4 Online Writing Business Success Stories [2024]
Looking to turn your writing skills into a profitable online business? Consider starting an online writing business. This venture involves offering writing services like blog posts, articles, or copywriting for businesses and individuals via the internet.
Starting an online writing business requires setting up a professional website, showcasing a strong portfolio, and effectively marketing your services to attract clients. With a growing demand for high-quality content, from SEO articles to professional emails, the opportunities are vast.
What’s compelling about this business is its scalability; you can start small and gradually build up a team of writers, thereby increasing your revenue without massively increasing your workload. If you’re seeking a business idea that leverages your creativity while providing opportunities for growth, an online writing business could be the perfect fit.
In this list, you'll find real-world online writing business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a online writing business that makes money.
1. Ship 30 for 30 ($2.5M/year)
Dickie started writing online in 2020.
He was writing a newsletter, but after 9 months, he only had around 300 subscribers.
He decided that if people weren’t going to find him, he needed to go to where the people were and double down on it.
The people were on Twitter, so he committed to writing 30 threads in 30 days to grow his account.
That personal writing challenge turned into the foundation of Ship 30 for 30, which started as a Slack accountability group to help people publish consistently.
How much money it makes: $2.5M/year
How many people on the team: 0
Discover how Dickie Bush grew Ship 30 for 30 from a newsletter with 300 subscribers to a $2.5M/year business using Twitter as a main growth lever and a pricing strategy that went from $50 to $800 for the course.
2. Write of Passage ($300K/year)
After taking Tiago Forte's course, David wanted to help 1,000 people start writing online. He was so excited he even tweeted about it and approached it as a challenge.
How much money it makes: $300K/year
Unlock the growth strategy of Write of Passage, a business making $25K/month and $300K/year in revenue, with founder David Perell's laser focus on shareable content and driving people to his email list.
3. Sauce Writing ($150K/year)
He realized the potential of writing when he landed his first job in Marketing. His mission was to learn everything he could about copywriting. In parallel, he created a personal blog and built a decent following. People loved his writing, so he decided to launch a writing school.
How much money it makes: $150K/year
How much did it cost to start: $2K
How many people on the team: 0
Sauce Writing's Valentin Decker started an online writing school just before the pandemic, helping over 100 students last year and aiming for up to €150,000 in revenue in 2023 with an emailing list of 5K people.
4. Merrative ($24K/year)
Harshala Chavan, the founder of Merrative, came up with the idea for her business after noticing a lack of dedicated spaces for people to discuss literature. After attending a book club meetup, where she had a great discussion with others who had read the same book, she wondered if she could bring this experience online at scale. She validated her concept through participating in BPlans and growing her Instagram page, which eventually led to the launch of Merrative as a community-led marketplace for publishing talent.
How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 0
Merrative, a community-driven marketplace for publishing talent, generates an average of $1,500 per month in marketplace transactions from their 5,000+ strong community of readers, writers, journalists, and scholars.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
