Imagine living in a world where money didn’t matter where you could do what you want when you want. Unfortunately, money matters. A lot. It covers the essentials — food, rent or mortgage, clothes, healthcare and all that fun stuff. More than that, it is the lifeblood of turning goals and dreams into reality. After all, if you could afford to spend your days writing your next novel in your pajamas, wouldn’t you? There are numerous writer hacks to make more money. These are hacks that increase your income or save valuable hours
I’ll be honest, I spend a fair chunk of time in my PJs working. I write better when I’m comfortable and relaxed. But donning a pair of pajamas isn’t all it takes to make money at writing. After all, we’d all be living the dream then, right? I’ve been a full-time writer for almost two decades, and I’m excited to share a few writer hacks I’ve learned to help you boost productivity. When you write more — and write better — you make more money. (And money = realizing your dreams!)
Table of Contents
Writer Hacks to Make More Money
1. Make a Daily List
It’s a tale as old as time, and that’s because it works. Before I shut down my computer for the evening, I review my to-do list for tomorrow. Generally, I build my to-do list for a specific day over time. If I know I won’t finish something today, it does on tomorrow’s list. If I think something will take a few days or weeks, it’s added to the schedule for all of those days.
The night before, however, I check the list to see what’s planned for the next day. If tweaks need making, they’re made at that time. Mostly, you want to keep your workdays filled with work stuff. However, if you know you have a personal event planned, add it. Make sure you have realistic plans for the next day based on working a realistic number of hours.
By making your list the night before, you can jump into your work in the morning without delay. You also may prioritize the list so you already know what you need to work on first.
More than that, it helps you avoid scheduling conflicts. You can quickly view your schedule before accepting a project to see if the deadline is realistic. You can allocate time to progress through your projects at a steady pace to complete them on time.
2. Make Weekly and Monthly Schedules, Too
When you check out other writer hacks to make more money, think farther out than today and tomorrow. I have a day-by-day to-do schedule for the next 30 days. Of course, it’s subject to change. Flexibility is important. It’s critical look at scheduling with a larger perspective. Your daily schedule tells you what to do on a given day, but writing, blogging and other activities aren’t simply done at the end of the day. Often, these are major projects that require you to make progress daily.
My monthly list is designed to keep me on track with all of my goals and projects. I don’t do the exact same thing every day. For example, I only write on my blog three days a week whereas I work on my freelance writing jobs every day. On the days I’m not writing on my blog, I allocate those hours to work on my book. My schedule also allocates at least several hours daily to work for clients. The amount of time allocated depends on the pending projects.
If I’m working on a big project for a client, such as ghostwriting a book, my weekly and monthly schedules are valuable resources. I can reconcile the amount of progress I need to make daily with personal things, like a planned doctor appointment. This future-based scheduling plays a role in my personal finances as well. For example, if I complete that ghostwriting project over a month, do I still have time in my schedule to make money from my regular writing sources? Will I have enough money to cover my monthly expenses by doing so?
If you don’t already have a short-term and long-term writing schedule, I highly recommend you create these resources.
3. Prepare for the Next Day
Each day brings fun new experiences and a new mountain of errands and chores. These things may require your attention, but they also distract you from your work tasks. A life comes with responsibilities and errands. When those things require our attention, they shouldn’t through our schedules off. We know we need to do them, but we don’t allocate time to them.
Of course, you may not know all of the responsibilities that will require your attention next week. However, you can still plan for them. Allocate a specific amount of time in your day for managing your personal responsibilities. This is time when you could call your internet provider to upgrade your service, meet with your child’s teacher and handle all of those other things that require your attention.
I know… after a long day of working, the last thing you want to do is pay your bills online or schedule the dog’s vet appointment. However, doing these things in the evening eliminates workday distractions and allows you to maintain your focus at work.
4. Take Productive Breaks
You may assume that you’re more productive if you just plow through your work, but this is not actually the case. Your brain becomes fatigued when you work for long stretches. This can lead to a diminished ability to focus, make important decisions, be creative and otherwise be as productive as you need to be.
In addition, short breaks throughout your workday reduce your stress level, according to Michigan State University. Without breaks, you’re more likely to burnout and have reduced job satisfaction. Your physical and mental health are impacted as well. A work break is a time to recharge and reset.
What does a productive work break look like? It can be something as simply as taking a 10-minute walk around the block. Walking gets your heart pumping, leaving you more alert and energized when you start working again. You could do some yoga stretches or spend a few extra minutes preparing a healthier lunch with fresh fruits and veggies. On a nice day, head out to your patio to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. For a longer break in the middle of the day, head to the gym for a workout. You could also take a break for lunch with a good friend.
Work breaks can be productive. They improve creativity, boost your energy level and enhance your ability to absorb new things. Consider working short breaks into your daily schedule every few hours.
5. Hire Freelancers
If you are overwhelmed with a busy schedule, you can hire help. Your daily activities may include several things that don’t produce income. These may be menial things or critical things, such as creating a new cover for your book or doing market research. While these are critical for your overall success at your job, they eat away hours when you could be doing money-making things.
It’s easier than ever to hire helpers, thanks to apps like Fiverr and others. You may be familiar with these platforms as a way to find jobs, but you can turn the tables and use them to find the help you need to boost your productivity. In addition to offering writing services, these platforms are great ways to connect with graphic designers, market researchers, data entry specialists, editors and others who are skilled and ready to work. The rates are reasonable most of the time. However, you get what you pay for.
Keep in mind that outsourcing some of your tasks can boost your income. This means that you may ultimately make more money overall by paying for help.
6. Focus on Healthy Eating
Nourishing your body feeds your brain, allowing you to stay on track and do your best work. Too often, people reach for convenience foods that are anything but health. They may grab fast food or even forgo meals altogether. According to WebMD, your diet directly affects your ability to concentrate. Eating too much at once leaves you feeling cramped and uncomfortable. Eating to little leaves you feeling weak and unmotivated.
It’s not just how much and how often you eat, though. WebMD says there is truth to the buzz around smart foods, such as berries, fish and ginseng. These and others have the ability to optimize brain function. They can improve attention, focus and memory.
Caffeine can also improve your focus and energy level. However, avoid overdoing it. Too much can give you the jitters and leave you with an energy crash a few hours later.
7. Use Technology
You can’t talk about writer hacks to make more money without mentioning technolology. Numerous technologies are available to help you stay on track and improve productivity. For example, StayFocused allows you to set off periods for social media apps. Wrike does the work of various apps, including streamlining your day, collaborating, scheduling and more. Rather than using multiple apps for these purposes, Wrike does it all.
AI in writing has powerful applications as well. While AI is taking jobs away from writers, it also helps writers produce better work and be more efficient. How can you use AI? Use an image generator to create free images for your work. Imagify can modify your image size for fast page loading. Use AI to prepare an outline for your next ebook, to create blog titles and to assist with research. These functions can put valuable minutes back into your workday.
These are only a few of the many technologies available, so spend time checking them out and finding what works best for you.
(And, yes, putting your phone away won’t hurt either.)