August 27, 2025
Could you turn your writing hobby into a content business? Plenty of writers love to dabble in their favorite pastime of creating stories, books, or even poetry for the simple joy of writing. Sometimes, it leads to publishing a sellable book while other times authors write what makes them happy, regardless of its income potential. But for other writers, turning a writing hobby into a content business is a great way to shift a passion pursuit into an income stream with real professional potential.
Not every writer can or should turn their love of writing into a content business. Writing content for readers in places like monetized blogs or subscription model services usually comes out of a writer’s deep interest or knowledge in a subject area rather than a creative spirit that often fuels book development. Book writers often create manuscripts about subjects they are passionate about, but developing a monetized content business for a specific audience is different.
Content writing is intended for instant consumption and always focuses on the consumer’s viewpoint rather than solely the writer’s perspective. The business of creating a content business that readers will enjoy means authors have to keep the reader’s interests in mind, rather than simply writing what the author wants to, but for some content creators who find a sweet spot, it will combine both worlds. Developing your own content business may be a good fit for you if you
Authors who want to shift from a hobby writer into a content business model to develop an income stream or simply want to augment their writing passion projects with a content business can make this transition with a few strategic steps that will ensure that you plan your entry into this market in a way that will set you up for potential success.
If you are looking to add a content business to your hobby writing, you need three key elements that will help you make the most of your content writing to build a profitable and enjoyable content business that can also lead to additional book development opportunities.
1 Understand the Financial Impact. Switching gears to a content business or adding it to your book writing hobby means you need to consider how it will affect your taxes and required expenses to set up your business. You may choose to develop a website, which can include set-up fees or graphic design support, and the upfront costs you need to factor into your decision. Ongoing financial commitments can include website maintenance or subscription service platform costs.
2 Make a Business Plan. Deciding on the big picture of your content business is good to do before you get started. Writing content, regardless of the delivery method you choose, can ultimately lead to writing a book. Thinking ahead about how you want to use your content business in this way can help you to plan out your content in a way that you can not only make money and build an audience now but also turn your efforts into a book in the future.
Your business plan should take into consideration who you are writing for, the current market for your writing and who else is in that market creating content so you can develop unique, appealing content that your audience will enjoy.
3 Find Your Tilt. Just like writing a book about a topic or in a genre you enjoy, your content should also reflect your abilities, interests, and knowledge. Often called tilt, the slant of your writing perspective is what makes your content unique and interesting to the reader.
Figuring out where your expertise and interests intersect will help you to find your tilt as a writer so you can develop content that showcases your knowledge in a way that will attract the right audience. Look back at the writing you have already completed to see if your tilt is already obvious or whether you need to develop it specifically for your content writing business.
4 Leverage Your Tilt. Your tilt is what sets you apart from other writers, so using it to develop distinctive content is the best way to build an audience and monetize your writing business. A tilt gives readers a way to frame you as a writer and gives you a consistent voice and perspective to utilize throughout your writing that draws readers to your content.
Looking at familiar topics through a different lens, like creating gardening content from the perspective of someone without a green thumb in sight, can set you apart from other content creators. Once you have decided on the angle and topics that work for you, consider which type of content writing platform will be the most effective in reaching your intended audience.
Depending on the topic you want to write about and the tilt your writing will take, there are four main categories of content writing you can pursue to build your writing business and ultimately create a sellable book out of that content.
If your knowledge base is appealing to your readers, you may be able to teach them through a course or workshop that you develop, present, and sell. Perfect for writers who can write clear directions, craft smartly organized content and have a teachable idea that customers will want to learn.
Writing a course or creating workshop content requires a deep understanding of a topic along with a tilt that sets your content apart from other similar content on the market. You may utilize a platform like a personal website to deliver the content to your audience, or you might send it out in small bites through email directly to course subscribers.
Workshops can be developed as live, interactive content that consumers experience or as a PDF or other formatted pieces of content that are sent directly to purchasers.
Many writers find their writing niche or area of expertise and either directly approach businesses for content creation opportunities or they may work with a writing platform that provides content writing jobs for freelancers. Putting your skills into action on a site like Fiverr can be a good way to get started since no upfront costs are required for writers looking to connect with those interested in finding content writers to promote their company or work with on a project.
If you are interested in creating an ongoing blog, monetized blogging can be a great way to turn your writing hobby into a business. Writing focused sites like WordPress makes constructing a good-looking blog site simple and you can begin to write content immediately.
Posting regularly, enticing readers to join your email list and monetizing your blog by selling ads, partnering with businesses to take advantage of affiliate marketing opportunities, and seeking sponsorships can all help you build a writing business through a blog.
Utilizing a subscription platform like Substack can be a good way to build an audience as well as monetize your writing. Subscribers get their content from you directly in their inbox and the popular site encourages readers to support content of all kinds, helping you to find readers interested in your niche who also appreciate your tilt.
The best part about writing content is you can utilize the work that you own outright and turn it into a book. Of course, any work you complete as a freelance writer may not be eligible since you likely have already sold that work to another company, so be careful to only consider content that is yours when planning on publishing a book.
The first step in turning your content writing business into a book is to collect all of your writing. Blogging often takes on a specific structure, so pick and choose the content that would work with a larger, cohesive book topic rather than trying to use every blog entry. The content you have written for courses or workshops may be functional as book content, with a little reworking. You might even have some freelance content that was created but not purchased, so that content might be usable in a book as well.
Looking at the body of work that you do have, think about how you can combine them into a cohesive book. Look for themes, subtopics, and other organizational ideas to sort your writing into and discover what holes you may have in your potential book’s structure that need to be filled with fresh, new writing.
Once you have a collection of work to draw on, turn your attention to how your tilt is obvious throughout your writing pieces. Consider how they reflect your perspective and if readers will be able to see your voice throughout each one. Revise and edit your finished pieces so they will present a common voice for your readers and craft new pieces with this focus in mind.
Finalizing your book’s content is the next step to turning your writing hobby into a content business. Once your completed manuscript is ready to send off to the printer, you can begin the process of marketing your upcoming book. After your book’s launch, it’s time to start thinking about the newest topic you can turn into your next book.
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