Look beyond blogs and ghostwriting for unusual assignments that may be a match for your skills.

Editing stories of popular writers on Medium 

You can make money by writing posts as part of the Medium Partner Program, but in this fascinating article , writing coach Nico Ryan describes how he makes more by fine-tuning the posts of Medium contributors whom he considers to be rising stars. He gets paid partly on a performance-based basis, so a piece that gets loads of traction will earn him more – and his client too, of course.

Writing verse and jokes for greetings cards 

There’s a whole industry of artists and writers who supply the fresh jokes and verses that are always needed for greetings cards. Though the word count is deceptively low, there’s a real knack to coming up with good fresh material, and the pay for successful writers is more than you might imagine. Find out more here and here.

Writing dating profiles

Yes, this is a thing and it’s not hard to see why. If you’re not a great writer, but you’re keen to meet that special someone, why wouldn’t you seek some professional help to present yourself to best effect?

Writing jokes 

Some radio and TV shows (such as late-night talk shows and Saturday Night Live) will pay for jokes that get used on air. In the UK, there’s a tradition of writing deliberately bad jokes (samples here) that are pulled out of Christmas crackers – I’ve been commissioned to write these for a number of supermarket brands over the years. Fortune Cookies need mottoes, too!

Writing 300 product descriptions for boiler components

That’s the sort of assignment you get working for a content mill – websites that broker client requests for typically deeply unsexy content needs such as seo content, product descriptions and online catalogue copy. These sites aren’t for everyone, and most agree that they’re best seen as a supplement to your other writing income or as a stepping stone to better-paid things, but if like this writer you’re quick, selective and versatile and you don’t mind relatively mindless work, you can make them work for you.  

Bespoke writing requests

Back in the day, my fellow students used to pay me (mostly in beer) to write eloquent letters to their banks asking to borrow more money. More recently, I’ve been paid by friends and contacts to write jokey speeches for weddings and golf clubs. On sites like Fiverr, people are offering to write everything from heavy metal lyrics to wedding speeches to job applications to Airbnb listings.

Writing product reviews

Getting paid to write reviews is a very ethically grey area (or worse) at one end of the spectrum but, as this article explains, at the other end there are some very serious markets that will pay for objective vetted reviews. The likes of Capterra and Gartner peer Insights are worth a look if you are in the habit of using lots of software. See also ReviewStream and SoftwareJudge.

Write podcast show notes 

Audio is on the rise, and every podcast needs notes at the end, which provide additional information for the listener, such as summaries, further resources, and details about the show. Some freelance writers are turning episodes into these notes – the best way to break in is to approach podcasters direct.

Create an unusual anthology of real writing

Already there are collections of break-up letters, classified ads (also here ) and shopping lists. There have also been a couple of books (here and here ) by writers who’ve decided to reply to spam emailers! Why not come up with an interesting idea based on real-world writing – and make your own collection?  

BIO – Dan Brotzel (@brotzel_fiction) is author of a collection of short stories, Hotel du Jack, and co-author of a new comic novel, Kitten on a Fatberg (Unbound). To pre-order Kitten on a Fatberg for a 10% discount, quote KITTEN10