Careers in Content Writing

Welcome to the seventh episode of The Logophile’s Lounge (#TLL)…a one-stop-source for every information on content-writing.

We are seven steps forward in our quest to shine light on every nook and cranny of the content domain and dispel its prevalent myths.

(Note: This post was updated on Apr 3, 2021.)

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So…without further adieu, let’s get started with our topic,

If you just wish to get the highlights about the key career options, check out our video below.

For a detailed investigation into all the possible content writing careers, keep reading.

Opportunities in Content Writing

A career in content writing comes with endless opportunities and challenges. Content writers have always been in demand. However, with the advent of the internet, the demand for excellent writers have increased manifold.

Surprisingly, almost all content writers have become writers by accident. There are very few courses in universities that teach you the nuances of content writing. Therefore, we launched a comprehensive Content Writing Course that covers all types of writing styles as well as the art of monetizing your writing talent.

While a career in content writing is highly competitive, there are numerous instances where successful writers have made a fortune out of their professions. In fact, many full-time bloggers with six to ten years of experience earn more than INR 10 lakh per month.

Who can Become a Content Writer?

Anyone can develop a sound career in content writing. You don’t need a degree or educational qualification to become a writer. However, if you want to work on a full-time basis, you should at least be a graduate as the employers usually hire graduates or postgraduates.

Having a postgraduate degree or a degree in English literature is always a plus in content writing. However, anyone can develop an independent career in content development and earn a decent income irrespective of their educational background.

You can become a content writer in any language. For instance, if you are good in Hindi, you can write content in Hindi. If you know more than one language, then you can also become a translator. The demand for writers and translators is continuously growing with increased penetration of the internet.

Thus, if you want to become a writer, brush up your language skills and get started. Get in touch with us if you need any help and we will be more than happy to guide you to become a better writer.

Scope of Content Writing

Content writing as a career option has an enormous scope. It ‘s hard to write the entire scope of this field in a single article. However, following are the broad categories of jobs requiring different kinds of content. Do note that there is no hard and fast rule in categorizing the pieces of content. A lot of these terms are used interchangeably.

For instance, copywriting is also known as creative writing or writing a business blog is a part of business communication. You can choose one of the following options to start your career as a content writer.

1.Join the Corporate World

There are plenty of opportunities for content writers in the corporate world. You can work as a business writer, technical writer, copywriter, etc. earn anything between 15000 to 30000 rupees per month. Some graduates from top colleges also earn INR 1 lakh+ per month.

Among all the jobs, copywriting and technical writing stands out as there is a huge demand of these two types of jobs. Copywriters tend to do well in the long run as a good copy is at the heart of a great advertising. The growth of a majority of businesses depends on good marketing and advertising skills, making copywriters an indispensable asset for businesses.

Technical writing is considered as a specialty occupation in the US and therefore H1B Visa is available for technical writers.

Below, are some more details on the lucrative fields within the corporate writing world.

1.1 Copywriting

Copywriting is a form of persuasive writing that is used to convince customers and readers to take a particular action such as click on a link, purchase an item, subscribe to a newsletter, etc. Copywriting is usually simple, short, crisp and direct. Knowledge of consumer behavior and marketing is crucial in writing great copy.

Writing compelling copy takes a lot of time and efforts. Thus, the compensation of copywriters usually depends on the kind of organizations they are working with and the experience in the field. Copywriters are the ones who come up with catchy taglines for businesses and political parties. Some of the famous tag lines in the Indian context are as follows:

India Shining

Aam Addmi ko Kya Mila

Just do it

Bajaate Raho

Darr ke Aage Jeet Hai

Lifebuoy hai jahan, tandrusti hai wahan

An Idea can Change your life

Desh ki Dhadkan

The scope of copywriting is not just limited to taglines. It includes any form of content which needs to convince the audience of something. Thus, the content of the websites, landing pages, advertisements, marketing collaterals, technical manuals, etc. are usually considered to be a form of copywriting.

1.2 General and Business Content

Business content is primarily used in Business communication. Some examples of business content could be case studies, white papers, website content, transactional email, technical content, coursework, training modules, etc. Anything else can be a part of the general content.

Fiction, news, script, role plays, songs, legal, resume, stories, poems, adult content, personal profiles, welcome messages, etc. comes under general content, although many writers may be specialized in one or more areas.

The salary of these writers entirely depends on their level of expertise and experience. A general range could be INR 15,000 – 80,000. Some writers can earn even more if they are expert in a particular area.

1.3 Academic Writer

For most organisations dealing with education, academic writers are a big asset. Academic Writing primarily deals with the students’ assignments, dissertations, as well as drafting books and curriculum. If you want to become an academic writer, then you should first get acquainted with all referencing styles such as Harvard, APA, MLA, IEEE, etc.

Also, you would need to have an expertise in at least one subject to grow as an academic writer in some company. If you wish to be a freelance academic writer, then the knowledge of referencing style and in-text citations is paramount as it will help you gain more projects and referral clients.

1.4 Blog writing

According to MarketingProfs report, around 2 million blog posts are written every day. This number is expected to grow in the future at an exponential rate. This has created a lot of gap in demand and supply of quality content writers. The demand is always higher than the number of writers available in the market. Therefore, it is a golden time to make a career in content development and take advantage of growing the content economy.

As a blog writer for a company, you will be writing useful blogs and articles on their website. As a freelance writer, you can earn anything between 50 paise to INR 3 per word based on your experience, command over language and creativity. The salary of full-time blog writers varies depending on their experience. Freshers usually get INR 15,000-20,000 per month whereas the experienced writers can draw a salary of Rs. 40000 -100000+ per month.

