Creative writing encompasses different forms of art. We have novelists, poets, scriptwriters, copywriters, and songwriters, to mention a few. The word, creative, means having to create something. Going by this definition, creative writing applies to any form of original writing, and can include research writing, journalism, technical writing, and others like it.

However, for the sake of this article, creative writing tends towards art, imaginative writing, and storytelling, all geared towards striking the senses and inspiring emotions in the readers.

Some of the ways you can earn as a creative writer

Publish a book

One of the most prominent ways writers around the world earn from their art is to author books. This could be a how-to book, a novel, a collection of poems, or stories. Publishing offers a few options, depending on what you want or can afford.

• Traditional publishing: Here, you submit your manuscript to publishers or agents, and hope to get a contract. In most cases, you get paid royalties.
• Vanity publishing: In this case, you pay to get your books published, and go on to sell them. Whatever you make in sales is yours to keep.
• Reading platforms: There are reading platforms out there that encourage writers to sell their books. The way this works, you submit your books to them. If they want it, they offer to buy you out. Signing the contract means you give them the rights (exclusive or nonexclusive, depending on the terms of the contract) to host the book on their platform.
• Self-Publishing: This is where you take care of your publishing by yourself. It mostly applies to ebooks, with online bookstores for distribution. However, some people produce hard copies of their self-published books. These books are then sold.

Freelance writing

You can offer your writing services to others for pay. Some have great ideas but not the time or skill to see them through. You would be responsible for writing for them, be it books, stories, copies, or scripts. You get paid, either by the hour or by each milestone.

Ghostwriting

This is almost like freelance writing, except that in this case, your name does not appear as the writer. You are paid, not just to write, but to sign the work over to the client. As long as the terms of the contract are met, you can not lay claims on a job that you did as a ghostwriter.

Paying magazines

Some magazines and journals pay you to publish your content. When you source for paying magazines and submit your poetry, articles, or stories to them, you stand a chance of getting an acceptance. With each accepted piece, you get a few bucks.

Blogging

This has to do with you creating a blog (a website) to house your content. You upload original content from time to time. Set up ads on your site. The key here is traffic. If you can drive enough traffic to the site, it brings visibility to the ad providers and translates to money in your pockets.

These are some of the ways you can earn some good money as a creative writer. I hope you found it helpful. Go on then and take the market.