Commissioned writing · Less obvious
Content, technical and business writing
Clarity for hire: white papers, help pages, reports, internal comms, the unglamorous backbone of the web.
Not every paid sentence is trying to be art. Businesses need people who can turn a messy briefing and a subject-matter expert into something a human will finish. Technical writing, UX writing, annual reports, grant applications for other people — this is a labour market with day-rates, retainers, and very little applause. For writers who like problems more than praise, it is a living.
- Typical pay
- Day-rates overlap with copywriting; specialist technical writers and those in regulated industries charge more. Retainers smooth the month.
- Ceiling
- Solid ceiling
- Speed
- First money in weeks
- Effort
- A real extra job
- Needs
- No book required
How it works
- 01
A company hires you to own a set of documents, a help centre, a report, or a stream of content against a brief and a style guide.
- 02
You interview the people who know, write, revise to stakeholder comments, and deliver in their CMS, not in a beautiful PDF they cannot use.
- 03
You invoice. They do not send a fruit basket. They send a purchase order.
How to start
- 01
Pick a domain you already understand — software, medicine, heritage, finance — and write about that. Generalists are cheaper.
- 02
A sample that solved a real problem is worth more than a lyrical essay.
- 03
Learn to work with reviewers. The skill is political as well as verbal.
Watch out
- 01
Scope creep lives here. A 'quick look at the help pages' is a six-week project wearing a hat.
- 02
NDAs are normal. Missing a deadline in a regulated industry is not.
- 03
Do not confuse this with your novel. The novel can wait until Friday evening.
I have no patience with the idea that only certain sentences 'count'. A clear explanation of a difficult thing is a moral act, and it is also invoicable. Some of the best writers I know have kept themselves in novels by writing things that never see a bookshop.