It’s true that writersseldom make the world’s rich lists. A few do work their way to a relatively comfortable life; but most have to jugglewriting with some other kind of business, just to make ends meet. This reality has scared many talented creatives away from doing writing for a living. Others who dare to take the leap into it do so with an unspoken resignation to a lifetime of financial struggle.
The prospects for writers don’t have to be gloomy. If you’re a fine writer and you’re interested in turning your talent into a proper value generating service, you’d be pleased to know that it’s doable. Digital media has opened up new spaces for creative content creators, and traditional options for business inclined writers are expanding all the time. You just need to know your stuff well, and look in the right places.
Here’s a selection of ten great ways to build a proper business out of your writing prowess.
Content marketing
If your writing can get people interested in material or products they previously didn’t know anything about, you might just make a good content marketer.
There’s an increasingdemand for Content marketersfrom businesses in Nigeria, as well as across the globe. The need to outdo competitors in getting customers’ attention is driving businesses to hire skilled storytellers who can present brands in ways that attract the public. Content marketers can help get this done by creating blog posts and newsletters which communicate things about the businesses that hire them to the public.
Blogging
This is a widely known but typically improperly mastered way to do profitable writing. Nevertheless, it’s still generating good income for a lot of people, especially for those who’ve done their research, picked the right niches and put in the work required to grow great blogs.
Before you delve into blogging, you should look at the specific sort of subjects you’ll be writing about, gauge public interest in them, and decide if the following it might generate will be good enough to get you a decent earning off the blog.
Scriptwriting
It takes a creative mind and brilliant descriptive abilities to think up a compelling story and turn it into good material for a movie. This is what scriptwriters do. They don’t always have to come up with the original story, but adapting already existing ones for the screen does require some skill. If you possess such skill and refine it through training, you could start a career as a scriptwriter and build your reputation- and value -as you go on.
Ghostwriting
You’ve probably marvelled at the apparently wonderful writing skills of some famous businessperson, politician or sportsman. Their autobiographies and self help books are absorbing reads!
Actually, most of these books aren’t written by the hands of the people whose name and face appear on the ‘About the Author’ section. They supply the information, but it’s left for smart writers to weave them into coherent, enjoyable content. These unsung scribblers are called Ghostwriters, because they don’t get mentioned as the actual crafters of the book’s content. But they sure do get paid for their writing. Sometimes, a whole lot.
Speechwriting
Here’s another behind-the-scenes writing job.
When politicians and business executives deliver an impressive speech, they get praised for being such good communicators. In fact, it’s quite often the case that those impressive speeches were written by someone else- a professional speechwriter.
Top notch speechwriters are able to write speeches that convey the message they’re told to communicate, and do so in ways that are fit for the mood and the moment. As you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t a widely possessed ability. But if you have it, you could build a fine career with it. Just be sure you’re willing to let your exquisite quotes get attributed to someone else all the time.
Business plan writing
Businesses are always being set up, and many of them want to chart the course for their progress at the very start or as they go on. Not everyone can do this well enough, and that’s why there are business plan writers.
Before you start out on the business plan writing path, you’ll need to understand what it’s about. Studying and practising with dummy samples are a first step. Then take on projects for lower prices, build your portfolio of works, and then launch into it as a pro.
Editorial service
Written material, whether it’s web content or hard print, is best when it’s error free. Finding and fixing the spelling and grammatical errors in articles and books before they get published is something that not many people fancy doing for long stretches of time. But if you’re freaked out by mistakes in written material and you do know how to fix them, you might be an editor in waiting. You’ll stand an even better chance at succeeding here if you’re also an experienced writer.
Resume writing
Job seekers are usually looking for ways to stand out in the eyes of prospective employers. One way they hope to do this is by submitting an attention grabbing CV. When they need this, they’re willing to turn to CV and resume writing experts for help.
Given the number of Nigerians who’re job hunting at any moment in time it’s safe to say that a properly primed resume writing service should generate a decent revenue.
Business proposal writing
Entrepreneurs need their business ideas to be contained in a readable document. Presenting those ideas in formats that business partners or investors would appreciate can be an uphill task for a lot of people. The regular way out of this problem is to hire a business proposal writer who’ll get the job done instead.
As is the case with business plan writing, proposal writers need an understanding of business concepts and processes to make their venture work.
Writers’ coaching service
Experienced writers can organize training seminars for aspiring writers, and write books that’ll be useful to people looking to get into the business of writing.
