Freelance Writer's Side-Hustle Newsletter Pulls in $263,000 a Year

Amy Suto, a 32-year-old freelance writer in San Francisco, says her Substack newsletter "Make Writing Your Job," which she runs with her husband Kyle Cords, now generates $263,000 in annualized gross revenue from 58,000 subscribers, according to Business Insider.

Suto started the newsletter in June 2023 to document the realities of freelance writing after people kept asking how she landed clients; that same year she published the book "Six-Figure Freelance Writer." As her own ghostwriting and freelance business grew too busy to take on every client, she began referring overflow work to other writers.

In 2024, she added a job board to the Substack, posting opportunities from clients she couldn't personally take on. Suto says the idea took off almost immediately, turning what started as a referral habit into a side income built mostly without paid advertising, relying instead on free content, search traffic and social media.