“If I just dig faster, I’ll get out of this hole.”
This is the third is a series of four articles this week about wine writing. Read “What’s next for wine writing?” Read “Who writes about wine?”
A traditional way of making money writing about wine is by freelancing. This is, in essence, writing articles by commission.
Below, I describe what this looks like both for people interested in freelancing as well as those who want a peek behind the curtain. I describe the freelance model, the two main ways writers are paid, some of the challenges making money freelancing, and the timing of compensation. I also give some general thoughts.
This comes from someone who spent almost 15 years as a freelance writer. I do very little freelance work at present, as almost my entire income comes from subscriptions to this site. (Thank you subscribers!)
The freelance model
The model for freelance wine writing is simple. It looks like this:
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Sean, I don’t know if this was your intention, but it’s funny and fairly accurate:
“The model for freelance wine writing is simple. It looks like this:
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Yes Blake, I tried to have a sense of humor with where I put the paywall on this article. At the same time, it kind of says it all doesn’t it?
Both this article and the subsequent article I gave very little detail before the paywall. There’s a lot of sweat equity in both.