Have you been struggling trying to figure out the best freelance writing niche for you?
You want a freelance writing niche that pays well and you can write with ease, and that can help you land freelance writing jobs easily.
What type of writing niche is that?
That’s the biggest question of all, but for now, let’s focus on the most profitable freelance writing niches for 2020. These are niches that are popular and in need from businesses and brands online.
But, what about being a generalist freelance writer? This means not having a freelance writing niche and writing in a variety of niches.
For a lot of new freelance writers, this is common.
You try to land any freelance writing job in any freelance writing niche, and before you know it, you get paid to write a post about hair loss in teens, Pinterest marketing tips and introduction to IoT.
This is fine and expected, but over time as you pick up more and more clients, you want to hone down your niche and find the most profitable writing niche for you.
The list items in this post are the top freelance writing niches that are high-paying.
I suggest, however, not to randomly pick a freelance writing niche from this list based on yearly salary and income potential.
The niche you choose should be one that you are somewhat familiar with or have an idea of the industry behind the niche topic.
To help you out, I’ll dive into what a freelance writing niche is, how I found my freelance writing niche in the digital marketing industry and the most high-paying freelance writing niches with a yearly salary, topics and blog post ideas.
What is a Freelance Writing Niche?
A freelance writing niche is a specialization in writing. Your writing niche is a focused area in writing like writing press releases or blog posts where you are experienced in and knowledgeable of writing about.
You can have a broad freelance writing niche like finance and niche down to specific topics within finance like cryptocurrency or investments.
By finding a freelance writing niche, you are investing in you to become an expert in your niche. This is what happened to me.
This means you don’t need to be experienced when you decide on a freelance writing niche. You will, over time, gain that experience.
And something happens once you become the expert in your writing niche – brands start seeking you out and they are willing to pay you more for that expert knowledge.
When I started as a freelance writer, I picked up any gig that came my way, and many of my gigs were in different niches.
But, over time, I learned which freelance writing niche I enjoyed writing about the most, and that led to more freelance writing jobs.
Eventually, after years of writing in my freelance writing niche, I can call myself an expert in the subject matter.
How Did I Find My Freelance Writing Niche?
My freelance writing niche is digital marketing. I write about content marketing like blogging tips, social media marketing tips like Pinterest marketing and email marketing tips.
But, when I started, I had no idea about marketing or digital marketing.
Before I was a freelance writer, I used the Internet for YouTube and Facebook! I never started a business before and was happily working in the school system.
Then I became pregnant with twins and the thought of leaving them didn’t work for me.
Plus, the costs for daycare would eat up any paycheck I earned from working outside the home.
I needed to find a way to stay home, and that’s when I found out about freelance writing.
Here’s my YouTube video on how I found my niche when I had no experience in that niche topic.
My video goes into more detail than I will in this post, but in the beginning, I ended up choosing three niches: health, natural parenting and personal development (psychology).
After I chose my three niche topics, I created writing samples, and in doing that, I was also looking for ways to market my freelance writing business.
This lead to a guest post on what I was learning – social media marketing.
I was also signing up for social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, and through this process, I guest posted more on digital marketing topics.
This was my way of gaining experience in a new niche – digital marketing writing.
From there, a brand reached out to me to do some editing and writing about social media marketing. And that is where it began for me.
Over time I either guest posted or picked up clients in the digital marketing niche and gained experience.
I also started an email list and created products as another avenue of gaining experience.
This process took time, and I want to let you know that the writing niche you pick doesn’t have to be one that you are entirely familiar with. It can be a niche that you want to learn more about.
Top Freelance Writing Niches + Salaries
Now that you are familiar with what a writing niche is let’s get into the top writing niches for 2020. These topics are either always in demand or emerging.
As a freelance writer, we want to ensure that the writing niche we choose will have the biggest return for our investment (ROI).
Keep in mind you should pick a niche that’s in need of content that you’re interested in writing about, and most importantly, if the business has the budget for content marketing.
To help you out, you can also check out my YouTube video.
1. Finance
Consumers spend millions each year using credit cards, loans and other banking products.
This means that banks, credit card companies, and more have a lot of money to pour into content creation.
Currently, there is an excessive need for finance writers, and what’s great is that the companies have the budget for experts in this writing niche.
Most of the larger finance companies are looking for unique angles and engaging stories.
There are no fluff articles for this writing niche – only high-quality and valuable content.
You can see on the Contena Job Board that well-known and established brands are asking for specific finance topics for their site – with the average yearly salary of $52,000/year.
