Tired of earning pennies (or peanuts or whichever cliche for crappy pay you prefer) and ready to learn how to write for money online for real?
We’re tired of it, too. That’s why Make a Living Writing pays for posts, and why our rates start at $150 depending on the type of article we commission (but please note we are not currently open to submission). And it’s why we update our list of sites that pay on a regular basis.
Below is an updated version of the Make a Living Writing list of websites that pay at least $50 per post.
Write for money: 80+ websites that pay freelance writers $50+
Rather than updating our Monster List of 161 Markets for Freelance Writers, we decided to release an updated and comprehensive list with newer markets and made our bottom line $50 for posts. That’s our minimum for this post. If you want to explore sites that pay $30-$50, check out these 21 niche markets.
What’s included in this write for money roundup (and what’s not included)
In some cases, these sites keep it on the down low exactly what they pay. We’re including markets where freelance writers in our network report they pay more than $50, in order to bring you the widest variety of paying markets possible.
We also removed sites that are not currently accepting pitches, which knocked a good portion of the writing-focused sites off. Sites where you only have a shot at earning $50 writing on spec, or based on traffic or ad clicks, are NOT included. This is a list of markets offering guaranteed pay only!
The list runs the gamut of topics, from parenting and knitting to business and writing, so there should be something here for everyone, no matter what type of writing job you’re looking for.
And don’t forget, if you’re ready to supercharge your freelance writing career, the Freelance Writers Den has over 300 hours of on-demand bootcamp trainings you can access 24/7 plus an exclusive community of 1,500+ members sharing valuable advice day in and day out. There’s also a direct referral program with new opportunities to make money writing posted regularly. Get on the waiting list now so you can take your career to the next level.
As always, we appreciate any corrections or additions. Here’s the list.
Business, Career and Finance
- B. Michelle Pippin pays $50-$150 for business-related articles
- Coaches Training Blog is looking for articles about coaching—business, life, career, and other kinds. Pay based on assignment
- Copyhackers pays $300-$1,000 for articles about copywriting, branding, running a business, and more. Read the submission guidelines carefully to pitch
- CEO Hangout will pay $50 if you pre-arrange it with the editor—send a pitch and negotiate payment before writing the article. They run posts about the CEO lifestyle, success stories, interviews, and other reported features of interest to business leaders
- HerMoney pays $150 for articles about women and money. They list a blackhole editorial@ email address, so take time to research which editor is best-suited for your topic. Start with Kathryn Tuggle, chief content officer
- Doctor of Credit pays $50 for personal finance articles that focus specifically on credit
- eCommerce Insiders pays $75-$150 for articles about online retailing
- FreelanceMom pays $75-$100 for posts about running a business as a busy parent
- FreshBooks (yup, that same freelancer invoicing site we recommend) pays $200 a post and up. They’ve removed their contributors page since we first published this article, but they still reportedly accept pitches from time to time for their blog
- Acorns has an online pub called Grow Magazine that pays $50+ for finance writing geared toward millennials. They don’t have guidelines posted, but they told me to submit to grow@acorns.com with the word STORY in your subject line. We don’t normally recommend those generic emails, but because the pub is still new, it might not be a huge black hole yet
- IncomeDiary pays $150-$300 for articles about making money online, including SEO, affiliate sales, and traffic generation
- Mirasee pays $200 for 1,000- to 2,000-word posts on marketing, business productivity, and growth topics. NOTE: Mirasee publishes guest articles by invitation only
- Modern Farmer reportedly pays around $350 for articles
- Priceonomics pays $250-$1,000 for articles on data and economics. The catch? Articles must be submitted on spec. They occasionally post requests for articles on specific topics, which might get you closer to that big paycheck
- RankPay pays $50 for articles about SEO, content marketing, and social media
- LiisBeth is all about feminist entrepreneurs. Study the guidelines, read past articles, and look at the About page and LiisBeth manifesto to get a feel for the audience. Pay depends on assignment
- Smart Blogger regularly invites writers to craft posts on content marketing and freelancing through its job board. Assignments typically pay $150 to $350. BONUS: Even when there aren’t current assignments available to write for Smart Blogger’s blog, the job board offers numerous paid writing opportunities from other sites
Essays
