But wouldn’t you love writing that much more if you could also support yourself with it?

If you’re looking for a way to make money with freelance writing, writer jobs are probably not the best way to go. If you can write, why look for a job? Use your writing skill to write your own ticket.

Writer jobs generally pay badly, $20K or $30K can be considered a good job. Over $50K per year is unlikely except for the highest echelon of experienced staff writers, who can make more than that. You may get benefits of course, but these jobs are highly competitive. If you’re looking for a way to make money writing, why choose a desk job?

If you’re young and right out of school, it might make sense to find a writer job that will get you experience and bylines. Magazine and newspapers like to hire new grads because they are inexpensive, and they don’t take as much offense to things like having readers contribute more content or low wages. Younger writers are also likely to be more familiar with online content, so they can blog or Twitter all the day long.

But as a writer, especially as a freelance writer, you can do whatever you want to earn income. You can write blogs; you can sell articles; you can sell packages of articles. You can create your own website content. You can make money writing articles.  You can be a publisher of content, not just a hired gun who writes for other publishers. Frequently writers are stuck thinking inside the box of finding a freelance client. But why not publish your own stuff, direct to your own audience?

There are plenty of new places in today’s online world to sell your freelance writing, especially if you’re good. And, to acknowledge reality, especially if you write nonfiction. But think how easily you could indulge your fiction writing urge if your nonfiction created a hands-off income stream for you to live on?

Do you want to make money writing, or is it more important to get a book on a shelf in a Barnes and Noble (which, very soon, shelves will be out of style). Become an online publisher – and skip the writer jobs, if you are looking for the best way to make money on your own terms.