12 Ways to Writing Essays for Money

Can you write essays? Are you in need of a top-up in income? Writing essays doesn’t need to be difficult, and once you have worked out a good format and the audience you would like to write to, writing essays can be easy and earn you money in different ways.

Today, 28th February, is National Essay Writing Day, so it’s a good time to look at essay writing as a way of earning income.

Where do essays come from?

The idea of writing in this format came from Michel de Montaigne, a french philosopher who wrote about everyday life.

What exactly is an essay?

An essay is a short piece of writing expressing the author’s views about a particular subject. It is often based on personal experiences. Many people first learn about essays at school when they need to write about a subject to learn about it.

There are different ways to write essays.

• Narrative. This is where you express your thoughts in an essay.
• Expository. You share your knowledge with others.
• Descriptive. In these essays, you describe something in detail using all your senses.
• Persuasive. You develop a viewpoint based on the evidence you have collected.

Essays can also be

• Personal
• Political
• Comparative and contrasting
• Analytical
• Humorous

Why do people get stressed and anxious about essays?

Essays are usually linked to difficult times. For example, it would be difficult if you were asked to write an essay about a subject you had little experience or knowledge about.

Essays are also part of exams or assessments, so people feel threatened as they measure their knowledge to a certain standard.

Furthermore, essays can influence whether you achieve your goals or not. For example, if you want to pass an exam to get a specific qualification for a job.

Feeling under pressure to achieve this is a stressor and increases your anxiety levels. If your anxiety level rises, you might notice tension in your body or other signals.

So people experience many emotions related to essays. They include:

• Fear of failure. This can be fear of not writing correctly, not completing it, rejection, etc.
• Writer’s block. ‘What do I say?’
• Lack of confidence and self-esteem. ‘I’m not good enough.’
• Procrastination.
• Feeling boring. ‘I haven’t got anything interesting to say.’
• essay writing

What are the positive aspects of writing essays?

Learning to write good essays has several positive points. Writing essays should always feel beneficial, not difficult, or you won’t want to write for money.

• You learn to express yourself.
• You learn grammar and punctuation.
• You can provide a different viewpoint.
• You can develop an academic argument.
• You get a great sense of achievement.

Pros and cons of writing essays for money

Like most things, writing essays can have benefits and costs.

Pros

• It can provide an added income.
• It is satisfying to see your work in print.
• You can earn money from writing once you understand how to write an essay.
• You need to write good essays to pass many courses and gain qualifications.

Cons

• It may be difficult to get started.
• You are unlikely to make a lot of money fast.
• You need the right equipment. E.g. computer and internet connections.
• It’s time-consuming.
• There are no guarantees that people will like your writing or want to buy it.

Unless you are trained to be in a writing job, such as a journalist, most people write for pleasure or small sums of money.

Five essential steps to writing essays

1. Learn the skills of essay writing.
2. Work out why you want to write essays to earn money. Consider the benefits and costs.
3. Develop a plan. Why do you want to write, what will you write, where will you send it, and how will you evaluate it? When will you start?
4. Take action. Keep to a time plan. Write and then distribute. Keep track of your writing and your income.
5. Be consistent. Get help or support if needed. This could be educational help from a tutor, technical help, marketing help or emotional help.

Twelve ways to make money once you have learnt the skills of essay writing

Writing essays for money doesn’t guarantee success, as there are many factors to consider before anyone will pay you for your work. So your work needs to be of a good standard, interesting and written in the way others want to read it. Also, you need to consider your style of writing.

Here are twelve ways writing essays can earn you money.

1. Write an article for a journal or magazine. The subject can be anything that you are interested in. For example, if you like fishing, understand sea fishing, and have some funny experiences, then write about that. Some magazines will pay small amounts for interesting articles that are topical and fit with their genre.
2. Write an academic article.
3. Do freelance essay writing. NB Check that these sites are ethical.
4. Write articles by reviewing music, films or other art.
5. Start blogging and then add adverts and affiliates.
6. Enter creative writing competitions.
7. If you are fluent in another language, you might translate an essay or article.
8. Write book reviews.
9. Write your book.
10. Write technical articles.
11. Become a ghostwriter.
12. Write for the travel industry.

You could also write for competitions, but of course, there is always the risk that you may not make any money doing this.

Feeling that you can’t write but want to write?

Writing can be learnt.

To be able to write, firstly, you need skills in writing and grammar. This is why writing essays is such a good starting point. Added to this, there are lots of apps that can now help. Grammar checkers can help, for example, Gramarly.com.

Secondly, you need motivation and to feel positive about yourself and the experience for it to work.

Thirdly, writing essays is a process so you may need help along the way.

So if you need the motivation to stop procrastination or feel better about yourself, you may need professional help to get started.

You could hire a writing or publishing coach.

But there is the emotional aspect of writing essays that you should also consider.

Hypnosis can help by giving you a way to relax and build on your desires with positive suggestions. Hypnosis also helps you reduce stress and anxiety and feel more confident. Some people purchase and listen to a relaxation audio download, while others use a more bespoke hypnotherapy service online. For more information and to book a free initial consultation, contact Linda from Awaken the Change.

Why choose Linda to help? Linda has completed a BSc(Hons) and has three master’s degrees, so she has done a lot of writing over the years, and she has been writing a lot of essays. She was the founder of a professional nursing journal and editor for ten years.  She is a qualified and experienced hypnotherapist, counsellor and coach who specialises in helping people with stress and anxiety issues.