Hunting for Writing Jobs? 8 New Sites That Pay Writers — Plus Important Updates

We know how much you love our lists of sites that pay writers. So we’ve got an update since last year’s list of 92 sites that pay $50 and up.

Why do we do these market lists?

First, we like to help writers earn a good living. We have a floor rate of $50 for inclusion in these lists so that you can move up from sites that pay writers $10, $15, and $25 for posts.

Then, once you’ve added a few clips from these better-paying sites to your portfolio, you can move up again to sites that pay writers more. (Don’t think those sites are out there? Read about writers who are making $200+ per post and a content mill that pays $400 per post.)

Second, we want to recognize sites that value the work their writers are doing. Good guest posts bring traffic to a site, which leads to list subscribers or ad revenue. When someone helps a blogger or business earn money, they deserve to earn money for that work. And we celebrate sites that have that same philosophy.

Now, on to the updates.

New sites that pay writers

Here are the sites that pay writers you told us about that are paying $50 or more for a guest post (in alphabetical order).

1. Alpha Beta Commerce pays $50 for articles about ecommerce, payment processing, marketing, and logistics.
2. Finance Blog Zone pays $50 for original personal finance posts. If you reach certain traffic criteria, you can earn up to an additional $50. The catch is that the posts need to be long — 2,500 words or more — and include photos.
3. Gaming Mouse pays for posts about the technology industry, with a preference for the latest news. [waiting for confirmation that they meet the $50 threshold]
4. PreTravels is owned by the same person who runs Finance Blog Zone, and it also pays $50 for original personal finance posts plus up to an additional $50. Posts should be destination guides or travel tips and should be 2,500 words or more. You’ll also need to include 6 or more photos.
5. Narratively pays $150 for personal essays and $200 to $250 for reported pieces. Higher rates negotiable depending on the piece. Narratively has been around about five years. We recently learned about the site thanks to blog reader and Narratively features editor Lilly O’Donnel.

Sites that almost make the $50 cutoff

When compiling these lists, we always come across those that offer rates of $50+ for some sections, but lower rates for other sections. Rather than locking these sites out, we decided to include a few of them here. (And we may do a dedicated post of sites that bridge the gap between $25 and $50.)

1. Craft Your Content pays $35-$50 for posts about words, grammar, creativity, and other topics of interest to writers.
2. Dorkly pays $35-$75 for posts about Pokemon, anime, horror, Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft, and other geek chic topics. They even pay for image collections, so that collection of WOW screenshots might earn you a little scratch.
3. Writers Weekly pays $40-$60 for posts. They currently need posts only at the $40 level — the Freelance Success Story section. But, beginning in April 2017, they will again be open to feature article queries about the business of freelance writing, and that section pays $60. Note: Writers Weekly has been around a while, but hasn’t been listed in one of our posts about sites that pay writers before.

Sites that no longer pay

Cue the sad trombone sound. Some of the sites we’ve featured previously no longer pay, for various reasons.

1. The Back to College site was shut down.
2. BuzzFeed is no longer accepting freelance pitches.
3. Gawker Media was sued out of existence, though only the Gawker.com site was completely shut down. Their other sites were purchased by Univision and continue to publish. They do not post pay rates, but I am sure their writers do receive some compensation, if you’re still interested in writing for Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, and Lifehacker.
4. The Kernel online magazine shut down.
5. Hearst Publishing killed The Mix.
6. The Toast was shut down.

Other updates

Mirasee recently resumed accepting pitches earlier this month (January 2017), but only pays on assignment, and not unsolicited submissions.

Priceonomics and Rank Pay lowered their rates to $50 per post, so they still make the cutoff, but the rates used to be higher.

Scary Mommy, a site that serves up pregnancy advice and parent tips, still pays but isn’t currently accepting unsolicited posts.

HowlRound asked that we no longer list them because they were receiving poorly targeted pitches from writers who said they’d found out about them on Make a Living Writing. This is why it’s critical that you study the site and its audience to develop a well-written query. But believe it or not, a lot of writers don’t do this, even when pitching Make a Living Writing.

“I think I pass on 99 percent of what I’m pitched,” says Carol. “Most pitches are from link-seekers or people who haven’t even read my blog, ever.”

Sites that pay writers spend way too much time wading through pitches from people who’ve never read the site, have no idea who the target reader or main topic is, and often won’t take no for an answer. Some even get tired of it and stop paying or stop accepting guest posts altogether.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

“You can stand out and get hooked up with one of these paying markets,” says Carol.

Have you written for any of these sites or found new ones that pay $50 or more? Tell us in the comments below.

Jennifer Roland is a freelance education, personal finance, and technology writer. Her latest book, Pacific Northwest Writers: Perspectives on Writing, compiles writing advice from novelists, playwrights, and poets from around the Pacific Northwest.

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