2. Become a Digital Marketer

All successful digital marketers become successful because of their digital marketing skills.So, if you can combine your writing skills with digital marketing skills, you can grow a lot more. Since digital marketing impacts the profitability of organisations, the demand for digital marketers is massive.

So, if you want to understand your true potential as a writer, learn the key aspects of digital marketing like the nuances of Google Ads, SEO, Social Media and Email marketing content. For digital marketers, the sky’s the limit as it directly brings revenue to an organization.

Below are the special forms of writing that play a big role in digital marketing.

2.1 SEO Writing

SEO or Search Engine Optimization requires the writer to create quality content for guest posts and article directories. The keyword density plays a crucial role in SEO articles. This is the simplest form of content writing. A majority of clients will ask you just two things: the content must be unique and 100% plagiarism free, and a few keywords must be inserted appropriately.

These type of articles are hardly read by users as it is designed for search engines. Thus, it comes at a cheap rate, usually at 20-30 paise per word. Also, a certain level of grammatical errors is also accepted. If you are a beginner in content writing, you can begin your career by writing SEO articles and simultaneously improve your writing skills. Once you are confident about your writing skills, you can write other types of contents and charge a higher price from the clients.

2.2 Content Writing for Social Media

Billions of pieces of content are posted every day on social media. Businesses use social media to promote their content and generate visitors to their website. To generate consistent traffic, they need to produce high-quality content on their site on a regular basis. Thus, they hire professional writers who are skilled in writing attractive content that can fetch more visitors.

Social media content also includes the status updates and writing content for images and infographics. This is a high-level work. The earnings of writers depend on the level of their expertise and creativity. Also, since the content is posted on official social media profiles or blogs of the companies, grammatical errors are never acceptable.

The freelance writers can charge anything between 50 paise to INR 3 per word depending on their experience and creativity. Writers who work on a full-time basis starts their career with a salary of around INR 15000-25000 per month depending on their creativity, college reputation, and proficiency in the English Language. There is no limit for experienced writers. Those who are willing to learn and give their 100% can earn more than INR 100,000 per month and get opportunities to work with reputed organizations.

3. Become a Published Author

In today’s world, you don’t need anyone’s permission or even help to become a published author. You can write a book, self-publish it on Amazon Kindle and create an amazing lifetime income opportunity.

A large number of writers have earned millions of dollars by selling books on Amazon. In fact, there is no upper limit of how much can you earn if you can write a good book.

Do note that, in addition to excellent writing skills, you need to have expertise in at least one particular field to take maximize your income. Like shown above, digital marketing skills will be a big help in the promotion of your books.

4. Become a Full-time Blogger

Contrary to the blog writing done for companies, being a full time blogger means writing for yourself, on a topic of your choice. Most of the full-time bloggers earn a majority of income through affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, you either succeed or fail. If you succeed you end up earning more than 10-15 lakh rupees per month. If you fail, you waste a few months and some investments. There is no middle path in this field.

You need to be an expert in digital marketing and writing to succeed as a full-time blogger. Also, you need to be patient in the beginning as you would need to devote a few months in writing an excellent content and building an audience without expecting an income

However, if you can succeed, there is no better business than full-time blogging as it helps in creating a fantastic stream of passive income.

5.Become a Freelance Writer

Freelancing is one of the most common medium writers use to make money. A majority of freelance writers earn anything between 50,000 to 2,00,000 rupees per month. Top freelancers earn between 3 to 5 lakh rupees per month. Check out how our founder of ECT made INR 2 lakh per month as a freelance writer.

In addition to writing skills, you also need to be a good salesman to succeed in freelancing. Also, if you want to increase your freelance income then focus on getting more international clients.

However, a career as a freelancer has as many pitfalls as it has advantages. So, below I have compared freelancing v/s a full-time career, which will help you decide if it’s the right option for you.

Merits of Working as a Freelancer

You enjoy complete independence and great flexibility to work as per your convenience.
You can decide the nature of projects you would like to work on.
You have no pressure to work a fixed number of hours per day.
You can also take care of other responsibilities without compromising your income.
You can also start a side business if you want.

Demerits of Working as a Freelancer

No consistency in inflow of the projects – Sometimes you will be stressed with lot of work while at times you will have nothing to do.
Acquiring clients who are willing to pay a premium for high-quality work is a difficult task
The flow of income may not be consistent
Less interaction with the outside world may affect your interpersonal skills adversely.
You may not get opportunities to work with challenging projects – In that case, you might have to settle with working on inferior projects.

Merits of Working on a Full-time basis

Consistent flow of income
Career Growth- Over time you will learn leadership and team management skills
Opportunity to learn new things from your colleagues and seniors
Advantages of working with a great brand
No stress of acquiring clients/getting projects

Demerits of Working as full-time writer

Fixed income
Need to deal with organizational politics
Lack of work-life balance
Less or no flexibility

Bottom line

Content writing has immense potential. If you are looking for a knowledge-intensive desk job that requires creativity, content writing is one of the best options for you. Many writers don’t take this profession seriously and waste their time in achieving targets like meeting word counts.

If you are serious about your career, never use short-cuts. Don’t copy and paste from others content as you will be caught and may even get terminated. Work step by step and become an expert writer. In the long run, it will help you in various ways. Irrespective of growth of the economy, your career will always shine if you are an expert writer.

The points discussed above will help in understanding the various aspects of content writing.

If you still have any doubts, feel free to share in the comment box below.