Freelance writing comes in two basic stripes; the stuff you do for free to get started and the stuff you get paid to do. Once you’ve started moving out of freebieland and into the paying gigs, it gets more complicated. Low paying gigs, high paying gigs…every freelancer’s dream is to move into that dollar-a-word zone where you earn the same kind of cash for one article as you do for all the work you’re currently putting in now.

A buck a word is a great goal, but until you are working for publications or editors who are willing to pay that, consider a few strategies to help you earn more money with the gigs you are able to land at your current skill level. Here are my current five favorites:

5. Manage your time as well as you manage your money. If you are working on a low-paying pro blogger gig to supplement your income, make sure it doesn’t eat more time than the money is worth. I once wasted about six months writing for a blog that kept reducing the pay and increasing the expectations. My actual hours spent researching and writing grew disproportionate with the actual pay. In the end, I cut the blog loose because I spent far more time on it than on better paying gigs. It turned out to be one of the best moves I made that year. I started working fewer hours and making more money just because I dumped a timewaster.
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