Last week I shared a chart showing the sources of my 2010 freelance writing income. Today I'm showing the types of writing projects I completed last year. This chart is based on the percent of income from each type, rather than the number of projects or articles:
Writing articles for consumer magazines - 5%Teaching & ebook sales - 4% Ghostwriting articles & blog posts for other people - 19% Writing articles for niche publications (trade magazines, teen/tween magazines, etc.) - 6% Copywriting for newsletters, catalogues & deal descriptions - 36% Copywriting for websites - 12% Writing articles for blogs & websites - 18%
I divided copywriting and article writing into a few different sections to show the variety of projects and markets. You'll notice that my biggest chunk of income comes from copywriting, rather than writing articles. Much of this copywriting income came from writing product descriptions for catalogues and ecommerce sites, which reminds me of writing haikus about scented candles or designer handbags. I suspect that while copywriting accounted for a bigger chunk of income, the division between time was actually more equal, because I had a few high-paying copywriting projects that didn't require as much time but served as anchor projects. Magazines or website assignments tend to be more time-intensive, because they often involve queries, interviews, and rewrites. But they challenge me in a way that copywriting does not, so I plan to keep writing articles. In fact, one of my goals for 2011 is to focus more on writing articles about the people and organizations that inspire me. What about you? What types of writing projects did you complete in 2010 and where do you plan to focus in 2011?