Topics in need in the finance writing niche include:
- Personal finance
- Accounting
- Financial stocks
- Cryptocurrency
- Budgeting/frugality
If you’re new to the finance niche, find topics you feel comfortable writing about. The personal finance niche incorporates a lot of ideas that are well known to people like budgeting, using credit cards or deals and couponing.
You can draw from personal experience to write topics in those personal finance niche.
Here are some examples you can write for your writing samples.
- 10 Best Budgeting Apps to Help Plan Your Month
- How to Spot the Best Deals When Buying a Car
- The 3 Credit Cards College Students Must Get
2. Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is its own section because a lot of finance writers don’t know how to write about mining and cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency is hot right now, but it’s not a trend that will be going away soon. According to Entrepreneur, blockchain is one of the fastest and top growing skills to acquire for millennials.
If you’re passionate about this niche, you can easily find freelance writing jobs.
Looking at the Contena Job Board, the average monthly salary starts at around $1,000 a month.
Topics in need in the cryptocurrency writing niche include:
- Blockchain
- Cryptopreneurs
- Bitcoin mining
- Crypto credit
If this is a new writing niche for you, here are some topics you can use for your writing samples.
- Why Libra is Different Than Bitcoin
- 4 Best Methods to Predict the Future of Bitcoin
- How to Tell a Cryptocurrency Scam Before You Fall for It
Since this is a section within finance, this is a core niche that will take time to understand and learn.
So for more new freelance writers in this niche, you’re going to spend more time reading and learning about this writing niche before you feel confident in writing a writing sample.
3. Travel
Travel markets are targeting millennials who want to devote their finances to once in a lifetime experiences, as well as young retirees who wish to complete their bucket list before it’s too late.
You have to be a skilled storyteller with the ability to find travel stories that most have never heard of.
Using the Contena Job Board, you can see that travel writing is profitable, with the average salary being $52,000/year.
Topics in travel writing include:
- Travel guides
- Restaurant reviews
- Hotel reviews
- Travel deals
- Travel Lifestyle
As you can see, there are a lot of topics you can draw from as well as personal experience you can lend to travel writing.
To help you find some topics for your travel writing samples, check these out.
- Ultimate Travel Guide to Sweden
- Enjoy the Mouth Watering Experience of (Restaurant)
- The Yucatan Peninsula – What You Need to Know
The travel niche does need writers that have had experience in what they are writing about, so even if you want to be a travel writer, you must have some great and interesting experiences traveling to different destinations.
4. Digital Marketing
Every year more and more businesses and entrepreneurs flood the web to conduct the majority of their business online.
This means they’re relying on digital marketing companies, such as email newsletter companies, optin services, online accounting software, online hosting, and more to boost sales.
Most of these companies want long-form content, which is in-depth guides or tutorial-based content. They are also up-to-date with market trends.
This is the niche I write in, and I enjoy the variety of topics you can write about in digital marketing.
The Contena Job Board has over 70 digital marketing writing jobs for you! The average salary for a gig in this niche is $58,000/year.
Topics you can write about in the digital marketing writing niche include:
- Affiliate marketing advice
- Email marketing
- Social media – Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat etc…
- Push notifications
- Search engine optimization
- eCommerce
For your writing samples, the best samples are ones that show the expert knowledge you have about aspects of digital marketing. Most content in this writing niche is long-form.
Here are some writing samples you can use:
- 50 Unique Ways to Repurpose Content
- 17 Optimized Content Upgrades to Grow Your Email List
- How to Use SEO On a Landing Page for More Conversions
- Easy Ways to Find Out Who Opened Up Your Emails for More Business
5. Education
For education writing, you have two huge markets you can target – private student loan lenders and universities.
Both are sitting on huge piles of cash and need content writing to stand out and attract new leads.
And if you are a teacher, you would make for a great freelance writer!
You can use your experience as a teacher, student, coach, homeschool mom or tutor to write in this writing niche.
On the Contena Job Board, there are many education writing jobs available. The average salary is $47,000/year and can make for some sweet side income.
Topics that are in need of the educational writing niche include:
- College life
- Education manuals/curriculums
- News topics
- Daycare and Pre-k
To help you build your portfolio, here are some writing samples:
- 8 Ways You Can Miss a Student Loan Payment
- 10 Best Banks to Consolidate Student Loans
- Best Preschool Fall Curriculum For a Hands-On Experience
- What the Experts Say About Separation Anxiety in Preschool Kids
6. Alternative Health
More outlets are needing writers who are well-versed in the cannabis market to talk about it because the industry is a huge money maker.
The alternative health market is profitable for many other industries as well, such as
- Yoga
- Chiropractic care
- Essential oils
- DIY therapies
Because of the huge alternative health market, there is a great need for these types of writers.
