Hi Reader,

I spent years working as a broke journalist.

That all changed in 2014.

I stumbled into the world of writing online.

On my personal blog, I wrote reviews of courses and products I liked.

One review attracted the company’s attention, and I ended up earning a few thousand dollars from affiliate commissions.

After years of scratching a living out as a tech journo, I couldn’t believe I could earn good money for writing an honest impression of a course or product I liked or disliked.

Now, writing reviews is a grind.

And affiliate marketing is insanely competitive.

I wanted to do something creative.

So, in 2015, inspired by the Creative Penn, I started writing and self-publishing books.

I tried fiction and quickly discovered I was terrible at this genre.

You can find one of my fiction books with a one-star review on Amazon!

Then, I switched to non-fiction.

I wrote and published a dozen titles in different formats: Kindle, large print, and audio.

I missed the Kindle Gold Rush.

But I still earned a few thousand dollars each month from my books.

And I got good reviews too.

I scaled my profits with Amazon ads until big-name publishers drove up the cost per ad.

So, I built a backend for my books through online courses.

I sold thousands of dollars worth of online writing courses, but not enough to quit my job.

From 2018 to 2019, I freelanced for publications like Forbes and partner programs on sites like Medium.

The former paid a pittance, but it was a nice credibility builder. Even today, people reference me as the “Forbes writer” when I meet them.

I enjoyed tasty four-figure months from the Medium partner program.

Some other Pro Writers I know earned five figures a month by writing about personal development.

You know the type of articles…

10 Things Super Happy People Do Every Morning

I could have earned more if I picked that genre, but I never liked writing prescriptive advice about how readers should lead their lives.

In 2019, I took my writing business more seriously. I stopped working on so many different side projects.

I focused on my site, Become a Writer Today.

I wrote dozens of articles about the craft monthly.

My goal?

To attract juicy search traffic from Google.

I set up display ads on my website to earn. More articles meant more traffic, and more traffic meant more revenue.

I couldn’t scale the site myself. So. I hired a virtual assistant.

Then, I hired an editor to check my articles.

I also hired a team of writers to help scale my website to millions of page views.

Now, with more free time and a healthy cash flow, I launched several other sites in different niches, including food and drinks, health and fitness and Web 3.0.

I didn’t write the content for these sites. Instead, I used my editorial playbook to scale those sites, too.

A few sites worked.

A few tanked.

Writing content at scale is a media business model.

I quit that business model this year.

My sites bring in a nice passive income, but changes to search and AI mean this business model is becoming more competitive and risky.

I’m also convinced the real value today lies in building a personal brand and providing high-touch client services.

For me?

That means publishing content about my business on LinkedIn and YouTube and offering 1–1 coaching for a select group of Pro Writers.

This model isn’t for everyone.

I’m not writing to tell you that freelance writing, affiliate marketing or blogging is/isn’t dead.

Some of these business models for writers still work.

Some don’t.

But you need to pick one business model and focus on that till you get paid what you need.

Then, you can either scale or try another.

If you like that sound, you’ll enjoy next week’s workshop.

It’s for Pro Writers only.

The topic?

How to Earn Your First $3–5k Writing Online.

The workshop is live, but you’ll get a recording if you can’t make it.

I'm hosting it on Thursday, August 1st at 1500 GMT+1/10 AM EST.

​Get your ticket here.​

Write on,
Bryan Collins