The Writers Who Make the Most Money in 2026 Won’t Think Like Writers

I’ve been a writer for more than a decade.

But I’ve also run a coaching business for more than a decade, which means I’ve never been able to look at writing as only writing.

Writing has helped me attract clients, explain what I do, build trust with people, and sell products that solve specific problems.

I looked at it as something that could eventually become a meaningful source of income.

I understand that might sound strange to writers who came to Substack simply because they wanted a place to write.

If you write here as a hobby and have no interest in monetizing your work, that’s 100% okay. Nobody should make you feel bad for that or convince you that every creative interest needs to become a business.

But if you’d like your writing to eventually generate a part-time or even full-time income, you’re going to have to think about more than the writing itself.

And no, I don’t mean you have to start calling yourself an entrepreneur or treating every piece of writing like a sales tool.

I mean that if you want your writing to generate income, you have to understand the role it plays beyond the moment you press publish…

Earlier today, I opened my Stan Store and clicked “deposit” on $944.09.

That money came in over the last few days from digital products I created months ago.

I didn’t create a brand-new product this week…I didn’t have to complete hours of individual client work for every purchase, and this wasn’t the result of some enormous launch.

I wrote. People found my work. Some of them joined my email list, continued reading, and eventually purchased something I had created to help them solve a specific problem.

Most of that money didn’t come from people paying me to read more posts. It came from people purchasing focused resources that helped them solve problems I regularly write about.

That distinction matters.

I’m not sharing $944.09 because it’s an extraordinary internet-business number. It’s really not.

I’m sharing it because that money exists separately from my paid subscriptions and didn’t require me to create a new piece of content for every dollar.

If you want your own writing to generate meaningful income, I think it begins with seeing it a little differently. Here’s a few mindset shifts I want you to consider…

Writers have been conditioned to believe making money and caring about the craft are somehow at odds with each other.

If you care too much about earning, maybe you aren’t a “real” writer.

If you create something to sell, maybe you’ve become too commercial. If you want your newsletter to support you financially, maybe you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

I don’t believe any of that.

Writing is one of the most valuable skills you can have online.

Good writers know how to explain an idea clearly, how to make people care about a problem, recognize themselves in a story, and understand something differently than they did five minutes ago.

Those skills matter in almost every kind of online business.

Your writing isn’t something you need to protect from income.

It may be one of the best skills you have for creating it.

When most writers think about monetizing a newsletter, paid subscriptions are usually the first option that comes to mind.

That can absolutely work, and I think writers should consider building a paid subscriber base. But it isn’t the only way your newsletter can make money.

It may not even be the best primary model for every writer.

A paid subscription usually creates an ongoing promise. People expect more posts, more access, a community, special features, or another reason to continue paying each month.

You identify a specific problem your readers have and create a focused solution they can purchase once.

That might be a guide, template, workshop, toolkit, class, or another practical resource that helps them get a result.

Your free writing attracts the right people and builds trust with them. The product gives readers a way to go further when they’re ready.

That’s why I created my Six-Figure Digital Product Masterclass. It shows writers how to take what they already know and turn it into a simple product their audience can purchase without creating an enormous course or overcomplicating the process.

If you’re ready to take that step, you can join the Masterclass below:

Create Your First Digital Product

I see writers postpone monetization because they think they need thousands—or tens of thousands—of subscribers first.

But audience size is only part of the equation.

A smaller audience that trusts you and shares a specific problem can be far more valuable than a large audience that doesn’t know why it should keep listening to you.

You don’t need everyone to read your work.

You need the right people to understand what you help with, trust your perspective, and believe that what you’ve created can help them.

I made my first $1,000 from this newsletter before I had 200 subscribers.

It didn’t happen because I had an enormous platform. It happened because I created something relevant to the people who were already there.

Of course, growing your audience still matters…

But you don’t need to wait until you feel famous enough, established enough, or important enough to begin.

They’ll be the writers who understand what their writing can really do.

Keep thinking like a writer when you sit down to create.

But if you want that writing to produce meaningful income, you also have to think about what happens after someone reads it.

You can’t only focus on writing good posts…Trust me, I tried.

You need to know what your newsletter is about, who it’s for, why someone should subscribe, how new readers will discover it, and how all of those pieces can eventually lead to income.

I’ll show you the system I used to grow this newsletter from zero to nearly 20,000 subscribers and turn it into a significant source of income…

…including how to position your newsletter, create content people want to read, consistently attract the right subscribers, and begin monetizing what you’re building.

You don’t need to have every product or income stream figured out today. But you do need to build a newsletter that can support those opportunities when you’re ready.

Join the Substack Growth Masterclass

Keep writing, Wes

📌 Question: Be honest, which of the 3 mindset shifts do you need to make the most?

♻️ Restack: If you think your people would find this post helpful, would you consider restacking it? This brings it into the feed, so others can find it, too.