9 Best Side Hustles for Writers that Pay $1000+ Per Month

I've been a writer for over 4 years, with a degree in communications and hundreds of courses in journalism and SEO. From creating personal blogs to tedious technical writer projects, I have found multiple different avenues a writer could take to earn a proper income. 

Ghostwriter ($10-$30/Hour)

Ghostwriting has been one fo the most popular ways a writer can earn money as a side hustle in 2025. If you can write up to 5 articles a week, you can easily be making $1,200 or more a month with consistent work. 

While it can be hard to get started, Upwork offers the most beginner friendly ways to become a ghostwriter. Even if you are fresh at the gig life, providing jus tone sample of your writing work can instantly get you an opportunity to be a ghostwriter for a new client. 

Usually, a well thought out post can take up to 3 hours to complete, but once you get a hang of it, you can easily get quality posts written within an hour or two. 

Proofreader ($18-$35/Hour)

If you are one more for editing or judging how others write, being a proofreader is meant for you. Proofreaders earn a solid mid range wage from $18 to $35 an hour, with potential to easily make over $1,000+ fast as a freelancer. 

Proofreaders can choose from a variety of different platforms to find side gigs rather quickly. They will need to have some sort of experience in proofreading (around 1-2 years of exp), or having rather high educational knowledge in language and writing. 

Each project can take around 2-3 hours to complete, along with possible extra sessions if the client needs more assistance. 

Blog Writer ($15-$35/Hour)

I have over 4 years of blog writing experience, and I have to say its been one of the best higher paying side gigs Ive had as a writer. 

While blog writing requires a lot of time from your hands, including research, article layout, images, SEO, etc, its one of the most rewarding ways to make money on the side. You can either write for others blogs by applying on Upwork, LinkedIn and Fiverr, or you can create your own blog. 

Creating your own blog can take a few months to start monetizing money, however it is a great way to earn passive income with no initial investment. Simply set up a free website on a platform like WordPress, add in some free SEO plugins, and start writing.

Alternatively, writing for other bloggers is also on the table, however you get paid a bit less than you would if you had your own. The money being a writer for another blog comes in faster, but in the long run, your own blog will hold the longer value. 

Copywriter ($15-$70/Hour)

Copywriting is not only one of the highest paying side hustles for writers, but its also one of the most in demand right now. 

If you hate sales, or marketing, this may not be your thing. However, if you do like a bit of pursuasion, you can eventually make up to $70 an hour (or over $4,000 a month). 

Copywriting is not easy, you need to understand the power of words, and describe a product in a very brief sentence that brings conversions. There is a bit of a learning curve here, and I highly suggest using bootcamps like Tyson 4D or taking marketing courses on Coursera. 

Kindle E-Book Publisher ($17-$35/Hour)

If you are not really into the article writing, and want to chang eit up a bit, there are hundreds of opportunities where clients are looking for writers to creat e-books on kindle and publish them. This is very similar to writing a book, however, its directly made for kindle e-readers. 

To get started writing Kindle e-books, you should define a "why" you want to write the book in the first place. Writing books can be extremely tedious, requiring months of consistent writing and investment into finally getting an editor to look it over. 

Once you have the book, its easy to publish, as you just need to create a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account, from where you can then upload your new e-book. 

Email Marketing/Newsletter ($30-$40/Hour)

Email marketing or newsletter creating is very similar to copywriting, however with its own twist. Newsletters have their own type of CTA's and layouts, looking much different than an average article. 

Newsletters rely heavily on conversion rates, and Im not just talking about clicking a link. This also includes subscribers actively opening the newsletters once they are sent. You need to send content thats worth reading, not just what is on your about this or that. 

Most newsletters are created through platforms such as Zapier and MailChimp, and if you want to send emails for another company, knowing how these platforms works is a big advantage. 

Social Media Marketer ($15-$35/Hour)

Social Media Marketers do more than film or take pictures, they have to come up with witty, impressive captions for every post. This requires a lot of writing, and its been one of the most profitable side hustles for writers. 

While most other side hustles pay per word, social media is usually pay per post, or passive income through affiliates. To really excel as a writer and social media marketer, you really need to make sure you understand aglorithms/viral content of social media platforms. 

To get started in social media marketing I would reocmmend you:

Once you start gaining traction, it might be good to repurpose content to start using on another platform to optimize social media profile reach and involve various audiences. 

Affiliate Marketer ($10-$40/Hour)

Affiliates programs are a great way to use your writing skills across various platforms. Using affiliates codes provided to you from a company you already support, posting those links on your blog, social media, or even newsletters creates a large chance to earn money passively.

You can earn from $10 to $40 an hour depending on either your popularity or conversion rates, or honestly, both. 

A few of the highest paying affiliates programs you could use as a writer would be:

From all of these options, Freecash offers one of the highest percentage in earning potential, as you can earn over $1,000 a month on the platform, while with others its a bit more of a struggle to even get them to sign up. Freecash is free, and even has a sign up bonus. 

Write a Book ($18-$40/Hour)

Maybe you are already a blog writer or copywriter, but you want to find something else to spend your extra time on. Writing a book has been one of the most rewarding ways for a writer to make money from a side hustle, even though it requires a lot of initial time investment. 

To get started writing a book, its very similar to hwo to get started writing an e-book for Kindle. you should define a "why" you want to write the book in the first place.

Writing a book can be extremely tedious, requiring months of consistent writing. You may not start seeing the fruits of your labor until much later on once its published.

Also having a sense of how much you need to market your book and story is important, that way you have a very successful book launch.