Honest conversations with working writers about how they make money.
Joined March 2024
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How does an award-winning freelance journalist turn a specialized beat on psychedelics and drug policy into a £35k–£50k/year living?
@matthabusby breaks down the reality of book advances, funding international reporting trips, and why rate transparency matters for freelancers.
How does a policy wonk, freelancer, and author make money?
In our latest interview, @LeahLibresco breaks down:
* Using a day job for creative freedom
* Low book advances vs. fellowships
* Her "PBS-style" Substack monetization model
Read the interview: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
How does @adam_al_sirgany fund experimental fiction, local community arts, and his role as Poet Laureate?
By ghostwriting medical and real estate narratives.
He breaks down geographic arbitrage, avoiding burnout, and the blueprint for a portfolio writing career.
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For 20 years, @mitch_moxley has balanced writing and editing across the industry, filing stories from North Korea and editing for Maxim and Penta.
We discussed the math of book publishing, why editing was a financial turning point, and building a sustainable career.
"Make yourself indispensable by completely owning a beat."
@ddayen, Executive Editor of @TheProspect, breaks down his writing income, the reality of book advances, and how he funded his journalism pivot with a 15-year TV career.
Interview here: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
Most writers fall into the attention trap, chasing viral metrics instead of building actual trust.
In this week's interview, CEO coach @dipietromedia explains why smart media operators are abandoning broad advertising models to build gated communities for their audience.
“Understand that published writing is a product... Do you want people to read it, buy it, share it?”
Great chat with @FZierer on how he went from writing SEO plumbing copy on Upwork to leading editorial strategy for beehiiv.
Read the full interview here: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
How do you survive as a cultural critic in NY?
For @andrewmarzoni, the answer was stepping off the academic track and into a high school classroom. By securing a teaching salary that covered the rent, he freed his writing from the pressure of survival.
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Pulitzer finalist @SteelandBallast breaks down the reality of funding high-stakes reporting through a patchwork of fellowships, grants, and short-term contracts, and why grant writing has basically become a mandatory second job.
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Most writers dream of quitting their day jobs. @natashajouk leaned into hers.
In our newest interview, she explains how a corporate salary subsidizes her literary life and buys her the ultimate creative freedom to ignore the market and say "no."
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In this interview, @KJezerMorton talks about how cheap Montreal daycare made her career possible, why she treated her day job as a scholarship for her writing, and how getting a PhD later in life gave her the substance she needed to stand out.
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The average Australian author earns just $18,200 a year from their books.
In our latest interview, @PatrickLenton gets honest about piecing together grants, advances, and a surprise tax bill, and why he returned to the newsroom to save his sanity.
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How do you sustain a journalism career writing about international wildlife trafficking?
@RachelNuwer shares how she balances reporting for legacy media with teaching at NYU, the realities of writing two books, and her income breakdown.
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Really appreciated @SamAdlerBell's transparency in today's interview. He broke down the mechanics of his career, explaining how his podcast's Patreon subsidizes his longform reporting, and why writing cultural criticism keeps him from becoming a "bore."
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"I went into an artistic career expecting to make all my money elsewhere."
@TheLincoln breaks down his 15-year grind of cobbling together rent in NYC, the side gigs that kept him afloat, and how to separate your writing from your income.
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I asked investigative journalist @drewphilp how he makes money as a writer.
His answer: "I'm a terrible capitalist." To survive the freelance economy and focus on journalism that matters, he eliminated his biggest enemy: rent. He bought an abandoned Detroit house for $500.
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Today, he operates as a "scavenger" to fund his award-nominated reporting on a genocide in Tigray—vital work that doesn't pay the bills. To hit his $30k/year survival baseline, he pads his income by writing website copy for dentists while keeping a strict ethical firewall.
His advice for writers who want to do meaningful work without starving? "Learn to be poor. Buy a f*cked up house and learn how to repair it. The library is free. Walking is essential." Read the full interview: howimakemoneywriting.substac…