15 Best Tools For Writers

50 Sites That Pay You To Write (Updated 2023 List)

By: Rafal Reyzer
Updated: Jun 1st, 2023 

sites that pay you to write - featured image

If you want to get paid to write, please check the following list of sites that will happily pay you $50-$300 to write high-quality content.

All you need to do is check their requirements, send an immaculate pitch email, and get busy writing. I have updated this list for the current year and I do my best to keep it fresh. If you find it valuable, please consider sharing it with others. Are you ready to put your writing skills to the test? Let’s go!

 

Top 50 Sites That Pay You To Write:

1. The Penny Hoarder

Overview and submission guidelines:

The Penny Hoarder is a popular blog with articles on improving your financial situation. They look for content with detailed numbers, strategies, and actionable advice on how to save money, get rid of your debt, and invest your funds. They look for evergreen articles that are at least 700 to 900 words long and pay writers on schedule. Make sure you check their content, come up with a unique idea and use a grammar checker to fix your draft before you send it. They look specifically for articles about job ideas and living on a budget, as well as money guides.

 

2. Budget Travel

Overview and submission guidelines:

You can get paid by this site if you know the best travel hacks out there. This site serves content on inspiring destinations, food, budgeting while on the road, and stories from travelers. They are always on the lookout for fresh contributors. So if you’re able to provide an original travel-related piece (around 1000 words long) with beautiful images, you can get paid between $75 and $150.

 

3. List Verse

Overview and submission guidelines:

Editors here say that all you need to get started is an excellent knowledge of English and a good sense of humor. You would need to list at least ten items in your article. Then you send it to the editorial staff for approval. They will either accept it and send you $100 through PayPal or reject it and ask you to give it another try. You need to include at least two paragraphs per item on the list and go with the topic you’re passionate about. The articles here are usually around 1000 – 1500 words.

 

4. Photoshop Tutorials

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a popular website with Photoshop tutorials. You need to have a lot of experience with photo editing to write for them. However, if you’re familiar with Photoshop secrets, you can earn up to $350 for your tutorial. It doesn’t even have to be very long, but it needs to come with examples of graphics that you created. To get started, you need to fill out an online form and attach a few samples of your work.

 

5. Wow Women on Writing

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a female writer, you should definitely contribute to this site. Wow Women on Writing is a community where women help each other while building successful small businesses that offer writing services. Before submitting your work, make sure your content is unique so you don’t copy other people’s work. Focus on providing practical, actionable advice to a female audience. That’s the key. You can get as much as $150 for a 3000-word article.

 

6. Transition Abroad

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site is all about compelling and distinctive stories of people who are brave enough to travel abroad to study, work, or volunteer. Editors want articles about work, living, language learning, cultural immersion, and study abroad. Their writers’ guidelines page is enormous, so you’ll want to look at it to learn the details. Articles should be 750 to 2000 words long. Plus, they have occasional writing contests for which you can earn up to $500. The best part is they pay immediately upon receiving your article. So if you have experience working abroad, you might give this site a try.

 

7. Great Escape Publishing

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a website with short, and sweet articles usually related to travel. The focus is on content that helps readers get paid while traveling. To submit an article, send it as a .doc or .docx file, including your full name, address, and telephone number. The articles have to be approximately 300 to 600 words long. You will receive payment upon publication. If you want to earn a higher rate ($150), you need to send over an interview, a personal story, or another form of unique content.

 

8. A Fine Parent

Overview and submission guidelines:

This website is all about becoming a better parent. After all, the author of the blog believes great parents are made, not born. To get your article approved, you need to include a personal anecdote, a lesson learned, along with relevant research. Aim for 1500 to 3000 words, and make sure it’s written in a web format (short paragraphs, bullet points, lists, etc.) Once the article is approved, you will receive $75 for your efforts through PayPal. The site gets over 4 million page views per year. That’s why, if you’re a parent, it’s a great way for you to become slightly famous besides getting paid.

 

9. Think Vitamin

Overview and submission guidelines:

This website focuses on three main content areas – development, design, and business. The great thing about it is that the owner suggests specific writing topics. For example, it might be about funding a startup, or something as obscure as advanced online security tools. To get started, you need to message the webmaster whose email is available on the “write for us” page. Explain why you’re qualified and include a short brief. Note: There is no information regarding the payment method.