I recently received an email from a health and wellness company specializing in the CBD oil industry, seeking a health writer.
The Contena Job Board shows a lot of alternative health gigs from big brands and high-paying businesses. The average salary is $52,000/year.
Some health topics that brands and businesses are seeking currently are:
- Organic Living/Non-GMO
- Specialty diets – Keto, Intermittent, Paleo, etc
- Supplements
- CBD oils
- Bodybuilding
- Addiction Recovery
- Running
- Senior living
If you are interested in writing in this writing niche, here are some blog post ideas for your portfolio.
- 5 Ways Meditation Can Help With Weight Loss
- 10 Proven Methods to Lose Weight After 40 Years Old
- 47 Easy Ways to Help Your Child With Anxiety
7. Book Writing (Ghostwriting)
Many business people, coaches, and solopreneurs often want to publish books about their lives or industry topic.
Many of them aren’t writers and look to hiring a ghostwriter to write that book for them. Others hire freelance writers to proofread or edit their books.
You can easily break into ghostwriting by offering freelance writing services or book editing services.
On the Contena Job Board, they don’t usually specify ghostwriting or book writing projects, but these types of gigs are usually referrals from established clients in your niche. Ghostwriting rates vary, but profitable writers earn around $3k/per month or more.
As a ghostwriter you might be responsible for:
- Newsletters
- Social media posts
- Blog posts
- eBook writing
- Editing
- Proofreading
Topics range on what book writers write on since influencers, brands and small businesses seek ghost writers for their books.
8. Video Script Writing
More and more online businesses are seeing the potential of video marketing.
Video is dominating the marketing channels, and you can be ahead of this curve by offering video script writing to businesses.
Social media profiles like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, are all incorporating video to follow this trend – and businesses are noticing.
Looking at the Contena Job Board, you can see that video script writing is hugely profitable, with rates between $.30-.70/word.
Types of projects you might do as a video script writer include:
- Course lessons
- Promotional campaign videos
- Tripwire video copy
- Sales page video copy
Similar to ghostwriting projects, video script writing can incorporate writing in a variety of niche topics, depending on the clients you pick up.
9. White Paper Writing
Email marketing is still one of the only marketing channels with a return of investment of 38:1.
More and more people prefer marketing emails as a way to score deals, learn more about products and stand behind trusted brands.
One way to capitalize on this is to offer white paper writing for lead magnets.
A lead magnet is a free offer to incentivize your email list. For example, I offer a free course to help new writers learn how to become a freelance writer.
Others may offer a free eBook or cheatsheet.
Businesses can use white papers to grow their email lists and attract potential leads.
White papers are also considered one of the top paying niches around.
According to the Contena Job Board, rates for white paper writing are high – $6,000/month or more.
Topics for white papers vary, as does video script and ghostwriting topics.
White papers are usually written for the B2B market. This is business-to-business and is the niche I write in to make a living as a writer.
10. Food & Wine
Yes! Your love of food and wine can earn you money in the writing world! It’s not always the easiest market to break into, though.
There are many different avenues you can take in the niche of food, from recipe developer to copy writing for a wine website to ghostwriting a cookbook.
My suggestion is to seek out magazine projects to build up a credible portfolio. For example, freelance writer friend Carrie Madormo writes for top magazines and provides food and parenting content.
On the Contena Job Board, they have a Lifestyle section with a variety of B2C (business-to-consumer) gigs like beauty and food.
The average salary as a food writer is $52,000/year.
Topics you might write about as a food & wine (coffee) writer might be:
- Cooking techniques
- Product reviews
- Recipe developer
- Food events
- Industry news
- Wine/beer copywriting
If food and wine is something you’re interested in writing about, here are some blog topic samples for you:
- 24 Advent Treats You Can Make With Your Child
- How to Make a Simple Banana Oat Baby Cookie
- 10 Fall Coffee Hacks You Can Try Today
11. Email Writing
Email marketing is here to stay, and it’s the most effective way to nurture leads and convert them into customers or clients.
Businesses rely heavily on creating effective email funnels to walk potential leads down the buyer’s journey.
As an email writer, you come up with copy for funnels, launch campaigns and more.
This type of writing relies on copywriting and knowing different copywriting formulas.
On the Contena Job Board, there may not be specific email writing gigs. There will be, however, copywriting gigs or writers needed for a business’ content marketing strategy.
The average salary for this niche industry is $58,000/year.
Type of projects you may do as an email writer might be:
- Newsletters
- Email sales funnel
- Landing page copy
- Marketing material
- Email campaigns
As a writing sample, you can provide a mock email or newsletter to show effective email subject lines and copywriting tactics.
