Writing is a difficult business in which to make a decent living. Until you've established yourself as a writer and managed to convince a few editors of your writing abilities, you are literally going to be working for pennies. By the word, that is.

There are only so many hours in the day in which you can write. Even writers have to eat, sleep, and hopefully shower. So unless you are a prolific writer and typist, you are going to have a difficult go at paying the bills each month. It only makes sense to maximize the financial potential of each and every piece of writing that you produce.

One of the easiest ways to maximize your writing potential is to pay attention to the writing contracts themselves. Since you will not be paid prime writing rates as a beginning writer, try to write non-exclusive articles. This means that after your article has been accepted by one company that you can offer it to as many other publishers as you wish and get paid by them as well. So, that one article that originally netted you say, ten dollars, can now net ten dollars several times over.

If you're concerned about receiving less payment with a non-exclusive article versus an exclusive agreement, the payment difference is usually nominal. And if you can farm the article out to just one other paying customer, you will probably come out ahead financially.

The next way to extend the life of your articles for payment purposes is to find a different spin on your articles. This is accomplished in a couple of different ways. You can put a different spin on the subject or you can change the spin slightly to focus on a totally different audience. With this method, you can submit these articles as exclusives if you choose, as they are totally different writing pieces.

In the first example, assume that you have written an article about training for a marathon. In the original article, a lot of research and facts are included about choosing proper running shoes along with weight training, nutrition, and other information. To recycle this article, write a different article focusing specifically on different types and brands of running shoes and how to correctly choose a pair. You will also probably be able to implement research that didn't quite fit with the original article.

For the second example, let's stick with the running marathons article. Suppose that the original article was accepted by a men's fitness magazine. Change the next article to focus on women that are running their first marathon. This second article will contain a lot of the same information, but be more basic in its instruction. Then submit the second article to a women's general magazine, for instance. Both articles have very similar information, but are completely independent from each other.

These are tried and true methods to extend your writing dollars. Professional writers use these methods. Just be sure to change your articles enough that they aren't considered copies of each other.