Freelance writing is the ultimate side hustle. It’s flexible, it pays well, and it’s enjoyable.
Here are 14 of the Best Paid Writing Jobs for 2019
Can you sum up a product in a sentence? Think of something funny — and not another joke about too many candles — to put on a birthday card? Make a point in few concise words?
If so, you might be able to make money writing slogans.
Companies sometimes need new corporate taglines, advertising slogans and jingles.
Bumper sticker and greeting card makers want cute, endearing or funny thoughts to put on their products.
When these businesses need help, they sometimes collect submissions from freelance writers or run contests that anyone can enter — including you!
Writing Corporate Slogans and Taglines
Product slogans can be very short, like Nike’s “Just Do It.”
They’re rarely much longer than Hallmark’s “When you care enough to send the very best.”
Although companies usually have their own teams of writers and marketers, they often run competitions that pay big prizes to outsiders who can come up with a catchy line. Watch for these opportunities on television and in print, but your best chance of finding them may be online. Try one or more of these platforms:
Slogan Slingers helps companies create slogan contests in which their registered writers compete. It’s free to sign up as a writer, and the company claims you can “make up to $999 per contest (minus our small admin fee).”
Get a Slogan is a “crowd-sourcing platform that brings in custom, creative and catchy slogans from a variety of sloganeers.” Companies come to them for help, and writers submit their ideas. It’s free to sign up, but you initially have only “qualifying” status. Once you obtain “qualified” status, you’ll receive $50 for each of your winning slogans.
Freelancer.com has a section devoted to slogan-writing projects. The projects are sometimes run as contests.
For ideas about how to craft a catchy tagline, look over lists of some of the best advertising slogans and think about what makes each one work.
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If you Google “slogan contest” plus the current or upcoming year (to weed out expired contests from the results), you’ll notice that government and nonprofit organizations may have even more slogan contests than companies. Many of these are open to children as well, so get your kids writing!
For example, Kentucky’s Secretary of State holds an annual slogan contest for students in grades 6 through 8.
The kids have to write a slogan about voting or elections. The first-place winner earned $1,000 for “Don’t stay home and think you might. Go vote now, the time is right!” Even the third-place winner received $400 for “There’s nothing sweeter than to elect your leader!”
Writing Greeting Card and Novelty Slogans
Nadia Ali wrote the slogan, “Nicotine Challenged,” for use on lighters — and earned $100. That’s $50 per word
Ali wrote the slogan for Kalan, a gift and novelty seller that mostly does edgy stuff I can’t repeat here. However, their unusual products might be good writing opportunities for you.
The Kalan Idea Factory accepts submissions through their Facebook page. Most recently, they were looking for greeting card ideas for next Valentine’s Day.
Oatmeal Studios is a card company that pays for outside submissions — and you don’t even have to be able to draw. Describe the visual elements of the card, and their artists will take it from there.
Their submission guidelines include the following tips:
If you find yourself wondering whether a line is funny or not, read it to a few friends and see if they laugh. From a creative perspective, go wild! Keep in mind your target list of people you send cards to.
Here are the occasions you’ll want to consider:
- Birthdays (especially 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th)
- Belated birthday
- Get well
- Thank you
- Miss you
- Congratulations
- Anniversary
- Retirement
Unlike some card makers, Oatmeal Studios doesn’t want puns, poetry, gross ideas or mean ideas, so keep it clean for your best chance of a payday.
Blogs That Will Pay for Your Tips and Stories
If you love sharing your tips and stories and are looking for some one-off ways to get paid for your words, writing for blogs can be a very lucrative endeavor.
The benefit of this side hustle is that you can get paid well but have no commitment to submit articles on a recurring basis. If you have a great idea just pitch it to one of these blogs to get paid!
The Penny Hoarder – The Penny Hoarder is a blog dedicated to unique ways to both make and save money. The Penny Hoarder pays a flat rate per post (must be pre-arranged with the editor) and also offers bonuses of up to $800 if your blog post reaches a certain number of views.
The Dollar Stretcher – The Dollar Stretcher is a long standing frugal living website with a monthly print newsletter. You can earn $0.10 per word for stories or tips published in the monthly print version.
ACHS – American College of Healthcare Science is look for posts that are 600-1,000 words long related to your favorite topic on holistic health and wellness. They pay $50 per post.
World Start – World Start is looking for general computer, email, and software tips for their newsletter. They pay anywhere from $15-$35 per post depending on length.
Income Diary – Income Diary is a blog about making money online. If you’re a marketer or successful entrepreneur this could be a good fit for you. They pay anywhere from $50-$200 per post payable via PayPal.
Back to College – Back to College is looking for articles in regards to older students heading back to college. They pay anywhere from $32.50-$65+
Great Escape Publishing – This outlet is looking for articles about travel. They pay anywhere from $50-$200, depending on the type of assignment you take on.
iWorkWell – iWork Well is a website for businesses covering a broad range of topics. This site will pay you up to $200 per post.
With a little hustle, anyone can create extra income writing as a side hustle. I hope you found some ideas to get you started.