Of course you do!  Every freelance writer should be wearing a business hat when putting pen to paper which means you do not write for free!  If you are attempting to make at least part of your living from writing, every word you write must contribute to your coffers.   Be it promoting your products, services or affiliate programs or better still in return for good old fashion cash which is the aim of this article!

The fact is, if you can write reasonably good English and are of a fairly persistent disposition, you have an excellent chance of earning at least some of your income from writing and quite possibly all of it.  Why then do I get so many emails of the type reflected in the title of this article?

•1.     Many writers, especially new ones fear rejection.  Approaching what they see as the hallowed halls of a prestigious magazine editor often proves a traumatic experience for the new writer who is devastated when their article either drops into a black hole of eerie silence or wings its way back at the speed of light with a curt, thanks but no thanks.

Rejection is part and parcel of a freelancer's life.  You must learn to take it on the chin, pick yourself up and brush yourself down and get back into the ring.  Unfortunately the majority don't!  Instead they turn to a safer option, enter ...

•2.     Content websites.  There are lots of these all operating under various guises.  What they have in common is that they all generate their income through ad sales.  They accept anything and everything within reason so the danger of rejection is removed.

The author is promised a share of advertising revenue, usually based on clicks or page views.  Sounds good?  Only in theory I'm afraid.  Most writers will never earn more than pennies unless they spend hours promoting their articles and driving traffic to them.  If you are going to do this you will find it easier and far more lucrative to ...

•3.     Write for bona-fide magazines or websites.  We're talking print mags and websites which operate as proper businesses which are looking for quality content to help sell their publications.  There are hundreds of these covering all kinds of topics and subjects.  I write regularly for several publications none of which pay less than 6 pence per word and some more.  As article length tends to be around 1500 words I usually average £90 per article plus extra for illustrations.

Oh no, I hear you say, but that means I have to pitch and sell, research, write to a deadline and possibly find illustrations and face the dreaded rejection!

It certainly does so get used to it!  Freelance writing is a business, it is hard work and like any other business it takes time and patience to build it up.  There are no quick fixes and in this day and age of the web, there are many glittering distractions which won't deliver, i.e. content or article providing sites as well as paid blogging which also, unless you know what you are doing, pays peanuts.

Spend the time you would have spent writing for these sweat shops, targeting and pitching to markets paying a realistic reward for your work and you will soon find that you become a recurring columnist and will not need more than half a dozen regular markets to make a reasonable income.

Now before you go rushing off submitting to all and sundry, you need to know that it isn't quite that simple.  Most writers get rejected not through poor writing, but by submitting inappropriate material, poor timing or lack of research.

If you really want to improve your success rate and get paid a realistic fee for your articles, then you need to thoroughly learn your craft which you can easily do by downloading a copy of:

Feelance Writing, The Complete Guide To A Profitable Writing Business

This ebook is based on 30 years of freelancing.  It contains a quick start guide to get you up and running as fast as possible, plus advanced sections on other aspects of writing for money including making a proper income from the web. 

It isn't free, but anyone who isn't prepared to invest in themselves has no business freelancing anyway.  Don't worry though, it won't break the bank!

All details here:

Feelance Writing, The Complete Guide To A Profitable Writing Business