If you are a novice diving into the world of freelance writing, particularly with online freelance writing, one of the first things that you will want to learn is that there is more than one type of income that a writer can make. Most of you are probably familiar with the “paid as you work” style of pay, which is a system where you get paid per hour, per article, or per project. This is probably the most common type of work that is done by freelance writers. You do a job, and you get paid once. End of story.
For example, maybe you ghost write an article and get paid $10, or you write one article for an online writing website and get $5 up front. This is the one time payment, and the type of payment that most freelance writers are used to. This is also how most people are paid in the real world.
Then there is another form of payment that is often referred to as passive or residual income. Passive income isn’t a recent idea, but the changes in technology and the Internet have made passive, or residual, income more common than ever. The best example of passive income before the Internet age would be royalties from a published novel.
Passive income takes place when an article you wrote, or web page, is online and continues to make money for you week by week, month by month, long after you’ve finished working on it. Usually this is done by having some kind of ads on the page where the writing is displayed, and when someone clicks on those ads the author gets at least a cut of the money made. This way an article that you write a year ago or more can continue to make money for you every week, month, or even day after you’ve finished working on it.
Maybe the most common way for pages to do this online is using Google AdSense. They’re the most famous, but there are many other advertisers who offer a cut, as well as affiliate marketing, and “pay per view” websites. Beyond these examples, there are also websites who take care of the money making aspects and allow writers to simply write and then give them a cut of whatever amount is made. This allows the writer to write and keep getting paid.
Online freelance writers are in a situation where they can actually earn both types of writing income: both passive and active. This is actually one of the best strategies that a beginning freelance writer can have. The one time payments help you pay the bills, learn your craft, and get an idea of how the markets work. Meanwhile, when you have sent out query letters or have all your bids out for online jobs, you can write for yourself and build up your passive online income. It takes a lot of time for passive income to grow, which is why it’s so important to have a writing strategy that uses both.
Online freelance writers can enjoy two streams of income: the active and the passive. The best part about this is that when there are tons of active jobs you have to rush to get done, the passive income streams will just keep on making money without any help. When work gets really slow or thin (like during this last recession), then you can keep working on the residual income knowing at least a little more is going to come in. The combination of these incomes, and perseverance, is the only way to have a successful freelance writing career.
When writing online, don’t limit yourself to only one type of income. Freelance writers need all the income they can get, so work to get all the passive and active income that you can earn!