6 More Profitable Freelance Writing Niches for 2020
If you noticed, I’ve been pooling data from Contena to show you the best writing niches to make money. Contena is a job board that also has alerts and has a huge catalog of writing leads.
If you’re interested in signing up to Contena, use my special 10% discount code elna10. You get 10% off any option or 10% off each payment if you choose the payment route. AND if you pay in full you receive a 20% discount PLUS your coupon will stack on top of that!
Contena shows more profitable niches for you. So here are six more niches to try out.
- Entertainment writing – The average salary is $47,000/year. Topics include concert reviews, celebrity gossip, TV episode recaps and more.
- Sports Writing – The average salary is $51,000/year. Topics include college sports, game-day reporter, sports equipment reviews, major league sports and more.
- Beauty and Fashion writing – The average salary is $52,000/year. Topics include beauty product research, makeup tutorials, skincare products, trend alerts and more.
- Tech writing – The average salary is $64,000/year. Topics include B2B technology, blockchain, 3D printing, cyber security, tech news, software manuals and more.
- Real estate writing – The average salary is $59,000/year. Topics include home decor, buying guides, real estate law and more.
- Parenting – The average salary is $52,000/year. Topics include family life, home schooling, pregnancy, product reviews and more.
Your Writing Niche Revealed
There ya go – an in-depth look at the best freelance writing niches to get started with.
While some of these top writing niches need some experience, you can gain that by guest posting and starting a blog.
Over time, you will pick up industry jargon and learn the most up-to-date news to help you become an expert in your freelance writing niche.
Now it’s your turn – what is your niche? Share in the comments!
After following this blog, my mind is blown I actually have much to write and yet more to study but I’m kinda having challenges with the SEO stuff and also Time affects me a lot as I still work outdoors….
I’ll be needing much advice on what to do concerning this, maybe a reference of what niche to write as a busy African Student will do….
Thanks for this mind blowing blog post..
Hi Samuel,
Freelance writing is a huge industry and there are a lot of moving parts. I’m glad you are realizing this. Take your time to learn SEO. That by itself is a gigantic topic!
Hi Elna, I came across your blog just today as I’m in the midst of creating my own freelance writer website. I’m struggling more with guts than experience since I’ve been side hustling for over a decade. But I really connected with your advice since I am a single mom who doesn’t like the idea of missing my kid’s childhood for a paycheck and handing over a majority of that paycheck to a child care provider.
I know that picking a niche is important, and a journey, but how do I leave the door open to the multiple types of niches I’m open to exploring, without sacrificing clarity of purpose and SEO visibility? I’m debating between digital marketing, ghostwriting, finance (specifically frugal living and affordable travel,) plus my desire to share all I’m learning about parenting and how to live well as a single mom! I’m worried that I’ll have fun writing about all these topics and not actually turn a profit. Any advice how to make sure I get to enjoy my work, find a focus/niche, AND make a profit? And yes I am signing up for your free course right after I post this comment! 🙂
Hi Raine,
The easiest way to be able to write about all these different types of niches is to start a lifestyle blog that covers a lot of these topics and a freelance writing website that only offers one type of writing niche (digital marketing writing for example or ghostwriting for business entrepreneurs). That way you can grow your lifestyle blog with multiple topics with SEO and Pinterest and attract clients to your writer website through networking and guest posting! Good luck!
Hey Elna! I’ve been an avid reader of your blog for the past few months (and finally had to courage to leave a comment wow!) I was sooooo happy (and relieved) to find my target niche in this list, but I was wondering, is being a B2B technology and IT writer too narrow of a niche? Should I remove the B2B part?
I’m finally taking the first steps to become a freelance writer thanks to your blog but I’m too worried I’d be screwing myself over from the start with the wrong niche.
Thanks!
Hi Nina,
Finding your writing niche is a journey. You NEED to try different writing niches to see what works for you. The B2B IT niche is a great niche to try! Good luck!
Hi Elna, I have been following your blogs and posts about freelance writing for a while now and I finally found my niche. Like I read what you said and had my “ah-ha!” moment because I realised how much of it I already do without knowing. I travel alot, visit many restaurants and various accommodations, therefore it’s probably obvious what I am going to do. Thank you so much.
Hey Megan!
So glad you enjoyed this post about high paying freelance writing niches! Good luck!
Very well explained and informative blog. I got a lot of options while going through this write up. Thank you
Hi Raima,
So happy to hear this! Finding high-paying writing niches can be a challenge. When I first started, I didn’t even know this existed! Glad this helped you!