 

10. Link-Able

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is an interesting platform that allows freelance writers to get paid. Basically, they offer a list of guest post jobs you can apply to. Once you find something that matches your expertise, you may craft a proposal and send it over. Once you’re hired, you’ll start working with a client and include a link to their page in an article that will be published on another page. Once your article is approved, you may get paid, on average, $375 per link you helped to build. To get started, you need to apply on the Link-Able site and set up your profile.

 

11. Backpacker

Overview and submission guidelines:

Backpacker is both a print and online publication that specializes in backpacking, hiking, and camping in the great outdoors of North America. They feature true adventure stories of hikers and outdoorsmen, backcountry and wilderness travel destinations, hiking trails, mountains, nature parks, and other topics related to hiking. It includes survival gears and techniques, expedition planning, and helpful outdoor tips. Word count may vary from 1,500 to 5,000 per article and they pay between $.40 to $1 per word depending on the complexity of the composition and your credential as a writer. Their submission guideline is very detailed and even cited examples for you to know what types of articles get published on their site. Read it carefully before you write so your work gets a better chance to be accepted.

 

12. Longreads

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site’s webmaster wants personal, well-told stories with a narrative arc. You need to write a gripping essay that illustrates relatable human experiences. It needs to be 2500 words or longer, but the sweet spot is usually between 2500 and 4500 words. For the pleasure of sharing your in-depth feature story, you may receive a hefty payment of $500. You would need to check the writers’ guidelines page to learn all about crafting a perfect pitch. There’s a lot of information included on this page, and it also contains great examples of published essays.

 

13. Smashing Magazine

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a web designer or a software developer with a flair for writing, this is the right opportunity for you. To get your work accepted, you need to share a story about lessons you’ve learned from a project you were working on. You don’t have to be an expert, however, a beginner’s perspective is often appreciated too. Smashing Magazine publishes tutorials, opinion pieces, ultimate guides, and case studies. You can receive $50-$200 for the privilege of writing such a piece.

 

14. FreshBooks

Overview and submission guidelines:

FreshBooks is a popular accounting software that allows you to generate invoices, take care of your taxes, and manage your finances as a small business owner. The company is booming, and it needs contributors to its blog. You would have to come up with a brilliant idea for a blog post that’s between 800 and 1200 words long. Make sure it’s 100% original and submit your pitch through the contact form on the site.

 

15. Back2College

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site looks like it’s from the 90s, and it is. But even today, new content appears here regularly. If you have any fascinating content related to student life, life on the campus, or success strategies for students, submit your article. The compensation is $55 for original feature articles and $27.50 for reprints. Your article needs to be between 1000 and 1500 words. The payment goes through PayPal, 30 days after the publication date. As you can see, it’s not a huge pay for a lengthy piece of content, but you may still want to try it.

 

16. Doctor of Credit

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a personal finance site with articles on optimizing your credit score and saving for a comfortable retirement. They pay a flat fee of $50 for every article that gets published on the site. They prefer if you submit a fully written piece that’s already formatted to go on WordPress. If you send them a list of ideas, you probably won’t hear from them. If your article is successful, you might become a regular contributor and get access to the WordPress back end to publish articles directly. But you will probably need a bit of experience in finance to get approved.

 

17. Informed Comment

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you know what’s currently going on in the world of politics and global social issues, this will be a perfect site for you. Informed Content is especially interested in information about the middle east, human rights, climate change, South Asian politics, and US foreign policy. They seek original opinion pieces that are 800 to 1000 words long. When you submit your work, you need to provide a short bio and a few links to your previous publications. Once your work gets accepted, you will receive a payment of $100 via PayPal.

 

18. Cracked.com

Overview and submission guidelines:

Cracked is a popular site, with list-style feature articles like “6 Books Everyone (Including Your English Teacher) Got Wrong” or “Six Sad Facts about Beloved Characters.” If you want to get paid, you need to sign up for the Cracked writers’ forum and start pitching away. You need to explain your idea in 30 to 60 words. But you also need to focus on providing strong visuals, because that’s the main appeal of the content on the site. Depending on the length of the article you provide, you can get paid between $100 and $200.

 

19. Elite Personal Finance

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site, with articles about personal finance, reportedly spends over $100,000 per year on content creation. If you want to get your $100, send them an email with the title of your article and they’ll get back to you within a couple of days. The great thing about this content platform is that you can become a recurring contributor and provide in-depth articles regularly. Your article needs to be between 1000 and 3000 words, 100% original, and you need to send it as a .doc attachment.

