7 Online Writing Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: November 1st, 2023

Start An Online Writing Business

Here are some real life success stories of starting a online writing business:

1. Ship 30 for 30 ($2.5M/year)

Dickie started writing online in 2020.

He was writing a newsletter, but after 9 months, he only had around 300 subscribers.

He decided that if people weren’t going to find him, he needed to go to where the people were and double down on it.

The people were on Twitter, so he committed to writing 30 threads in 30 days to grow his account.

That personal writing challenge turned into the foundation of Ship 30 for 30, which started as a Slack accountability group to help people publish consistently.

How much they make: $2.5M/year
Current team size: 0

The Journey of Dickie Bush Growing a 6-Figure Side Hustle in 12 Months

This business case study shares the story of an online course, teaching students how to write 30 pieces of content a day, that has grown from no followers to nearly 50k on Twitter in 12 months, helping over 4000 students and resulting in a successful six-figure company.

About

Dickie started Ship 30 for 30 almost 4 years ago

Revenue

Dickie grew the business to $208K/month

Read this case study

Read by 771 founders

2. Merrative ($24K/year)

Harshala Chavan, the founder of Merrative, came up with the idea for her business after noticing a lack of dedicated spaces for people to discuss literature. After attending a book club meetup, where she had a great discussion with others who had read the same book, she wondered if she could bring this experience online at scale. She validated her concept through participating in BPlans and growing her Instagram page, which eventually led to the launch of Merrative as a community-led marketplace for publishing talent.

How much they make: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
Current team size: 0

How I Bootstrapped A $2K/Month Online Community To Discuss Literature

Merrative, a community-driven marketplace for publishing talent, generates an average of $1,500 per month in marketplace transactions from their 5,000+ strong community of readers, writers, journalists, and scholars.

About

Harshala started Merrative over 3 years ago

Revenue

Harshala grew the business to $2K/month

Costs

It cost Harshala $100 to start the business

Read this case study

Read by 3,221 founders

Learn more about starting an online writing business:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start an online writing business?
-> Pros and cons of an online writing business

Need inspiration?

-> Examples of established online writing business
-> Marketing ideas for an online writing business

Other resources

Part of

Starting An Online Writing Business: Everything You Need To Know

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5. Ship 30 for 30

Ship 30 for 30 is a cohort-based curriculum & daily writing challenge that teaches you how to start writing online by writing 30 Atomic Essays in 30 days.

How much they make:
Where they're located: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Current team size: 0
Website traffic: 50K/month

6. Business Writing

Online business writing training and grammar training. 45 business writing courses, email writing courses, report writing courses, and grammar courses.

Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

7. Freelance Writing Jobs

Where they're located: Sare, Migori, Kenya