Hi Elna, I just took one of your freelance writing prep courses and here I am on Twitter for the first time. I am looking to write about stay at home moms and ways to be financially independent. Is this a niche?
Hi!
Financially Independent is a HUGE niche! There are a lot of subcategories – FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), FIOR (Financial Independence, Optional Retirement), DINK – Dual Income / No Kids, SINK – Single Income / No Kids, DIK – Dual Income / Kid(s), SIK – Single Income / Kid(s) you can draw from!
Oh wow. Look at that. Awesome. Alot of learning to do on my part. Thank you
Hey Elna.
About Niche 5. Someone recommended writing for online learning platforms to me. Sites like Lynda, Udemy, Skillshare, etc.
All of those have company blogs in need of content.
What do you think?
Hey Rachel,
Sounds good. If those companies HIRE writers then of course write on those platforms. This will up your credibility a lot!! Good luck!
Thank you.
I have chosen fashion and entertainment niche for my writing business but was a bit skeptical thinking this would be profitable or not. After reading this post I can proceed without any doubt. Thank you 🙂
Hi!
It may be a challenge finding your clients, but once you do, I suspect you should have no shortage for freelance writing jobs.
Fantastic post as always Elna. Not only do you provide lots of great niches, you even provide article ideas. I’ve decided Finance is the niche for me, and really appreciate the crypto ideas you provided!
Hi Ellen,
You’re welcome! Yes, I didn’t want this blog post to be another post about writing niches. It needed more content ideas and thought why not stretch it and add blog topics so that new writers have something to go off of? Glad those ideas helped!
Thanks Elna, great post, really made me decide on a niche. I’ve decide to pursue parenting blogging and article writing.
Hi Karin,
Thanks for stopping by! So happy you found some niche topics to help you as a freelance writer!
Hi Elna, Thanks so much, this is a great resource! I have been thinking about niching in HR and recruitment as I have work experience there and there don’t seem to be many writers in that space – what do you think of the niche? Thank you in advance for any comments!
Hi Rosana,
So glad to hear you enjoyed this post! HR and recruitment is a great niche. I wrote in that niche for a bit and enjoyed it a lot! There are many businesses in the HR business that could use that type of content for sure!
The outdoors! Great article Im just finishing my first website and will be launching my business this Monday 🙂 Great article and thank you for the information.
Hey Jacob,
Good to hear! Glad you enjoyed this post on freelance writing niches!
Hi Elna! What a timely post. I’m still deciding on a niche, and this post was really informative and illuminating.
Can freelance writers readily market themselves as content editors? Or do clients prefer “editing experience” (aside from how we edit our own work)?
Hi Kim,
You can definitely offer editing as another service. You can bundle your services together and give deals to help boost more gigs.
An excellent post, Elna. I also specialize in the digital marketing niche, and as I’ve been doing this for almost 24 years now, I’ve seen a LOT of changes over the years. But one thing doesn’t change; high quality, long-form content has been a consistent winner throughout all the years I’ve been writing for clients online, and I am certain it always will be.
Hey John,
Thanks so much! And yes, long-form content will not die anytime soon…or ever! People are craving information and valuable content! Glad to hear you are successful as a long form writer!
This has really helped me so much! I am turning 20 years old next month and I am currently in the process of building a freelance writing business from the ground up. I now have a clearer understanding of my possible niche. Thank you!
Hi Kaitlyn,
So happy to hear this! Glad you found some topics in a freelance writing niche for you!
This article spoke directly to me as I am beginning to craft my portfolio and writer website. It has given me a boost of confidence too knowing that I already have experience with a few of these topics! Thank you, Elna!!
Hi Jillian,
That’s great to hear! Finding your writing niche is one of the biggest challenges new writers face. I hope this article will help many discover their true writing niche! Glad you found topics you are comfortable with!
Specializing on a niche is the best thing I did as a freelance writer. And Elna, I can’t believe niching down pays this much. Thank you so much for your detailed post.
Hi Charity,
You’re so welcome! Glad you enjoyed this post. Yes niching down does pay more for sure! But it’s okay to start with a wide niche and tailor it along the road!
I love your this post Elna! It makes me decide the niches I wanted for my freelance business
Hi Eloisa,
Thanks so much! Glad you loved this post about writing niches! I hope you find the right writing niche for you!
Amazing insight, Elna! Thank you for sharing. I’m currently pursuing e-commerce and pet care!
Great article! I enjoy home improvement, DIY, and real estate. Most of my writing is in these 3 areas.
Hi Anna,
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed this post on writing niches. Ecommerce and pet care are great writing niches for sure! Good luck!