 

20. A List Apart

Overview and submission guidelines:

The main idea behind this site is to redefine web design. By bringing a fresh perspective, you can get your work published and read by thousands of your peers. Your article needs to be between 600 and 2500 words, but 1500 words are the average. You may use a casual tone and share a story about trends in the web industry. Or, you may write a rigorously structured piece if you decide to write an in-depth tutorial. To get started, you need to submit your work via Google Docs so that the editors can give you feedback. After two or three rounds of back-and-forth, your work will get published, and you can get paid between $100 and $200, depending on the length of your article.

 

21. Smithsonian

Overview and submission guidelines:

Smithsonian is one of the oldest, most respected magazines out there. They publish beautifully formatted content, mostly about history and science. They receive a huge number of submissions from freelance writers, so they can’t guarantee a response to all inquiries. However, if you have a fascinating idea for a story, you may reach out to the editorial board through an online form. You’ll need to provide links to your previous writing and pitch your idea.

 

22. Foreign Policy

Overview and submission guidelines:

You should become a contributor to this site if you have a lot of knowledge about global issues and world politics. To have a chance of getting published here, read the magazine, avoid talking about obvious issues, and do your best to come up with a unique story. You are encouraged to take a provocative stand and write a piece that’s around 1000 words long. It’s a mini-essay in which you can state your thesis in a single sentence and then expand on it.

 

23. Watch Culture

Overview and submission guidelines:

Watch Culture is a huge site with articles about popular culture, like: “10 Hilariously Obvious Stand-Ins Who Ruined Their Scenes”. You need to come up with an idea related to one of the relevant niches. The minimum word length you need is 1500 words. The editorial board loves galleries and quizzes, so this type of content is more likely to get accepted. Once your work is published, you’ll get paid via PayPal. The final payment will depend on the popularity of your article. But the good news is that you can submit as many articles as you want.

 

24. Developer Tutorials

Overview and submission guidelines:

The main idea behind this site is to redefine web design. By bringing a fresh perspective, you can get your work published and read by thousands of your peers. Your article needs to be between 600 and 2500 words, but 1500 words are the average. You may use a casual tone and share a story about trends in the web industry. Or, you may write a rigorously structured piece if you decide to write an in-depth tutorial. To get started, you need to submit your work via Google Docs so that the editors can give you feedback. After two or three rounds of back-and-forth, your work will get published, and you can get paid between $100 and $200, depending on the length of your article.

 

25. FreelanceMom

Overview and submission guidelines:

As the name suggests, this site offers content for female entrepreneurs and small business owners. You need to offer current practical and actionable advice on marketing, money, personal development, business, productivity, social media, or working at home. The editors are always looking for fresh approaches to commonly discussed business ideas and want you to include a quick action plan at the end. Your article needs to have between 900 and 1500 words. It might be a personal story about how you succeeded in business, a research article, or an education-related article. For your efforts, you will get between $75 and $100 via PayPal. If your article finds itself among the most shared in the month, you will get a bonus of $150.

 

26. The Diplomat

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a serious news magazine with content pertaining to Asia-Pacific. The editorial staff here welcomes unsolicited articles to publish on their own blog. They always prefer a piece with original reporting and analysis, but they will also consider commentary. If you want to write for the blog section, your post needs to be between 400 and 800 words. If you’re going to write a feature article, it has to be around 1200 words. You need to send it over as a Word document, along with the sources you’ve used. Unfortunately, there’s no information about payment, so you’ll need to inquire about this.

 

27. Grow Magazine

Overview and submission guidelines:

This site, with content geared towards Millennials, reportedly pays $50 for finance-related articles. They don’t have a “write for us” category on their website. But if you submit your article to grow@acorns.com with the word STORY in the subject line, your work will be considered. Writing for Grow Magazine might be a good idea because it’s a new publication that doesn’t receive tons of pitches from freelance writers.

 

28. Travel + Leisure

Overview and submission guidelines:

This travel website publishes high-quality, magazine-grade content about the best places to visit around the world, and other useful tips for nomads. They’re not explicit about their guest posts requirements. That’s why you need to scan the content that gets published here and pitch a similar, yet original idea. If you’re familiar with the travel industry, you just might add this site to your pending freelance writing gigs.

 

29. Copyhackers

Overview and submission guidelines:

You’ve guessed it. This website is all about tips for copywriters, freelance writers, and content related to writing jobs. They seem to have a rigorous vetting process for the article proposals they receive. They say they only accept 1 in 30 pitches, so make sure you come up with something original if you want to get approved. You also need to follow the guidelines or your message will go unanswered. However, if your post gets an okay from the editorial staff, you might earn between $300 and $1000. That’s more than you can get from almost any other site. The minimal word count accepted here is 2000 words.

