You too can become a technical writing expert as long as you know a few tricks of the trade. It helps to be very good in grammar and sentence composition. Foreign people who transition over to the English language can often struggle with the technicalities of the English language. As long as you are proficient in writing the English language and you have the knack and desire to become a technical writer, you should be able to make quite a bit of extra cash composing documents for businesses in need,
The first thing you need to consider is how much do you know about the topic in which you are supposed to be writing about? Is this something you are already familiar with or is it something you are going to have to do some research about? Consider the amount of time that it’s going to take you to learn about the topic and then factor that in to the amount they are paying you for your services.
Many writers will get somewhere between $10-$25 per 500 written or typed words. Doing the math here we will just take the averages and go from there. Let’s assume that you get an average of $15 per 500 words and that you are to compose a 1,500-word article for a new press release. Now let’s also assume that you can type an average of 40 words per minute. Those are both fairly conservative numbers. Next thing we are going to assume is that you already are well versed in the topic being written about and that it takes minimal prep and study time to brush up on the topic of the article.
A 500-word article for someone who types 40 words per minute should take about 12.5 minutes to compile. Let’s add the fact that you have to open your computer and any word processing software and get things set up. So we will conservatively round up to 15 minutes for a 500-word article.
Now assuming they are paying you $15 per 500 words and you are writing a 1,500 press release you will be earning a total of $45 dollars. Still with me? Now you’ve worked for les than 45 minutes and you’ve made 45 dollars. That’s a $60 dollar per hour pace that you could say you make on average with these numbers.
Obviously if you earn less (or more) per 500 words then you need to adjust that for your own abilities. You must also consider that if you have to do any additional research and learning on the topic then this will also decrease the amount per hour that you’ll be earning.
My suggestion is to try and find someone who needs articles and blog posts on topics that you are very familiar or comfortable with. Writing about things you know and enjoy is a really easy way to earn some extra cash. It’s also a way to start and sustain a new career blogging and writing from the comforts of your own home or office.