Before going ahead, let me assure you that in this article, I’ve mentioned all money-making ideas considering your passion for Literature, Language, & the art of creative writing. You won’t have to change your entire field. (Most of them apply to Literature students of all languages, not just English.)
There is perhaps nothing more satisfactory than paying your own college fees or earning your pocket money or helping out your parents financially while studying, And, I’m talking earning while pursuing what you love – Literature. The field of Literature is infamous for low-earning prospects, I understand. But what if I tell you that there are ways in which, Literature students have been able to generate a significant (Amazingly Significant!) amount of money?
I started finding & generating opportunities in Literature as soon as I decided to change my field to Literature. So, some of the following ways have already proved excellent for me. Tried & tested! These ways helped me generate lacs in 3 years. No doubt that has helped me fund this little venture ‘A Good Library’. 🙂
In this article, we will discuss not just earning ideas but practical ways to get started with those as well!
So, let’s begin!
1. Become a Writer
Wait. You are probably prompted to leave the article, at this moment. You read this point in every other article on the internet.
But, I’m talking about my personal experience here!
During my graduation, (BA in Literature), I worked as a Content Writer for 3 years. Out of which, I spent 1.5-2 years doing a job and the rest doing freelancing. Here is how writing for money works:
I’ll first talk about WHAT you will be writing. Then, we will move to HOW to make money with your writing.
You can become any (or all) of the following:
Content Writer
This article that you’re reading, is content. The YouTube video you watched yesterday, the Instagram post you liked this morning, the spam text message you received from some random company, the notification email from Amazon updating you about the status of your order, the podcast you have been listening to – Everything you read, see, watch, listen to on the internet is content. In fact, the books you read, the newspaper, the pamphlets that come with the newspaper, the business magazine that your father buys from the local newspaper stand – that’s all content too! It’s offline content.
When you become a content writer, you write stuff for companies. You write their brochures, emails, social media posts, articles like this, Wikipedia pages, the texts in their apps, notifications their apps send, or anything you can possibly think of.
Here are some amazing resources that will help you become a Content Writer:
- Elna Cain’s Amazing Blog – This will help you know everything you want to know about finding your clients & writing content.
- Shreya Pattar’s Instagram & LinkedIn Page – Shreya was a Literature & Philosophy student when she started freelance writing. Within a couple of years, this undergrad student was able to generate a 6-figure income through her impeccable writing. Know when we say 6-figure, we usually talk USD. I’ve been following her since the very early days of her journey. BTW, She doesn’t know that I’ve written so highly of her here. So, yeah, nothing written in this article is sponsored.
The most interesting content pieces that I got to write in my career were a motivational speech and a cute informal letter.
Copywriter
A copywriter is a content writer. But, you’ll often hear the term ‘Copywriter’ associated with marketing & advertising. A Copywriter is someone who writes specific ‘Copies’ to generate more sales for a company. Whereas, a content writer writes general content that informs, educates, entertains the audience. (So, while writing this article, I’m a content writer. But, when I write an Ad for A Good Library, I’m a copywriter.) That’s the reason, we call Ads content “Ad copies” or website content “Website copy”.
Here is an amazing resource that will help you improve your Copywriting skills:
When you start with this, you’ll keep finding the types of writing you love. Once you have explored a variety of stuff, you can niche down your services. Here are some examples:
- Script Writing
- UX Writing
- Academic Writing
- Technical Writing
- Article/Feature writing
- Writing for a specific or all social media
- Writing only a specific type of piece. For example, Articles or YouTube Video Scripts
- Writing only for a specific industry of your interest. For example, Fitness. (After gaining 3 years of experience, I knew that I never really enjoyed writing about random topics. So I decided to narrow down my niche to Literature & Philosophy.)
Where & How Can You Find Writing Assignments?
Since we are talking about earning alongside our studies, we will have to focus on 3 things:
Part-time jobs
For Part-time jobs, the job portals like Naukri.com, Indeed.com, Linkedin Jobs, Freshersworld, Monster India, Glassdoor, Timesnext, etc. can help. Just fill the search criteria for Part-time Writers and the jobs will start popping up. Note that, you’ll have to apply for a lot of jobs on these portals to get an interview.
Many companies take interns on board as well. This brings us to our next point.
Internships
If you look at my profile, you’ll see the internships I had done before starting out as a professional writer. I have gotten almost all of these internships from Internshala. It is a good place to start. The plus point is – many such writing internships are work-from-home. So, you can wake up early & get the work done before going to college.