 

30. B. Michelle Pippin

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a blog with content geared toward female entrepreneurs. They’re looking for business experts with first-hand experience with the topics they are talking about. Your article needs to be at least 1000 words long, and if it gets published, you’ll get paid between $50 and $150 through PayPal. You’ll receive your payment on the 1st of the following month after your article goes live (if it gets published in March, you’ll get paid on 1 April). To get started, you simply need to fill out an online form.

 

31. Wanderful

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a perpetual traveler who knows places around the world, this site is going to be perfect for you. The focus here is on long-form content related to the most beautiful places you can visit (especially as a female traveler). The topics you can write about are destinations and itineraries, travel tips, global issues, and famous female travelers. There’s a flat payment of $50 per accepted article, but you can get a $25 bonus if your article performs well. Your post has to be between 750 and 2500 words long.

 

32. Belt Magazine

Overview and submission guidelines:

Have you ever heard of the Rust Belt? The term is used to describe a region of the US that went into industrial decline starting in the 1980s. These are mostly places in the Midwest and Great Lakes. The Belt Magazine is publishing stories about this region, so if you’re interested, give it a go. If you want to publish an original reportage piece, it needs to be between 1500 words and 3000 words. The magazine also accepts essays (and especially photo essays) about life in the Rust Belt. They reportedly pay between $50 and $500 depending on the quality and depth of your work.

 

33. International Living

Overview and submission guidelines:

International Living is full of exciting stories about finding passion when traveling abroad, and the best places to retire as an ex-pat. Some topics covered are “how to  rent a flat in Lisbon,” or “how to get a Colombian visa.” The great thing about this site is that they pay $225 for a 900-word story and $350 for 1600 words. If you provide original photographs along with the article, you can expect to get paid $50 extra. Once you familiarize yourself with the specific guidelines, send your article idea to the email address from the “write for us” page.

 

34. Metro Parent

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a popular online magazine with a big list of over 100,000 email subscribers. To get published (and get paid) here, browse a few sample articles to get a feel for what they prefer. You need to email the editor with links to a couple of examples of your previous work, as well as your resume. There’s a variety of content formats you can employ. For a 1200 – 2500 word article, you can get paid as much as $200. For a short story idea (up to 400 words), you can get $40. For a personal essay that’s 600 words, you can get $50. There are a couple of other formats available, so check the specifics by clicking on the link below.

 

35. Semaphore

Overview and submission guidelines:

Software development is expanding every year, and many dev-related sites offer a hefty commission for high-quality tutorials. Semaphore is one of them. To get your $200, you would need to write an in-depth tutorial about test-driven development, continuous delivery, or devOps automation. If you accept the challenge, submit articles on the topic you would like to write about. You should get a yay or nay response within a couple of days.

 

36. Income Diary

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a fantastic site that provides useful content for online business owners. If you know something about creating websites, driving traffic, or making money online, write for them. All the content will be published under your name, and the article will be sent to tens of thousands of people via email. Remember that to get published here, you’ll need some serious content marketing chops. They often require you to write only about a specific topic. For example, now they’re looking for an expertly crafted post about keyword research.

 

37. Sitepoint

Overview and submission guidelines:

This website has been around since 1999, and now its content is viewed by over 10 million readers a month. They are looking for articles related to coding languages, web performance, and analytics. So if you have any useful tutorial in mind, send it over and get paid up to $100.

 

38. Plesk

Overview and submission guidelines:

Here’s yet another site with tutorials and case studies related to the software world. If you can write about WordPress, website security, JavaScript, hosting, or other such things, feel free to apply. You can get $50 for a short article, $100 for an article above 1000 words, or $200 for an article above 1500 words. Keep in mind that if you want to get $100 or $200, you need to come up with an infographic and short video about the topic you’re covering.

 

39. GoDaddy Garage

Overview and submission guidelines:

If you’re a designer, a developer, or even a small business owner, you may contribute to the GoDaddy blog. The blog covers topics related to startups, branding, product creation, process management, business investments, productivity improvement, and automation. You can also write about anything related to website design or WordPress. Your pay will depend on the length and quality of your article. To get started, fill out the form available on the “contribute” page.

