Writing: can you make money writing about your passions?

"Do what you love, and the money will follow" is promoted by self-help gurus, but does the strategy work when it comes to writing?

Yes and no.

If you love writing, of course you can make money from your passions. However, you need to keep  readers in mind -- if you write what people want to read, or need, you will make money. If you write on totally quirky topics no one has commissioned you to write on, you won't make money.

I'd love to give you some examples of quirky topics my writing students were trying to make money writing about, but it would identify them too easily, and that would be cruel, so I won't do it.

But here's short rule of thumb: if there are no advertisers for your topic, it's unlikely you'll make money from it.

Turn your passion into profit

If you want to be sure your passion is profitable, check to see whether there are magazines on the topic. If there are magazines, there are advertisers, and you're golden. You can write about kids, pets, gardening, health... you've thousands of topics from which to choose.

And of course, if there are magazines on a topic, they'll be websites on the topic too -- even more chances to sell your writing on a particular topic.

Testing a passion for profitability: try a blog

I've been recommending blogging to writers for at least seven years. Blogging is instant publishing, and it's a wonderful way to gauge the profitability of a topic.

Just create a blog on the topic, and start posting. Getting a reaction from readers? Bingo, you've latched onto a topic you're passionate about, and for which there's a market for your writing.

The big benefit of a blog is that it can act as a writing sample, AND it will promote you as an expert in the topic. (Buyers of writing love experts, and once you've been blogging on a topic for a little time, hey presto, you're an expert. :-))

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