Freelancing
In simple words, a brand/company reaches out to you and asks you to write something and they pay you for that article. Then, you move on to another company for their needs. The tricky part here is to get these clients. Know that there are freelancers who charge 0.1 PPW (Paise Per Word). Then there are freelancers who charge anywhere between ~ 10 -30 RPW (Rupees Per Word). A good rule of thumb for a fresher is ~ 1-5 RPW, depending on your expertise. Shreya Pattar’s Instagram & LinkedIn Page will help you here a lot.
The straightforward & perhaps the easiest way to land a client (or, to get the client to reach you & not the other way round) is to build your personal brand on Social Media – Especially LinkedIn. (LinkedIn is where professionals & recruiters hang out) People will see your LinkedIn posts & if they like your writing they WILL reach you.
There are portals like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc. But, they are very hard to crack. So, you are free to give them a try. Just be prepared to work twice as hard.
2. Become a Translator
You probably knew this was coming. But, it’s a promising field. With digital localization demand increasing, translation agencies are in a constant search for people who can translate English to their native languages. If you are living in India, you have an added advantage. (I’m presuming that English is your second language.)
Work hard & become verbose in your mother tongue. Just because it’s a mother tongue, doesn’t mean every native speaker is excellent with grammar & vocabulary.
Use the same techniques that I mentioned in the “Content Writing” section to land a client. In this case, the people reaching out to you will mostly be translation agencies.
3. Become an Editor / Proofreader
Editors can be of multiple types. Editing agencies all over the world need editors with peculiar specialties. In my last job, I worked as an editor of the company’s internal magazine and it was the favorite part of my job!
Here are some titles that might interest you:
- Content Editor
- Copy Editor
- Associate Editor
- Developmental Editor
- Contributing Editor
- Beta-reader
- Proofreader
- Critique partner
Editing is interesting. It not only helps you get some extra pocket money but it keeps your language skills polished.
4. Teaching Assistant to Home Tutors/ Local Classes
When I was in the second year of BA, I joined a local class as a temp replacement to their English Tutor. I would teach the Subject English to 5th -10th graders. It was just for a few months. But, thinking of my long-term goal of becoming a professor, the work did give me a wonderful experience.
If you have a local coaching center around you, you can meet the owner and ask to be an English teacher. If they say no because you’re a student. Ask them if you can be a teaching assistant – a person who helps students with their doubts assesses their papers, prepares them for Viva Examinations, etc.
Who knows – when you graduate, you’ll have a great understanding of how the coaching business works. So, as soon as you graduate, you can start your own English Literature coaching institute.
5. Home Tuitions for English Speaking
This is a very popular practice in India. You can talk to the parents in your neighborhood and ask them to send their children for an English-Speaking course. You can consider the initial children a discount as a headstart to your teaching business.
When you graduate, you won’t have to look for a job. You can just continue & expand your coaching venture.
6. Participate in / Volunteer for Research
I had no idea about this until a friend of mine reached out.
My friend from Engineering had a project going on that required students from English/Literature backgrounds. As preparation for volunteering for this project, I studied a great deal about Enunciation.
Well, it was a rewarding experience & I earned a good stipend when the task was over.
So, try Googling to search for Volunteering opportunities & check out the Language/Literature-based projects going on in the institutes near you.
Other Honorable Mentions:
There are so many other ways where you can employ your Literature knowledge to earn some money. But, I haven’t mentioned them as they might take a lot of time to generate the first couple of bucks. Also, there is no assurance that they will generate income.
Here are some of them:
- Start a Literature-related YouTube channel
- Start a Literature-only discussion forum
- Start a Literature-focused Podcast
- Start a Literature-related blog
Not for Earning But Still Very Important –
One of the best parts of my writing career was some of the work that I did for free. It sounds ridiculous – writing an entire website or bunch of emails for free. But, these were definitely the most rewarding experiences.
I did this work for NGOs.
I’m writing about it here, in this article, because,
There is a marvelous thing you can do when you earn – you can give back.
People from different walks of society abandon everything to help others. Writing their websites is the least we can do without going anywhere,
Here are some websites, where you can find NGOs to work with: –
Conclusion
When we go for English Literature to pursue our passion, we often hear people say – “Go for a degree that will help you earn money.”
But, if you do it right, you’ll have a full-fledged business & an established client base when you graduate. When your classmates are looking for placements, you’ll have a solid income.
I hope this article helped you.