- Aish accepts first-person accounts on the positive influence of Orthodox Jewish beliefs on everyday life—and they reportedly pay $200 on publication. Know the frum life to succeed here, and email ebraverman@aish.edu
- Hearst owns more than 200 magazines worldwide and many of them accept pitches and pay writers a minimum of $100. You can write for money about a wide variety of topics, but in order to pitch you must track down the individual magazine editors and review their calls for pitches
- Dame reportedly pays $350-$750 for essays. They do accept reported features and other article types, and pay rates may vary for those
- Brain Child Magazine publishes long-form essays on a wide range of topics. Pay is reported as $300 for 1,500 to 4,500-word essays
- The Establishment pays $125 and up for reported stories and essays
- Eureka Street is an Australian site that pays $200 for analysis or commentary on politics, religion, popular culture or current events in Australia and the world. They also pay $50 for poetry (check out our full guide to poetry jobs), which seems to be a rarity these days
- Guideposts reportedly pays $250 for Christian faith-based essays
- LightHouse pays $100 for uplifting essays by blind or visually-impaired writers
- Narratively reportedly pays $200-300 for 2,000- to 2,500-word essays on specific topics. Check their guidelines for a list of current needs
- The New York Times Modern Love column reportedly pays as much as $300 for essays on any topic that could be classified as modern love
- Skirt reportedly pays $200 for 300- to 800-word essays about women’s issues
- The Bold Italic might be a great fit if you’re from San Francisco or have a connection to the city. Past essay topics have included the gig economy, online dating, mental illness, and more. Pay is $50 per essay
- Vox reportedly pays in the $400 range for personal essays of about 1,500 words. Pitch marina.bolotnikova@vox.com
- Buzzfeed has an estimated 168 million unique visitors every month, and they publish a wide variety of topics to keep those visitors entertained and informed. Pay is reported to be between $0.13 and $0.27 per word
Family and Parenting
- Just Parents is a UK-based site that focuses on pregnancy and parenting. They reportedly pay $60 per post
- Parent.co posts non-snarky articles about parenting and family issues. Pay reportedly starts at $50
- Fatherly is looking for parenting advice and funny experiences with kids from a dad’s perspective. Pay based on assignment
- Well Family (the New York Times’ parenting blog) pays $100. Pitch the editor
Health
36. The Anxiety Foundation pays $50 for mental health articles
37. The Atlantic’s online health section reportedly pays $200
38. PsychCentral covers mental health. They don’t list a pay rate on their site, and they didn’t respond to our query about pay, but a reader on last year’s list reported they are a paying market. TIP: The website says they don’t pay, but exceptions are made if you discuss payment BEFORE submitting
Lifestyle and General Interest
39. BBC Britain doesn’t publish their pay rate, but I’ve seen reports of $350-$1,000 for various BBC sites. Pitch stories with a British slant for an international audience
40. Bitch Magazine’s website pays for pop culture features. Pay is variable, so negotiate to get your desired rate
41. BookBrowse pays for book reviews! Writers accepted into their stable of reviewers will earn a reported $50 for a 600-word review
42. Adoptive Family accepts pitches on all aspects of the adoption process. Pay based on assignment
43. The Daily Beast reportedly pays $250 and up. Their submission guidelines have a black-hole editorial@ email address, so you’ll want to do a little digging to find the right person to pitch
44. Backpacker is all about wilderness hiking. Pay based on assignment
45. getAbstract reportedly pays $300 for longer (2,000-4,000 word) book summaries
46. Gothamist pays $50-$150 for reported pieces about New York when the publication is open for submissions
47. Backstage is a resource for performing artists. Pay is reported at $0.14/word – pitch Briana Rodriguez, Editor-in-Chief, on LinkedIn
48. The International Wine Accessories blog pays $20 and up for articles
49. The Conversation doesn’t publish their rates, but it’s reported by our community that they pay well
50. Knitty raised their rates to $300 for articles about knitting and knitting patterns. They also have a sister site—Knittyspin—for knitters who like to use handspun yarn
51. Lifezette reportedly pays $100-$200 for articles on parenting, politics, faith, health, and pop culture. Contact the appropriate editor with your idea. NOTE: Lifezette has removed their editorial contact page so you’ll have to do some digging
52. Listverse pays $100 for long (1,500 word) lists on various topics
53. New York Observer pays $100 on posts about politics and culture for “sophisticated readership of metropolitan professionals”
54. OZY does allow freelancers to write for money, but rates vary
55. Paste reportedly pays $50+ for submissions in many different areas
