Interview #213: How Mattha Busby Makes Money Writing

Mattha Busby is an award-winning journalist who has mastered the art of the specialized beat. By focusing on health policy, drugs, and subculture, he has landed bylines in The Guardian, VICE, and TIME, and secured a prestigious fellowship at UC Berkeley. His career is proof that freelance journalism is still a viable, exciting path if you know how to carve out a unique voice in a crowded market and ride the zeitgeist of a booming topic.

In this interview, Mattha talks about the strategy behind his book deals, how he makes the finances of international reporting trips work through savvy budgeting, and why weaving deeply personal essays into your workload can be a key ingredient in building a sustainable freelance life. If you’re looking for a blueprint on how to turn niche expertise into a sustainable freelance portfolio, this one’s for you.

• What you do: Freelance journalist.

• Years writing professionally: 9 years.

• Earnings range: £35k–£50k.

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Over the last few years, my income has been largely journalism-focused, though I was a Ferris-UC Berkeley fellow in psychedelic journalism in 2024. And I did receive a book advance from Hoxton Mini Press last year for Psychedelics: A Pocket Primer, which is a slim volume pocketbook. I also received a Society of Editors grant for my novel earlier this year.

So, if we look at the breakdown right now, it is approximately 85% journalism earnings and 15% book stuff and grants. Up until 2021, from 2017 after completing my MA in journalism, I was a casual news reporter at the Guardian, racking up well over 1,000 bylines, so most of my income came through that. But then I moved to Mexico during the pandemic and I had to stop doing my news reporting shifts, which had become remote due to Covid, and that catapulted me into freelancing full time.