Five Ways to Increase My Writing Income in the New Year

The risks and benefits of becoming a full time freelance writer are great. Over the past few years, as I have dabbled in the freelance business, I have had what I consider to be both exciting successes, and heartbreaking disappointments. While the successes are encouraging, the disappointments can be even more discouraging. In the new year I hope to increase my income through freelancing. In order to do this I realize that I must continue to build on my successes, while firmly weathering the disappointments that are sure to come along with those successes.

Resolving to build a greater income this year will not be an easy task, as I work 2 other jobs, aside from freelancing. However, if I remain dedicated to my goal over the next year, I will be that much closer to achieving my ultimate goal, which is to work at home, as a full time freelance writer. I will achieve my goals this year by:

1. Building risidual income. I can build risidual income by writing at least one new article per day in the coming year. By publishing those articles on sites such as AC, and Helium.com, for performance payments only, I can build a continous stream of income. The pennies add up. The more articles I publish, the more income I can generate in this way.

2. Building my readership. Promoting my articles through sites like Digg, Delicous, StumbleUpon etc... can help to build my risidual income as well. When submitting articles for Performance Payments only, the amount of income generated by those articles depends a great deal on the amount of people reading the articles I write. Promoting articles through social networking sites, as well as using blog sites such MyLot to direct readers to my articles, can assist me in my goal to build readership, and in turn to build risidual income.

3. Upfront payments. Submitting work to sites (like Associated Content and Demand Studios) that offer upfront payment for my material is a good way to generate immediate income. I currently supplement my income by writing for AC, and Demand Studios on an occasional basis, as time permits. By stepping up the amount of articles I sell to these, and other sites that pay for original content, I can increase my income right away.

4. Contests and Competitive Publishing Markets. This year I plan to submit at least one original work to a contest, or competitive publishing market. By doing this I increase my chances of earning a generating a larger income source, with each article submitted. While these sites are not a good way to earn a dependable income, they can and do pay well if your material is chosen to be published.

5. Affiliate Income. One last way to increase my income through freelancing is to build the number of affiliate programs that I am associated with, and to directly link my content to those programs. While I refuse to promote any affiliate program that is not on the up and up, I have been able to generate an extra income by finding programs that merge well with material I am already writing, and include links in the text to those products or services. By joining affiliate programs that offer high quality products and services I can generate extra income for myself, while also offering my readers valuable help and information.