How to Start Earning Money By Writing Online

Creating a portfolio, gaining visibility, and monetizing your written content advice, from Nika Kotláriková

Hi! Welcome to Friday Features. Every Friday, I’m exposing you to various perspectives about writing. This will help you develop a more holistic outlook on writing faster, better, and more human!

This week, our guest is

Nika Kotláriková

from Business & Marketing With Nika, talking about how she monetized her writing! Let’s dive right in.

ChatGPT 4o

It could be said that writing is a part of my life (and income).

Perhaps that's because it's the activity I've been doing the longest. Currently, I have a sponsored newsletter and paying subscribers. However, before reaching this point, I had to go through several stages, which we will discuss in the following sections of the article.

I would like to share my story and tips on how to start earning money from writing. And I don't mean writing articles only through ChatGPT. In this newsletter, you'll learn how to gain experience, build a portfolio, and start writing in a way that people or organizations will pay you for it.

I've divided the article into 3 parts:

• 📝 Experience and building a portfolio

• 💰 Monetization

• 🤖 Help from AI

Experience and building a portfolio

Before you can ask for money for your work, you must sharpen your writing skills, storytelling, and narrative thinking.

Here are some pointers on how you can build a portfolio and get experience:

• Read good literature, bestsellers, and draw inspiration from the best in the field (feel free to be inspired by the best movies as well).

• Start contributing to a media outlet voluntarily, preferably on something you enjoy.

• As a creative exercise, try creating concise ad copy for various formats (e.g., a short text for a billboard, a radio spot, or even a meme!).

• Check out websites where you can contribute to blogs. For example, look for phrases like "Write for us," "Contribute," or "Share your story." I, for instance, started writing for an offline magazine my friend ran back in high school.

• Start writing your own blog, such as a newsletter, Substack, or Medium.

• Curate: Be visible on social media, where you share "snippets of your articles."

• Reach out to bigger creators with whom you can collaborate on shared posts/articles. At the end of an article, you can add your profile + a CTA (Call to Action) that redirects and encourages people to subscribe to your work.

Monetization

Once you build a decent ability to write articles, establish trust through an existing portfolio, and gain visibility, landing paid gigs will become easier.

How to do it?

Here are some more detailed options that will bring you income while writing:

• You can sell your services on Fiverr, Upwork, and write copy for smaller businesses.

• Start reaching out to larger media companies that pay for articles, such as Wired. A big name in the industry will add to your credibility, meaning more publicity. This can help in getting gigs, better copywriting jobs, or even gaining subscribers. (E.g.: After graduating from college, I started writing for Forbes Slovakia. It improved my reputation and my future prospects. When you have this status, sometimes people reach out to you on their own. It's part of your portfolio.)

• Take advantage of existing monetization programs from writing platforms, such as Beehiiv, Medium, or Substack. For instance, I have paying subscribers who have access to my past articles (Archive).

• Continue writing your own articles but find sponsors. They often care about who your audience is (audience metrics), engagement rate, and the field you're contributing to (to name just a few things they demand).

Help from AI

Honestly, I'm not someone who would let a machine write articles for me. I prefer my own storytelling style and my way of expressing myself. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t use AI. Quite the opposite. I’ve included it in my writing process.

🦾 Here’s how I use AI:

ChatGPT:
• I ask about current events, which helps me create timely (reactive) topics.
• I brainstorm new possible topics.
• I search for background information, relevant sources, and summaries.

Grammarly:
• The AI tool detects grammatical errors and provides proofreading in English.
• It suggests better expressions.

Visual Electric, ChatGPT, or Grok:
• Image generation to complement content.

---

And that's all.

My workflow and steps to go from learning writing skills to creating a portfolio and earning your first money.

I hope you enjoyed the article.

Thanks to James for the collaboration, and I invite you to subscribe to my weekly newsletter on business and marketing. 🙂

All the best,

Nika

---

If you want to monetize your writing, you need to have an authentic AI assistant. If so, you’re going to love my ebook, The Ultimate Guide to Authentic AI Writing. Buy Me A Coffee Donors will receive 50% off from the final price.