Q: Are there any real places to submit writing to as a beginner and make money?

The way I read this question is: is there a way to get paid quickly to write where someone will give me a paycheck?

The short answer is yes, there are real places to do this, but there’s more to it than just clocking in to a “job” and getting paid for your time.

The number one thing to understand is that you will not get paid by the hour. You will get paid by the job / piece / article / post / tweet / paper, etc.

Nobody, or nobody sane, will pay you $45 an hour to sit in your fuzzy slippers and write about whatever you please. People pay for results.

If it takes you an hour and the job pays $20, you just made $20 per hour. If it takes you 15 minutes, you’re earning at an $80 / hr. rate. If it takes you 20 hours to do the job, well, flipping burgers pays better.

Also, understand this right up front: you will NOT step into this as a fulltime “job” from day one. You will have to work up to a fulltime income. Sure, one in a million might get lucky and land a big contract, but that’s not realistic.

There are MANY different ways to have someone pay you to write online, but let’s talk about an option every beginner can get started with immediately: Fiverr.com

Fiverr.com is really simple. You post up jobs you’re willing to do and people who need those jobs done pay you to do them. For every $5 they pay, Fiverr keeps $1 and you keep $4. It may not sound like a lot, but if you can do a job people want quickly, you can make money.

Here are 3 keys to making money with Fiverr.com as a writer.

1. Figure out which writing jobs people are looking for that you can do for them. Articles, blog posts, tweets, social media posts, technical writing, etc.
2. Post a LOT of different jobs you’re willing to do. (Like a fisherman casting a net instead of just putting one hook in the water)
3. Learn the art of upselling with “Gig Extras”.

This last key is by far the most important. TRUTH: You ain’t gonna get rich at $5 a pop! BUT, you can make money by transforming a $5 gig into a $20 gig with a few extras that people don’t mind paying for, especially if they’re in a hurry.

Let’s say one of the gigs you offer is to write good, quality 400-word articles for $5.

Making money with $5 articles is hard, but here are some easy upsells you can add to a Fiverr gig as a writer that increase profits massively:

1. Add $5-20 for delivery within 24 hours
2. Add $10 to double the length / quantity
3. Add $10-$100 to upgrade to another level (ex: article upgrade to 5-page report)
4. Add $200 to upgrade to a Add Mega Option (write a 20 page ebook)

WARNING: do not just post one gig on Fiverr and expect cash to start rolling in! You need to post multiple gigs for multiple different jobs from multiple different angles if you want to develop a stream of income.

MISTAKE: The vast majority of people just toss up one gig, it fails, they say Fiverr sucks, they throw up their hands, and that’s the end of it.

Here are two rules to live by if you want to get paid to write, especially if you’re a beginner.

RULE #1: If you want to get paid, it’s not what YOU want to write, it’s what they want to pay for that matters.

RULE #2: Leave yourself enough time to write and build your own business so you don’t get caught in the “wage slave” writer trap.

Nothing will destroy your love of writing faster than getting caught up on the treadmill of writing for others to barely get by and pay your bills. Writing for a wage is a means to an end, not and end unto itself.

The key is to leverage these techniques and resources to transition to what I call “freedom writing” where you write for yourself and make a LOT MORE money. When you’re doing freedom writing nobody tells you what to do, you have a following of people who pay you for your work (books, ebooks, consulting, etc.), and you’re a helluva lot happier!

In my Udemy course “Paid To Write: 33 Ways Freelance Writers Make Money Online” (Click Here for an 80% OFF offer) I explain in detail how to evolve your writing from the “wage stage” (where I started) to the “freedom stage” (where I am now). I also explain how to find multiple, legitimate places and people that will pay you to write that go way beyond Fiverr.