Honest conversations with working writers about how they make money.
Joined March 2024
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For 20 years, @mitch_moxley has balanced writing and editing across the industry, filing stories from North Korea and editing for Maxim and Penta.
We discussed the math of book publishing, why editing was a financial turning point, and building a sustainable career.
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Link to full interview: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
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"Make yourself indispensable by completely owning a beat."
@ddayen, Executive Editor of @TheProspect, breaks down his writing income, the reality of book advances, and how he funded his journalism pivot with a 15-year TV career.
Interview here: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
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Most writers fall into the attention trap, chasing viral metrics instead of building actual trust.
In this week's interview, CEO coach @dipietromedia explains why smart media operators are abandoning broad advertising models to build gated communities for their audience.
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“Understand that published writing is a product... Do you want people to read it, buy it, share it?”
Great chat with @FZierer on how he went from writing SEO plumbing copy on Upwork to leading editorial strategy for beehiiv.
Read the full interview here: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
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How do you survive as a cultural critic in NY?
For @andrewmarzoni, the answer was stepping off the academic track and into a high school classroom. By securing a teaching salary that covered the rent, he freed his writing from the pressure of survival.
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Pulitzer finalist @SteelandBallast breaks down the reality of funding high-stakes reporting through a patchwork of fellowships, grants, and short-term contracts, and why grant writing has basically become a mandatory second job.
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Most writers dream of quitting their day jobs. @natashajouk leaned into hers.
In our newest interview, she explains how a corporate salary subsidizes her literary life and buys her the ultimate creative freedom to ignore the market and say "no."
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In this interview, @KJezerMorton talks about how cheap Montreal daycare made her career possible, why she treated her day job as a scholarship for her writing, and how getting a PhD later in life gave her the substance she needed to stand out.
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The average Australian author earns just $18,200 a year from their books.
In our latest interview, @PatrickLenton gets honest about piecing together grants, advances, and a surprise tax bill, and why he returned to the newsroom to save his sanity.
Read: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
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How do you sustain a journalism career writing about international wildlife trafficking?
@RachelNuwer shares how she balances reporting for legacy media with teaching at NYU, the realities of writing two books, and her income breakdown.
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Really appreciated @SamAdlerBell's transparency in today's interview. He broke down the mechanics of his career, explaining how his podcast's Patreon subsidizes his longform reporting, and why writing cultural criticism keeps him from becoming a "bore."
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"I went into an artistic career expecting to make all my money elsewhere."
@TheLincoln breaks down his 15-year grind of cobbling together rent in NYC, the side gigs that kept him afloat, and how to separate your writing from your income.
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I asked investigative journalist @drewphilp how he makes money as a writer.
His answer: "I'm a terrible capitalist." To survive the freelance economy and focus on journalism that matters, he eliminated his biggest enemy: rent. He bought an abandoned Detroit house for $500.
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Today, he operates as a "scavenger" to fund his award-nominated reporting on a genocide in Tigray—vital work that doesn't pay the bills. To hit his $30k/year survival baseline, he pads his income by writing website copy for dentists while keeping a strict ethical firewall.
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His advice for writers who want to do meaningful work without starving? "Learn to be poor. Buy a f*cked up house and learn how to repair it. The library is free. Walking is essential." Read the full interview: howimakemoneywriting.substac…
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for our latest HIMMW interview: @npbowlin is a reporter who knows the exact cost of investigative journalism: sometimes, it’s a year or more of work before the check clears.
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In this interview, Nick breaks down the brutal economics of grant-funded reporting, explains why he earned more pouring drinks in Crested Butte than writing for magazines, and offers a strategic playbook for young reporters: go where the other journalists aren’t.
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If you want to know how to fund ambitious longform work without a trust fund, this one’s for you.
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