I'm an experienced online content creator with several streams of passive income from my writing. I'm here to share my secrets.

HubPages gives writers like me the freedom to make our own hours and to choose topics we care about.

The Benefits of Writing Articles for HubPages

HubPages is a site that publishes quality writing submitted by people from around the world. It's free to join, and it's possible to make money if your article becomes popular. Not everyone can be a HubPages writer -- it takes excellent command of the English language, a fair amount of free time in which to write, and first-hand experience with at least a few areas that are of interest to the general public. But for those of us who do have these things (and there are millions of us!), HubPages provides a singular and exciting place to write about what we know and actually get paid.

Yes, that's right -- some of the articles I have published on HubPages earn me a meaningful amount of money.

This article will briefly discuss the many benefits I see from being a HubPages writer. They include:

A passive income stream that deposits payments in my band whether or not I decide to work that day

An outlet for creativity and self-expression

A way to sharpen my thinking, writing, and arguing skills

Connection to a great community of like-minded literary types and free spirits

A meaningful activity I can do any time, anywhere

These are the main benefits that HubPages offers me. There are more! I'll discuss these things and more in this article.

Passive income means pulling in a little bit at a time... Pixabay.com

What Is Passive Income?

Passive income -- I think it's safe to assume that everyone on-line has come across this term, and maybe has a general idea of what it means. To make sure we're all on the same page, I'll define passive income as money that you earn long after the actual work you did is finished. You could think of one kind of passive income as royalties, like those a songwriter earns every time his or her song is played on the radio or TV.

On HubPages, it works in much the same way. Articles I have written literally years ago are still being read online, and still providing me with a trickle of income, every day and night. Adding together dozens of such articles turns the trickle into a stream. With enough time and enough articles, I am making meaningful money for work I finished long ago.

Of course, not all articles perform this way. In fact, and to be honest, only about one in ten actually earn me money every day, and only one in ten of those earn more than a dollar or two. But it all adds up. This is the beauty of passive income.

Be very careful, though, of people who make it sound like it's not work, because it is. Writing articles takes time, and getting them just right takes even more time. Nine times out of ten the article you're working so hard to get right will never really pay off, and here's the worst part -- you never know while you're writing whether it's a hit or a dud. You don't really know for months, and sometimes years, which articles will be popular and read by a lot of people.

Passive income is great, but it's a long, slow, and sometimes frustrating process.

More Information You Need

Writing for HubPages: Basics You Need to Know

What is HubPages? How do you earn money as an online writer? This is part of a series of articles that tells you what you need to know.

What is HubPages? How do you earn money as an online writer? This is part of a series of articles that tells you what you need to know. Rules for Writing Money-Making Online Articles

Here is my best advice for how to earn real income from your online writing.

Here is my best advice for how to earn real income from your online writing. Making Money as a Writer on HubPages: Your First Steps

Signing up for HubPages is easy and free, and it has become one of the leading sites for writers who want to get paid for writing when and where they feel like it. You can write when you feel like it.

Signing up for HubPages is easy and free, and it has become one of the leading sites for writers who want to get paid for writing when and where they feel like it. You can write when you feel like it. Free Article Ideas for Online Writers

A veteran writer offers specific ideas and topics to help you write articles that get online traffic

A veteran writer offers specific ideas and topics to help you write articles that get online traffic Where Can I Find Free Legal Photos for My Online Articles?

Free, legal photos and images for HubPages and other online articles are easy to find if you know where to look.

Free, legal photos and images for HubPages and other online articles are easy to find if you know where to look. Writing Money-Making Articles on HubPages: How to Get Your Articles Featured

Making money on HubPages is one option for writers looking for a cash-generating side-hustle. As a veteran writer with nearly 200 featured articles, I have some advice for writers trying to get a HubPages article featured.

Why I write for HubPages: Control of My Creations

There are many good reasons to write articles for HubPages, but the one that matters most to me is control of my own work. On HubPages, you keep the rights to everything you write, which means that any time you decide to take down or move a piece of writing, you can just do it. This was very important to me when I began writing on HubPages, because many (if not all) writing sites demanded that you hand over your rights to them. This meant that I couldn't even delete an article if I wanted to! When you keep your copyrights, you keep control of your work.

My articles are like my babies -- I tend them and care for them... Pixabay.com

Why I Write for HubPages: The Forum Community

The HubPages forums are full of smart, successful writers who are willing to critique your work. I have received endless amounts of advice, encouragement, and tough-love criticism from the forums. In addition, the HubPages staff is made up of real people who take the time to help their writers. The people who moderate the writer forums are cool and patient, and will often respond to a direct email of you have a question or an issue (but most writers start by seeking help from other writers on the excellent forums -- more about that in a later article). All told, HubPages is a legit, established, and very user-friendly.

The heart and soul of good writing is research; you should write not what you know but what you can find out about. — Robert J. Sawyer

Writing for HubPages Means I Make My Own Hours

I have a demanding, full-time job as a high school teacher. I get home from work, and I generally feel one of two ways: brain dead or revved up. On those revved up days, when I'm still running on the energy it takes to lead a classroom of adolescents through the events of American history, I often turn to HubPages to spend some of that excess mental energy. I write a new article, or update an old one, sometimes while I watch TV. I think of it as "knitting" -- not exactly killing time, but not splitting the atom, either. It's a comfortable pursuit that lets my brain do its thing until it's time for bed.

The side benefit, of course, is that writing this way builds up a good library of articles using my extra time and energy, and those articles in turn pay me a little money that adds up. I have made enough at times to pay for a week-long vacation in Mexico -- not bad for a bunch of downtime spent knitting!

If I don't feel like working on my articles, I don't have to -- one benefit of writing for HubPages. Pixabay.com

HubPages and Creative Expression

Many people write on HubPages as a way to find an audience for their poetry or fiction projects. It's relatively easy to get this kind of writing published on HubPages, and to reach new readers from around the world. I myself have never used HubPages for this purpose, but many, many people do.

I hope you find your beach! Pixabay.com

Take Part in a Quick Poll!