 

40. Web Loggerz

Overview and submission guidelines:

This website specializes in all content related to WordPress. This includes tips, tutorials, reviews, themes, plug-ins, and web hosting. They don’t have any stricter rules when it comes to remuneration, but you can earn up to $100 for your efforts. Your 100% original article has to be 1200+ words long and includes a relevant image in the correct format.

 

41. Scotch.io

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is one of the geekiest websites that will pay you to write content crafted especially for coders. They praise themselves for having very high standards and a rigorous approval process. That’s why you need to know what you’re talking about if you want your article accepted. But it’s worth trying it because the website has a monthly reach of over 1 million viewers. Plus, you’ll get a $150 PayPal transfer for your efforts. Do you have any exciting ideas related to apps and popular coding languages?

 

42. Global Comment

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a site created by a community of writers like you and me. It has articles about anything from social media to the economy, and entertainment. They seem to be open to ideas of all kinds as long as they are unique and exciting. You need to come up with something original and introduce yourself in the submission email. This is a perfect site, especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The expected length of your article is between 800 and 1000 words.

 

43. UXbooth

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a beautiful website with content about UX design. To get published here, you need to follow an article template that’ll help you focus on the website’s target audience. Once you have an idea that gets accepted, you need to write an article that’s 1200 to 1800 words long. You must write from a third-person point of view but still be conversational in your tone. This seems straightforward enough, so fill out the online form and get started.

 

44. Her Money

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a high-quality magazine with beautifully designed articles geared toward a female audience. Here you can find inspiring ideas about career, travel, and saving money. As of today, they don’t have a “guest contributions” page. But if you pitch them with a brilliant idea, you might get a positive response. Keep in mind that writing here is superb, and goes through many hands before it finally gets published.

 

45. Music Tuts+

Overview and submission guidelines:

Envato Tuts is a site with high-quality online courses on digital skills. If you have any tips about the topics covered here, you can make a fast $50. Write a mini-tutorial that’s around 500 words, or provide a screen cast that’s five minutes long. They are not always open for new submissions, so look at the link below to find out.

 

46. Modern Farmer

Overview and submission guidelines:

Do you love farming, nature, science, and want to make money writing? If so, you might be a perfect guest contributor to this site. They’re always open to new ideas and quality journalism about plants, technology, agriculture, and people in the farming business. The articles here are between 800 words and 2000 words.

 

47. The Anxiety Foundation

Overview and submission guidelines:

Are you an expert when it comes to practical psychology? Submit your article, share your experience with others, and get paid along the way. Your content needs to be entirely original and written in proper English, obviously. The minimum word length is 550 words. Provide at least a couple of references to research data to back up your claims. Besides the $50, you can also ask for a link back to your blog from within the article you write.

 

48. Dame

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a site with incisive opinion pieces on important social issues we face in the world today. It’s an independent online magazine that provides context around politics, culture, policy, and gender. They’re always looking for new contributors willing to share engaging personal stories, so you can get $200 for an essay or $300-$400 for an in-depth feature article. You may also contribute personal stories or interviews if you like. To get started, send your article through email and amaze the editorial staff.

 

49. BookBrowse

Overview and submission guidelines:

This is a dream opportunity for any freelance writer and book lover who wants to write for a proper literary journal. If you’re here, I’m sure you would write book reviews even without getting paid for it. A review needs to be around 500 words long. Plus, you need to provide links to a few of your other reviews to get a chance to earn $50. If they like your work, you can submit one review per month to the website.

 

50. RankPay

Overview and pitch guidelines:

This website is all about search engine optimization. I’m sure that’s something you know quite a lot about if you’re a freelance writer willing to adjust your writing style to match the requirements. Here you have a perfect opportunity to earn $50 for your original article. It needs to be related to SEO, digital marketing, or small business. The expected length here is 1000+ words, written in a conversational tone and providing actionable ideas for the audience.

 

In conclusion

As you can see, your freelance writing earning potential is limitless. I really hope that checking submission pages from the sites above gave you some inspiration to start your freelance writing business, send some pitches and earn good money as a writer.

Remember that freelance writing is a numbers game, but please don’t neglect your pitch email, as it will determine the outcome of your efforts more than anything. Above all, write articles from your heart, pay attention to details and you’ll be on your way to launching your freelance writing career.

You may also like: 50 Best Freelance Writing Job Boards

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Rafal Reyzer

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time blogger, educator, digital marketer, freelance writer, editor and content manager with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to achieve freedom from 9 to 5 through online creativity. My site is a one-stop-shop for freelance writers, bloggers, publishers, content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money and create beautiful things. Feel free to learn more about me here.