Saying yes to unpaid gigs doesn’t just hurt your wallet. It hurts all freelancers. The more people accept free work, the more clients expect it. It drags down the value of creative labour for everyone else, and it fuels that tired old myth that writing or art isn’t “real” work — that it’s a passion, not a profession. The hard truth? You teach clients how to treat you.
Let’s cut the fluff: there are ways to make money from your writing — but they don’t fall in your lap while you wait for a bestseller to “just happen.” If you want to be paid, you need to treat writing like a business. That means knowing the markets, valuing your work, and sending out more pitches than you think you can stomach.
Yes, the industry has shifted. Yes, some outlets pay less than they used to — or nothing at all. But plenty still pay well. The difference? The writers who get those jobs are the ones who treat writing like a business, not a pity party.
