I have my fingers in a lot of pies. Blogger, YouTuber, author…I am all of these things (ish). With the amount of time I put into these various projects, I’ve made a bit of money. But how much do I make per hour when I tally it all up?
Spoiler alert: not enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I mostly create content to help others along in their writing journeys. It’s the hopeful comments I get on the blog and YouTube channel that inspire me to continue doing what I do.
However, it would be nice if I could generate a livable wage so I can do it full-time.
How I Average Roughly $1.53 Per Hour
In reality, about 97% of my income comes from client work. I am a freelancer by trade, and clients are who keep the mortgage and credit cards paid.
Being a creator of various formats is more of a side gig that I’m hoping turns into something much bigger.
I track everything I do in a spreadsheet, which shows me exactly how many minutes I’ve worked on a project and how much I make from it. So, I can see exactly how much I make per hour working on various projects.
The Blogs & Personal Projects – $0.81 / Hr
I own several blogs that I am still trying to figure out how to rebuild. I’m also going to school part-time as an undergrad and have a few minor investments in various companies. I am debating separating all of these aspects for the next year so I can get an accurate portrayal of how much I make as a blogger.
In any case, blogging and personal side projects take up about 65.17% of my time as a creator. It’s obviously going to be the lion’s share as I track blogs, attending college, working on my investment portfolios, setting up merch on Fourth Wall, and other things.
At one point, the blogs were pulling in a decent amount of money. Once artificial intelligence hit the scene and Google started pushing AI Overviews, the visitors and income dried up rather quickly.
In fact, I haven’t received sponsored post requests at all in 2025. And I’m not the only one. A lot of websites saw severe dips in traffic and income thanks to the proliferation of artificial intelligence.
Also, keep in mind that I don’t make money by going to school, which takes up a huge chunk of my time every week. I track education with the rest of the blogging and investment time and income, but I probably shouldn’t.
Then again, if I can increase the rate of pay while still going to school, that would be an impressive feat.
The YouTube Channels – $5.36 / Hr
Although I technically have six YouTube channels, only one gets regular content: WriterSanctuary. Since this is my flagship brand and writing is what I do, it’s the one that will get the most time spent developing.
In this case, working on the YouTube channels takes up about 17.23% of my time but outpaces everything else when it comes to making money.
The trade-off is that it’s also the most difficult to monetize. In fact, if I don’t figure out a way to get more videos up that people want to watch, I’ll probably lose monetization in 2026.
You need to maintain 4,000 hours of watch time in a 12-month period. I’ve dipped below that and am hanging on by a thread.
The thing is that out of all of the creator projects I manage, maintaining the YouTube channel has the best chance for generating a decent hourly rate. The trick is to upload videos that people will want to watch, and not all of your ideas are going to land well.
Still, I find it quite fun to create and upload videos, and I very much enjoy going live and chatting with my viewers. So, it’s easily going to be something I continue doing for the foreseeable future.
The Books – $0.37 / Hr
I am a self-published author. Currently, I have three books under my belt with a lot more on the way. In reality, it would be my dream to do nothing but write all day long. Well, that, and I like the idea of becoming a professor of English, which is why I’m planning out my PhD journey.
Being a self-published author takes up roughly the same amount of time as being a YouTuber, using up 17.59% of the time.
Now, when I talk about the time I spend working on my books, that includes writing, editing, cover design, marketing, and everything else that goes into self-publishing work. And not all of it pays.
For instance, I’ll keep track of stories I write for Wattpad or Inkitt, but I don’t make a single dime from those stories. I do it mostly for practice and to potentially build an audience for my work.
Plus, I think it’s fun to do fan fiction without getting sued.
Writing books is my passion, which is why I don’t really mind that I make so little per hour. There are ways to improve how much I make; I just need to sit down and do them. Putting more effort into marketing comes to mind.
What Can I Do to Improve the Payout?
One of the nice things about being an online creator is that there is great potential to make a livable wage. There are quite a few things you can do, as long as you put in the time to do them. Not everything will make you rich overnight.
Not to mention that some niches and industries don’t perform nearly as well as others. For instance, producing writing and self-publishing content isn’t nearly as sought after as gaming or health and fitness.
With that being said, there are some things I can do that may improve my hourly rate as a creator.
The Blogs & Personal Projects
Improving Content
Although you can’t force people to read your blog post, you can improve the chances of the content being read. This centers around what your audience is mostly interested in reading.
According to the top 20 articles on this blog for 2025:
- 1 listicle (list article) generates 33.71% of all income
- 13 reviews generate 35.38% of all income
- 6 tutorials generate 10.12% of all income
What this also shows is that out of more than 1,000 articles, the top 20 make up 79.21% of all AdSense revenue for the site. By putting more time into listicles, reviews, and tutorials, it may entice more visitors to read the content. Well, depending on how much damage AI Overviews does to the new articles for initial traffic.
The only downside is that these three types of articles are usually the ones that take up the most amount of time. But hey, if I can crank out another listicle or two that performs as well as the writing apps post, that would make a hell of a difference in my hourly rate.
More Affiliate Content
Affiliate marketing is when you help a company or person sell a product or service while making a certain percentage of the sale. It’s actually quite lucrative if you can get some good products and content going on your site.
I don’t have a lot of affiliates at the moment simply because I don’t just peddle anything on WriterSanctuary. Products or services need to be relevant to writing, blogging, or self-publishing. Plus, I need to test it out before I’d even consider advertising to my audience.
This is perhaps one of the biggest things that separates me from a lot of “successful” bloggers. I don’t just take the money and run.
