9 Smart Ways to Monetize Your Writing When You Don’t Have Anything to Sell

Stop writing for free and start earning without a digital product.

Photo by Travis Essinger on Unsplash

For years, I earned an income online without a digital product.

It never even crossed my mind to create one because I didn’t find a reason to. I did this using different business models, and each one taught me a different way to monetize my content.

So, if you don’t want to write an ebook, record a video course, or feel like you don’t have anything worth selling, don’t worry. You can make money without those things.

Here’s how to monetize your writing when you have nothing to sell.

Broaden your horizons

If you have nothing to sell, you probably don’t have a newsletter either.

This is a big mistake for two reasons:

• Your newsletter acts as a backup plan

• A newsletter enables more revenue streams

So, the first step is to start a newsletter.

“But I don’t want to do extra work…”

You don’t have to. I’ve seen countless examples of people just reposting their content in their newsletters. Tons of creators do this.

Simply take your best work, adapt it to a newsletter format, and send it weekly to your subscribers. Do this until you feel ready to write exclusive content for the newsletter.

Beehiiv* is great for monetizing newsletter subscribers.

A newsletter creates three new income streams for you:

1. Boosts

When a person subscribes to your newsletter, they have the option to subscribe to other people as well.

This doesn’t happen for free. You can get paid a few dollars for each subscriber you bring to someone else.

If you have nothing to sell, this can add up to a nice side income. This is only available on Beehiiv, though. I know Kit has something similar, but I couldn’t make it work.

2. Ads

This is a simple way to earn money without having to sell anything.

Beehiiv will give you more ad options than you can handle. At one point, I had almost 30 ads to choose from. And you get paid per click. So, when a subscriber clicks the ad, you get paid $2 on average.

The downside is that you need a large number of subscribers to make lots of money from this.

3. Sponsorships

As a beginner, you won’t get sponsorships, but later on, they can be profitable.

This happens when you get at least a couple of thousand subscribers. Not a reliable source of income, but it works if you don’t have anything else to sell.

4. (Bonus) The newsletter itself

What does this mean?

You can actually sell your newsletter. I’ve done it in the past. I sold a small newsletter of around 500 subscribers. It sold for approximately $350. Not life-changing money, but it’s an option you have.

So even if you decide to stop writing and promoting your newsletter, what you spent time and effort on still has value. Each one of your subscribers can be worth a dollar or so, depending on the niche.

Everyone’s favorite

Probably the most popular way to earn money without having to sell anything is affiliate marketing.

You promote someone else’s product and earn a commission when a person buys.

This is how I earned all of my money online before I started writing on Medium. I built niche websites and promoted affiliate products from Amazon.

The best places to look for affiliate products are:

• Amazon

• Partnerstack

• Gumroad

Amazon is mostly for physical products. And the commission is low (4%). You won’t earn much unless you promote high-priced products.

Gumroad and Partnerstack are more profitable since you can find digital products with a high commission rate (30%-50%).

You can also find affiliate programs outside those platforms. You can just Google [product name] + affiliate program to see if it is available.

Audits and coaching

Not my area of expertise, but I’ve seen this work many times.

If you are skilled in one area, you can help others and get paid for that. There are people charging hundreds and even thousands of dollars for a coaching call.

Medium partner program

You get paid per read, and that’s about it.

Simple and straightforward. Exactly what a beginner without anything to sell loves.

There are some requirements, but that’s not a problem. The real problem is getting people to read your content.

Paid live workshops

You can teach people your skills in a live video format.

Attendees pay to join your workshops and get a chance to ask questions. If you feel confident talking to people, this is a great monetization method for you.

The best part is that you can sell the workshop recording as a digital product later. You’ve created a small digital product without even trying.

Create a digital product using your existing content

Your content has value beyond just being a blog post or email.

You can think of it like a puzzle. Find the right pieces, assemble them in the right order, and you’ve just created your first digital product.

Here are some ideas of products you can create from your content:

• ebooks

• case studies

• email courses

People do this, and it works. I’ve repurposed some of my own content for my paid products. There’s no reason to rewrite an entire chapter in an ebook if I already wrote 5 blog posts about it in the past.

So, if you think you have nothing to sell, think again.

Pre-sell a product

After you’ve become an established writer, you can pre-sell a product. Doing this too early can be a big fail since no one trusts you yet.

You can pre-sell a video course, an ebook, or even a live workshop.

It’s a great way to test the demand for your product idea and make some money without having anything ready yet.

Give yourself enough time to finish the product and be transparent about it. Let people know that if not enough people take action, you will not create the product and will refund the money. Don’t forget the last part. People will grab their pitchforks and come after you.

Final thoughts

You can still make money writing even if you have nothing to sell.

But if you want to make your life easier, start a newsletter. This makes each one of these monetization methods much easier to use. Having a way to talk with your subscribers whenever you want is incredible. Think about it, some people pay for ads to get that.

If you want to create a profitable digital product and make your first $1k on Gumroad, check out my step-by-step guide.

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Affiliate Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links marked with *. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products/services that I believe are valuable.

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