I’ve found that freelance writing income comes in two flavors, passive and active. Personally I prefer passive income, but I’m not at the point in my work from home freelance writing business where I can snub the opportunity to earn active income.

Working from Home Earning Active Income (Up-Front Pay)

Active income is what I call trading writing time for dollars. You write an article, story or piece of literature and you are paid for it once and it’s over. If you want to make additional money you have to write additional articles, poetry, literature, etc. You might be able to re-sell your work, depending on the type of contract you signed when you sold your piece to the publisher.

An example of active income would be internet ghost writing. There are many companies that need content written for their website. They usually will place ads around the internet explaining that they need freelance writers to write several articles for their website. Usually the pay is low, ranging anywhere from $1 per article to $12 per article. Most often they want the articles in batches of 5, 10, 20 or as many s 100 articles at a time.

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The freelance writer, in order to earn substantial income, will have to write several articles at a time. Although the writer is able to work from home, however, it’s almost like having a job. In essence the writer is trading freelance writing time for dollars (just like a job).

Finding a High Paying Writing Gig

Writing for up front pay or active income isn’t so bad if you manage to land high-paying writing gigs. Generally, off-line publications pay higher than online publications (at least in my experience). I’ve earned $450 for 1,200-word article in an off-line publication. I have yet to be able to land an online writing gig at that price (maybe I’m looking in the wrong places).

The upside to active income is that there is plenty of work available. Freelance writers wanting to work from home don’t have to look far to find a low paying writing gig. The downside is that freelance writers generally don’t get credit for their ghost written articles. That’s why they’re called “ghost written.” Other sites ask freelance writers to write content for no pay. In return, they will offer a byline and maybe a small bio that helps a new writer build a portfolio of published works.

All of the above is a perfectly honest and legitimate way to make money or build a portfolio. However, in my advancing years, I don’t have the time or inclination to spend most of my day banging out tons of articles for relatively low pay. Additionally, I’ve found better ways to get my work out there, make money and build my portfolio.

This leads me to my next topic of passive income…

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