Gah, morals…
Anyway, adding more affiliate accounts to the blog would probably help generate a bit more revenue. I need to set aside the time to try out those products and services before I go all-in.
Updating Older Content?
One of the case studies I am planning for the near future is updating old content. Back in the day, I’ve seen updates make some massive improvements in terms of search and traffic. But with AI Overviews, I don’t know how well updates will perform nowadays.
So, I can’t really say if updating old content will work for increasing my hourly rate. Nonetheless, it’ll be interesting to see the changes that come from updates and rewrites.
Google says that you should keep your content fresh and regularly updated. Besides, I want to give my readers the most accurate and current information possible anyway.
The YouTube Channels
Improving Content
Although the WriterSanctuary blog and YouTube channel have close to the same content, the audiences are often vastly different. While I can use certain blog posts as scripts for videos, not all of them will land as well on YouTube.
According to the channel’s stats of the top 20 videos:
- 12 tutorials make up 35.4% of all ad income
- 8 reviews make up 34.0% of all ad income
Again, out of more than 1,000 videos, the top 20 make up 69.4% of all AdSense revenue. It’s not nearly as one-sided as the blog, but it does go to show what top content can do for your channel.
I have a lot more reviews and tutorials in the pipe, and once I get them uploaded, that should make a massive difference in my hourly rate. In fact, a handful of top videos would probably generate the equivalent of minimum wage for me.
Affiliates and Sponsors?
WriterSanctuary isn’t exactly a big channel at the moment. As such, I don’t get a lot of offers to create content for brands. I’ve generated a few bucks in the past and have received quite a few freebies. But nothing that is sustainable without having a full-time job elsewhere.
However, I probably could make a few extra bucks by highlighting products and services, much like I plan to do with the blog. Luckily, I can use the same information about brands I use for the blog for the YouTube videos.
And vice versa.
Here in the near future, I’m going to see about adding quite a few affiliates and sponsors. I’ve signed up with a few websites that should help, and I can’t wait to review those on the blog and channel as well.
Pushing Memberships
I currently have memberships enabled on the channel, but I don’t market them very well. Having 1,000 channel members would bring in enough to quit freelancing and go to school full-time while creating more content.
For a channel as small as mine, that is asking quite a bit. Still, the odds are never zero. I just need to mention it more often while making sure I add some quality content for the members on a regular basis.
Expanding the Merch Shelf
I only have a handful of products on the Fourthwall store, which isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things. I’ve made a few sales so far, but nothing to write home about. And that is entirely my own fault.
I simply haven’t put enough time into coming up with some neat designs or catchy phrases on products to sell out of the store.
Perhaps one of my goals for 2026 should be to add at least one item each week. I would love to add more, but I’m under some strict time constraints. I’ll have to find a way to squeeze it in somewhere.
The Books
Better Marketing Strategy
The biggest reason why I make so little per hour writing books is that I don’t market them very well. Aside from a few mentions on social media, I don’t do much to get my book in front of the right audience.
That’s going to change soon, as I intend to dive into the many ways to market a book. Not only will it help me make a few sales, but I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences on the blog and YouTube channel.
Some things are going to require a bit of a monetary investment. But I’m hoping that the revenue generated from the content will offset some of the losses. I suppose that depends greatly on the method and the content I create.
Attending More Events
I know a few authors in the Denver area who make quite a bit going to book or merchant events. I’ve been to three in 2025, and I look forward to doing a lot more in the coming years.
The events I attended this year were quite fun. I didn’t make much money, and only sold a few books among all three. But I mostly attend them for networking purposes and meeting people.
So, I don’t necessarily stress about losing money by not recuperating the expenses on the table fees. My priority is to meet other authors and potential readers while getting my name out there to the public.
Contacting Bookstores
In the very near future, I’m going to start reaching out to various indie bookstores. In fact, I am going to see what it takes to get my books in Barnes & Noble. They usually have a section of local indie authors available, and I’m not in it.
I also want to explore online platforms for distribution a bit more than I have been. Again, it’s shareable content that might help other indie authors along the way.
Why Not Stick to One Thing and Rock It?
Sure, I could get rid of most of the projects on my plate and focus on one thing. But then I would be denying myself a lot of things that I truly enjoy doing.
For instance, I don’t make a lot of money per hour working on the blogs. Yet, I know from experience that I’ve helped hundreds of people in their journey as bloggers, freelancers, and self-publishing authors. And that’s always been what drives me forward.
Take this morning, for example. I woke up to a great comment on the YouTube channel regarding a recent update to my pros and cons list of Reedsy Studio. Apparently, my concise explanation of Reedsy Studio helped someone beyond other videos on YouTube.
The bottom line is that I am passionate about helping people and writing. And covering all of these bases as a creator is what makes me happy, despite only making an average of $1.53 per hour.
Now, I am pretty sure I can boost my income by following some of the ideas I’ve listed above. There’s nothing wrong with helping people while making a livable wage. It just takes me longer than some because I spread across various mediums and have ethics and morals.
I have no doubt that focusing on nothing but YouTube would result in pulling in a decent wage. But I love writing and exploring the potential of other venues.
It’ll be interesting to see if any of the ideas above help my per-hour rate, though.
Is it Worth Being a Creator?
Despite not making a lot of money, I love what I do. I am happiest at my keyboard, whether it’s writing a blog post or working on my next book. And I love making videos that can help people in their journey.
So, yes, the time I’ve invested in being a creator has been worth every minute.
What kind of creator would you like to become?
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