Writing For Dollars

It used to be that writing for money was a hard gig to get. Authors had to have agents and publishers in order to get a steady paycheck and if you weren't on a best-selling list somewhere, it was almost impossible to get anyone to look at your work.

Fortunately, all that has changed.

New publications are sprouting up everyday - both in hard copy form as well as online, spurring a need for good, solid writers of all genres and styles.

If you think you'd like to write for your paycheck, then this is the hub for you. Are you ready? :)

While ebooks aren't as booming as they once were, you can still earn a decent cash flow in the right market. Ebooks give you the freedom to write and publish what you want, without an editor hanging over your shoulder second-guessing every word. You also keep 100% of the profits and - here's the real beauty - there's practically no overhead.

How can you publish your own ebook?

The first thing you'll need to do (after writing the book of course) is to put it into a format that allows others to read it. At the same time, you want your work to be protected so editable formats such as Word or HTML are out of the question. The easiest (and cheapest) way to accomplish your publishing goals is to download a freebie program called PDF995. This little beauty installs as a printer driver on your computer and when you "print" your document, it converts it into PDF format, all absolutely free. You'll have to deal with some promotional pop-ups each time you load it (the paid version is pop-up free), but its well worth the small hassle.

This means you can use fancy fonts, images and other enhancements and your book will look just like it did in your word processing software.

Once you've published your book, you'll need to get it in front of your market which is another hub, all its own. Keep watching for

Blogging has taken on a life all its own. There are blogs on just about every topic under the sun from pet care to organic gardening to (yes, you guessed it) making money on the web.

Some of these blogs are personal endeavors, created by individuals who just want to have their voice heard. Others are sponsored by companies and manufacturers and its these commercial blogs where you can really make some money. Start by looking at the blogging job boards:

About.com Web Logs Guide, Deborah Ng, provides a list of current blogging jobs every friday. Sometimes, she spoils us and throws in a few jobs on Thursday as well, so be sure to read her blog so that you don't miss a thing.

Problogger.net is the resources when it comes to blogging jobs. Check out their job board on a regular basis because new jobs are being posted all the time.

FreelanceWriting.com posts an impressive list of writing jobs every Tuesday in their Morning Coffee post. Some of the jobs are more traditional writing gigs but you can find some blogging opps in their as well.

In addition to these job boards, you can also blog for companies such as About.com and Suite 101. Both offer the opportunity to write for dollars on the topic of your choice and the pay is based on page views. So, the more you write, the more you make.

While this is sort of like blogging, the money making process works a little differently so I'm listing it separately here.

As blogging and social networks continue to grow, companies have figured out that they could combine the two ideas to create a content-rich community with thousands of writers at their disposal. They don't actually pay the writers for the content, but they do give them the opportunity to make some bucks through affiliate advertising and similar concepts.

This hub for example, is one of many I've posted on Hub Pages. If you're new to Hub Pages, here's how it works: you create a free account and then start creating "hubs" of content, comprised of individual pages on a particular topic or interest. Hub Pages gives you the ability to add affiliate advertising from Amazon, eBay and Google Adwords so that you can make some cash from the readers who click on your links. Obviously, the more you write and the better your content, the bigger your chances are to make a few extra bucks.

Other communities with similar concepts include 451 Press, BloggeParty and Squidoo.

In addition to these direct markets, you also have a few other resources at your disposal.

You can find a wide range of writing gigs, both online and off at places like Elance.com and Guru.com. These sites act like a middle-man, allowing you to bid on projects posted by those in need of good writers.

And if its more traditional publications you had in mind, WritersMarket.com has all the listings you'll ever need. From magazine publications to greeting card companies and book publishers, you'll have more than enough markets to keep you busy for a long, long time.