56. Playboy reportedly pays up to $350, depending on the topic. NOTE: Playboy has removed their editorial contact page so you’ll have to do some digging
57. Pretty Designs covers fashion and beauty. You’ll need to negotiate per-post pay
58. Refinery29 reportedly pays $75 and up for slideshows, articles, and essays on various topics. They also post their needs for specific columns on their guidelines page
59. Salon pays $100-$200 for essays and reported features, even very long ones
60. Smithsonian Magazine Online reportedly pays established freelancers up to $600 for reported articles
61. The Tablet pays for articles on Jewish news, ideas, and culture. Pay varies, so be prepared to negotiate. I saw a report of $1,000 for a heavily reported 2,000+ word feature
62. Upworthy reportedly pays $150-$200 for 500-word posts
63. Vice‘s pay rate varies, so you will need to negotiate if you’d like to write about food, technology, music, fashion, and other lifestyle topics
64. YourTango reportedly pays $50 for posts on love, sex, travel, mental health, and just about anything else that affects your relationships
Tech
65. A List Apart covers web design. They reportedly pay $200 per article
66. The Graphic Design School blog pays $100-$200 for articles and tutorials about Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and open source design tools. NOTE: This site has removed its submission guidelines page, and it’s not clear whether they still take guest posts
67. Linode reportedly pays $250 for articles about Linux, Socket.io, NoSQL databases, game servers, Open Change, and Web RTC
68. SitePoint reportedly pays $100-$150 for articles on HTML, CSS, Ruby, PHP, web development and more
69. SlickWP reportedly pays $100 for posts about WordPress and the Genesis Theme framework
70. Tuts+ pays $100 and up for tutorials on various technologies, including web design and Flash. Tuts once ran a network of 16 different blogs, including Freelance Switch, but now it’s all together on a single site that encompasses design, gaming, photography, writing, and more
71. WordCandy reportedly pays $0.06 to $0.10 cents per word for ghostwritten pieces about WordPress—these will appear on some of the larger WordPress blogs, such as wpmudev
72. WPHub reportedly pays $100-$200 for posts on web design trends, coding best practices, and other WordPress-related topics
Travel and Food
73. Expatics serves U.S. expatriates. This is another site where you’ll need to negotiate pay before you write your article
74. Fund Your Life Overseas reportedly pays $75 for articles about business ideas that provide enough income for U.S. ex-pats
75. Saveur reportedly starts at $150 for “amazing stories about food and travel”
76. The Salt (NPR’s food blog) reportedly pays $200+
Writing
77. ClearVoice is a platform to connect bloggers with brands in various niches, as well as commissioning posts for its own blog. Pay is variable but ranges as high as $250-$400 from what we’ve seen so far. When you apply, you set the rates you’re willing to accept; then, the platform emails you when appropriate opportunities arise. It’s not a bid site—fees are preset. But gigs are presented to multiple writers, and then the client chooses who they’ll work with. Luckily, there’s no elaborate application process, once your profile is set, you simply reply that you’re interested, and they let you know if you win the job
78. Contently pays about 35 cents a word for their freelancer-focused online magazine
79. Freedom with Writing pays $50-$150 for lists of paying publishers. They also pay for short ebooks, so there is an option for longer-form content too
80. Make a Living Writing. That’s right, this blog pays for guest articles, starting at $150, depending on complexity and research needed. Be sure to read our guidelines thoroughly, especially our list of the topics we’re actively looking for guest posts on right now. Pitching one of those will seriously improve your odds!
81. WOW! Women on Writing pays $50-$150
82. The Write Life pays for some posts, starting at $150
Tips for successful pitching
Before you pitch any of these sites, read the guidelines carefully and study the posts they’ve already run. Make sure you either have a fresh topic or a new way of exploring an issue they’ve covered before.
Paying markets are more competitive than posting on free sites. And the more bad pitches a site receives, the likelier they will reconsider whether they even accept guest posts, let alone pay for them. (Believe me, this happens, and it is the reason some sites we’ve listed before are no longer accepting pitches.)
Need help learning how to pitch a paying guest post?
- See this post on Guest Post Pitches That Got the Gig
- See this post on what not to do when pitching
- Make sure to check out our tips for effective freelancer invoicing so you get paid for your work
Jennifer Roland is a freelance education, financial institution, and technology writer—and keeps things running at the Freelance Writers Den. Her latest book, 10 Takes: Pacific Northwest Writers, was published by Gladeye Press.
