly hired to workshop the actual language on the resumes and present your clients in the best possible light, but if you can help them evaluate and tweak the document’s layout and presentation, that will help, too.

Like with most types of freelance writing, you don’t need any formal qualifications to get into resume writing. That said, if you want to pursue this in the long term, it may be worth it to become certified. Many resume writers pursue one of these credentials:

• The Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW)
• The Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW)

There are many different types of journalism, which can be categorized by coverage and medium. Freelance journalism gigs involve doing research or investigative work, conducting interviews, and writing informative content about your findings.

Certain categories of journalism, such as investigative or feature journalism, are mainly (although not exclusively) pursued by full-time professionals. If you want to become a freelance journalist as a side hustle, you can apply for jobs in less competitive niches, such as reviewing media products or aggregating news.

If you’re just starting out and don’t have many industry connections, you can find journalism gigs by pitching articles to magazines that accept submissions from freelancers. Be sure to pay attention and follow their submission guidelines to increase your chances of hearing back from them.