$200,000 A Year As A Writer

November 21, 2008

I'm a subscriber to Freelance Success, and one of their forum threads was on whether it was possible to make $200,000 a year as a freelance writer. I read this with some interest, naturally. I don't think it's merely inflation that has made the usual goal of $100,000 jump to $200,000.

Apparently it is possible, primarily through either ghostwriting for famous people or for a lot of corporate work--writing annual reports and marketing materials, etc. I don't do much corporate work, although I've done some. I've never quite gotten a handle on breaking in, or perhaps I can more accurately say, I've never focused on breaking into corporate work.

More to the point, there were a number of posters on the forum who had at one time or another closed in on $200,000 and others who routinely made more than $100,000 annually, and the gist of it broke down to:

1. Get high-paying work.

2. Do a lot of it.

3. Work your ass off.

4. Market yourself like crazy.

I also find that some of the people making money in that range are doing things like giving speeches or they're earning back royalties on books.

Any number of people said something along the lines of: "There's more to life than money and in order to make that kind of money you almost have to give up what makes the freelance life so lovely--loose hours, casual dress, flexibility, etc."

I confess to an interest in the $100,000 a year number, although I haven't hit it yet. I got in range for two years, and I was aware of just how hard I was working and how busy I was. 

Having to double that has no appeal.

UNLESS...

I can do it through higher-paying clients or good-paying book projects.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw the topic out there because there's an assumption among many people, writers and non-writers alike, that a freelancer doesn't make much money. I make a very nice living, earn about $20,000 to $30,000 a year more than I was making working in clinical cytogenetics (although I don't have paid vacation, sick days, healthcare benefits or retirement). More the point, I love what I'm doing and the lifestyle suits me.

It's something to think about when you consider freelancing.

Cheers,

Mark Terry