Going into undergraduate school, I only knew I wanted to be a writer. But writing a book was a lot harder and took a lot longer than I expected, and I knew I needed to find some way to pay my bills until my publishing dreams came true.
The two most popular career paths for writers were teaching or going into publishing. Neither was appealing to me. I knew both were extremely competitive fields and that it would be hard to get a job, and that both demanded long hours.
So, I started looking for other careers for writers that would allow me to support myself while I continued working on my creative pursuits.
I’ll share with you some of the other avenues available if you want to make a living as a writer. I’ll also discuss some of the other challenges facing professional writers these days, particularly when it comes to AI.
Careers for Writers that Aren’t Teaching or Publishing
If you, like me, want to steer clear of academia and the publishing industry but still want to have a writing career, I’d recommend looking into roles like the ones listed below. Unless otherwise specified, you can find full-time positions in these specialities, or pursue them as a freelancer.
Both routes have their pros and cons. Freelancing provides a lot of flexibility, but you won’t have access to benefits like employer subsidized health insurance or other perks that come with working for a company.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a type of digital marketing that provides useful information to people online in order to establish a brand as an authority on the topic. The goal is to gain readers’ trust and turn them into paying customers who use the brand’s products or services to solve their problems.
Usually, the content you write comes in the form of blog posts, although content marketers may also writer e-books, case studies, email newsletters, and more. The specifics will depend on the brand you’re writing for, who their customers are, and how they like to interact with companies.
I got my start working in content marketing for an agency. It was a great learning experience for me, and I got to do exactly what I wanted—write for my paycheck.
There are a lot of skills a good content marketer needs beyond just being able to write, but writing skills are a necessary foundation. If you think you might want to look into this career path, I would recommend find an online certification in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well as courses in digital marketing to help you understand the basics.
HubSpot Academy is a resource I have used myself. I find the courses to be beginner-friendly but also comprehensive, so you can learn a lot of key information without overwhelming yourself.
Copywriting
Copywriting might seem a lot like content marketing, and there’s definitely some overlap. But the purpose of copywriting is different.
Where content writing seeks to deliver information to build trust with potential customers, copywriting focuses more on capturing the attention of people who are closer to making a purchase. Copywriters work on product pages, landing pages, marketing emails, and other copy with the goal of getting people to buy right now.
Copywriters often have to work closely with web designers to make sure their text aligns with the designer’s visuals. If you’re interested in becoming a copywriter, you might benefit from learning the basics of web design. You’ll also want to know about concepts like A/B testing.
I recommend looking for online courses in conversion copywriting to pick up the skills you’ll need to succeed at this job.
Ghostwriting
Another writing job I’ve held is ghostwriting. This is when you write a book, story, or article on someone else’s behalf and they publish it under their own name, as the author.
If you’ve read a celebrity memoir, you’ve probably read a ghostwritten book. Writing takes a lot of time, and actors and musicians have busy schedules!
Once again, I loved that I got to make money by actually writing. I learned a lot during my ghostwriting job, including how to transcribe and write from interviews, and how to write in someone else’s voice. The person I was writing for had lived a remarkable life, too, and it was a privilege to be able to hear his stories and help him shape them into a book he could publish and share with others.
Most ghostwriters work as freelancers, but there are ghostwriting agencies you can work for. Some publishers will also hire ghostwriters to work for them.
Freelance Editing
Most editors work for publishing houses, but if you want more control over your schedule and your workload, you could give feedback to others as a freelance editor instead. Companies need editors for their content, but some writers will also hire freelance editors to review their work before they start querying, or if they want to self publish but think their work needs some polishing first.
To get started, you might try pitching your services on a freelance marketplace like Upwork. You’ll also want to set up a professional website to advertise your services and demonstrate your qualifications.
Technical Writing
“Technical writing” refers to industry-related writing, often for software or other technology. Those in this field may create manuals, documentation, and other instructional materials related to their employers’ products.
After I left the content agency where I had my first job, I worked as a technical writer, creating documentation for software. I speak from experience when I say that unless you happen to find a position that involves writing about software or machinery that you happen to be very familiar with, technical writing will require a lot of research. There’s definitely an art to finding accurate information and turning it into new material, so brush up on your skills.
For me, technical writing feels like putting together a puzzle. There’s an art to translating complex concepts into content that is easy for people to follow and digest, even if they’re not familiar with what you’re writing about. I really enjoy going over articles with a fine-toothed comb to make sure they’re as clear and concise as possible.
Not all technical writing positions require you to have tech skills, but many employers prefer it. If you want to break into technical writing, you might consider taking coding classes in a programming language like Python. I’ve taken courses on Treehouse before and find them to be accessible and easy to follow, with hands-on practice to help you learn (plus, I can access it for free through my library!).
Grant Writing
Those interested in the non-profit sector will be glad to know that there are careers for writers that enable you to put your skills to work for a good cause. Many organizations rely on grants for money to run programs and pay employees, and you could be the person for the job.
Grant writing requires you to be very persuasive in order to convince the person, company, or institution you’re appealing to that your organization should receive their support and funding. You’ll also likely be responsible for other tasks related to the grant application and submission processes.
Non-profit work comes with many risks and rewards. Many like to know that their work is making a difference and contributing to a good cause. However, there’s also an increased risk of burnout among non-profit employees. It’s important to take precautions to protect your mental and physical health.
Will AI Take Jobs from Writers?
First, I want to acknowledge that the role of AI and its impact on creative careers is a complex and nuanced topic. I could write and entire blog post just on this topic, and there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to this subject.
The short answer is that yes, there are companies out there right now who are replacing writers with AI. But I don’t think that means you should shy away from pursuing any of the roles I’ve listed above.
To keep it brief, there are two main reasons I believe writers are will and continue to be valuable despite the rapid increase in AI usage:
Firstly, AI is not capable of original thought or ideas. It can only repeat what it already knows. When AI “writes” a blog post, it is simply gathering the information it can find about the topic and rephrasing it. It cannot produce unique insights about the subject. This leads to the creation of very surface-level content, which won’t be useful to users who want to understand the concept on a deeper level.
Similarly, AI can’t write well about something that doesn’t exist yet, such as a new product or feature. You can give it information about the product or feature and ask AI to write about it, but the content isn’t going to be as insightful as it would be were it written by a person who had hands-on experience with the product or feature.
Additionally, AI isn’t always accurate. It makes mistakes pretty frequently. I’ve even had AI give me incorrect answers to simple math problems! Anything written by AI will need to be thoroughly fact-checked, which means human involvement in the writing process is still necessary.
So, although there are companies out there who think they can go without professional writers on their teams, this strategy is pretty short-sighted. In my experience, most employers are still hiring human writers, but expect them to incorporate AI into their writing workflows.
If you’re going to be a professional writer, I do think it’s important to stay up to date on developments in AI and to familiarize yourself with the more popular models, such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Conclusion
If you’re pursing an English degree or Creative Writing MFA and don’t want to teach or work in publishing, there are plenty of other career paths you can consider. Although there are many challenges facing professional writers these days, the work can be both rewarding and satisfying from a lifestyle standpoint if you value flexibility.
Have questions about writing careers? Let me know in the comments section, and make sure to subscribe to my email list for more tips!
Featured Image Credit: Pexels.
Molly Tyler
Molly received her B.A. in English in 2016, and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2019. She now works full time as a digital content marketer.