Remote work offers many benefits, especially to parents and disabled people. Of course, not all online writing jobs from home provide financial security. Fortunately, there are plenty of options that offer freelancers higher pay.

What Are the Highest-Paying Online Writing Jobs From Home?

Going freelance can be scary since you don’t get the benefits package many corporations offer. That means you need a career with high enough pay to cover salary, health insurance and retirement savings. To get the best compensation for your skills, look into these high-paying writing jobs.

1. Academic Writing

Academic writing projects require intense research — sometimes even first-hand experience in a field. As a result, they’re an excellent choice for former educational professionals interested in online writing jobs from home. You may need access to scholarly articles, which means subscribing to digital libraries or working with institutions that provide access.

As an academic writer, you’ll likely work with university staff or students. Scientific researchers publish studies to expand their community’s knowledge and increase their own prestige. However, just because people are experts in their fields doesn’t mean they can articulate that expertise. Academic writers help researchers write studies that meet publishing standards.

2. Niche Writing

Niche writing may seem restrictive at first glance, but it’s actually one of the most versatile options for experienced writers. Once you get established in one niche, you can branch off. For example, if you start in the beauty niche, you can explore the fashion niche next.

Again, this is an excellent option for former experts who want to focus on online writing jobs from home. Your experience makes you uniquely qualified to write blogs, opinion pieces and social media posts on specific topics.

Of course, individuals can still create high-quality niche content without personal experience. Thorough research and a keen interest in an industry can produce engaging articles that net future work.

3. Legal Writing

While many types of writing jobs only require resourcefulness and a command of the English language, legal writing demands a certain level of legal knowledge. After all, legal writers can’t help clients polish pieces if they don’t understand the meaning or purpose of the work.

Most legal writing jobs don’t require a law degree, but you may consider some education to stay competitive. You should also seek professional development opportunities to keep up-to-date since laws frequently change. While this may seem like a lot of preparation for freelance work, legal writing is one of the best-paying options and offers a life-long career.

Despite the narrow focus, legal writing has a surprising variety of online writing jobs from home. For example, you can compose motions, memorandums and briefs for legal teams. You can also report on current events as a legal correspondent. Search engine optimization experts may also excel as bloggers and copywriters for law firms.

4. Technical Writing

If you’ve ever followed instructions to put furniture together, you’ve read technical writing. Writing technical content pays well and remains in high demand. Since so many companies need technical writers, you have your pick of projects:

• White papers
• User manuals
• Reference guides
• Process flows
• Customer service scripts

Among all online writing jobs from home, technical writing projects are the most focused on clarity. As the writer, your job is to simplify complex ideas. To excel in this position, you must have solid analytical skills and the ability to break processes into basic parts. Many clients use technical writing for training or educational material, so your work will have plenty of real-world applications.

5. Ghostwriting

Just because people have their names on the covers of books doesn’t mean they wrote them. In fact, ghostwriting — hiring someone else to write a project without credit — is more common than you think. While ghostwriters don’t get fame or even public acknowledgment, they can make an incredible amount of money. Most conveniently, they can do it all from the comfort of their homes.

There’s one caveat — you have to be fast. Most ghostwriters complete entire novel manuscripts in less than six months. While quick work isn’t unusual for most online writing jobs from home, speed-writing a work of fiction or a memoir is a different kind of beast.

Of course, ghostwriting projects aren’t exclusively books. Plenty of people hire ghostwriters for copywriting, blogging and even academic work. As long as you don’t mind staying out of the limelight, you can build a career by putting your words in other people’s mouths.

Find Lucrative Online Writing Jobs

Make good money and do so while wearing yoga pants? Sign me up! If you have more tips on finding high-paying work-from-home writing jobs, drop them in the comments below!