Residual income streams – you know I love ‘em. I yap about them often enough. Today I want your help to put together a big list of potential revenue streams for freelance writers (if they offer recurring / residual income, all the better, but it’s not necessary).

I’d like to get a list going, after which I’ll write more specific posts on each income stream for freelance writers (or ask guests to write posts if they suggested something I’m not personally experienced with).

The point is to get folks thinking now about things they should add to their freelance writing business plan (you can find my free one page business plan template for writers here if you’d like to use it).

Let’s face it – the end of the year is sneaking up on us, and now’s the time to start thinking about ways to improve or grow our careers!

Here are some of my favorites (feel free to add your own suggestions to the comments):

• Blogging
• E-books
• Flipping content sites
• PLR article sets

What are some other ways you can earn income as a freelance writer that don’t necessarily involve taking on client projects directly?

About the Author: Jennifer Mattern

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Jenn is a professional blogger and freelance business writer. She has worked as a freelance writer since 1999, and has been an active business and niche blogger since 2004. She owns All Freelance Writing as well as several other sites and blogs covering PR, small business, and related topic areas. She is also currently writing a nonfiction book for freelance writers called The Query-Free Freelancer, and is the author of the Web Writer's Guide e-book series. Subscribe to my posts (only posts from this author).

1. Leigh says:

   October 14, 2008 at 9:56 am

   I’m doing a similar series over on my blog starting next week, so it will be interesting to see what we each pick to write about.

   Affiliate marketing is a good way to earn additional money. I use article marketing to promote the affiliate programs I am involved in, so it does involve writing to some extent. Instead of being involved in 20 affiliate programs that pay out $3 or $4 per sale, right now I am only in 3 programs that pay between $40 and $100+ per sale.

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2. Nicole LaMarco says:

   October 15, 2008 at 8:30 am

   Affiliate marketing: selling other people’s products. I haven’t been doing that for a while, but I will have some on my new website, Your Writing Career, soon!

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3. Jennifer Mattern says:

   October 15, 2008 at 10:08 am

   I think here we’re going to start with blogging – a repost actually from my business blog tomorrow. Not sure why I didn’t do the original post here.

   Then we’ll jump into flipping sites (since e-books are covered pretty thoroughly already).

   Good call on the affiliate marketing – I always lump that into “blogging,” because that’s where I do most of mine, but it’s definitely a good income stream (generally earn more that way than with Adsense and such). And you’re right Leigh – it often is about targeting those higher-return products (for example a web hosting company and an online webinar service have done well for me on another site in the past).

   Nicole – when doing it on your own website, I’ve found that affiliate income seems to work best with honest reviews. So instead of setting up a sales-oriented page, you would review the product (showing both positives and feedback on future improvements if you have suggestions). If you’ve built trust with readers first, that can be highly effective – and obviously don’t give a positive review to something you really didn’t like. Not sure what your own plan, but thought I’d throw my $.02 out there.

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