How to Make 6000 Monthly as a Freelance UX Writer

Lucas: You ever open an app and just—know exactly what to do? Like, the button text is so obvious you don't even think about it. Luna: Yeah, and when it's bad, you're stuck staring at 'Submit' when you're not sure what you're submitting. Lucas: Right. That invisible craft is UX writing. And it's a side hustle that can earn you around six thousand dollars a month, part-time. Luna: Six K? With no design background? Lucas: That's what I want to unpack. Our guest this week—let's call her Jen—started as a blogger. She now works with three SaaS companies, writing error messages, onboarding flows, tooltips. No design degree. Luna: So it's pure writing skill, then. Lucas: Mostly. But it's a specific kind of writing. Not marketing copy. You're not selling. You're guiding. Think of it like the verbal interface of a product. Lucas: Jen's first client was a meditation app. She rewrote their onboarding sequence. The completion rate for setting up a profile went from 58 percent to 81 percent in two weeks. Luna: That's a measurable impact. That's why companies pay for it. Lucas: Exactly. And that kind of result is what lets you charge forty to sixty dollars an hour, or a flat monthly retainer. Jen's at six thousand a month from about twenty hours of work a week. Luna: But how do you break in? It feels like a closed world. Lucas: It's less closed than you'd think. Most UX writers I know fell into it from adjacent fields—tech writing, content strategy, even customer support. Jen started by volunteering to rewrite her friend's startup's help text. Lucas: That one project became her portfolio. She showed before and after screenshots, plus the metrics improvement. That's the key—prove you can move a number. Luna: So you don't need a fancy degree, just proof of results. Lucas: Right. And a grasp of a few principles. Keep it short. Use active voice. Don't blame the user—if an error happens, the system should take the hit. 'Something went wrong on our end' instead of 'You entered an invalid password.' Luna: That's empathy in design, basically. Lucas: Exactly. Jen also says the hardest part isn't the writing—it's dealing with stakeholders. Engineers who want to cram a paragraph into a button. Product managers who change copy last minute. You need diplomacy skills. Luna: So it's part writer, part therapist. Lucas: Pretty much. But the upside is, once you're in, the work is steady. There's a huge backlog of apps and websites that need better words. And AI hasn't replaced this yet—because a lot of UX writing requires understanding user context and psychology in a way that tools like ChatGPT still miss. Luna: Interesting. So AI is more of a productivity tool than a replacement? Lucas: That's how Jen uses it. She drafts with AI, then spends her time refining tone, checking for edge cases, and making sure the copy aligns with the brand voice. The human touch is the value add. Luna: So how does someone start today? What's the first step? Lucas: Pick an app you use every day. Find one screen where the copy is confusing. Rewrite it. Take a screenshot of the original, mock up your version in Figma or even just a slide deck. Show why yours is better. Put that in a portfolio. Lucas: Then reach out to small startups on LinkedIn or through communities like Indie Hackers. Offer a free audit of one screen. If they like it, ask for a paid project. Luna: A free audit—that's a low-risk entry point. Lucas: Yeah. Jen did five of those before she got her first paid gig. That first gig paid three hundred dollars for ten hours of work. Now she's at six thousand a month. Luna: The compounding effect of proving value early. Lucas: Exactly. Also, tools like Grammarly and Hemingway are helpful, but she says the best training is reading good UX copy. Look at how Slack, Mailchimp, or Duolingo write their microcopy. They're masters. Luna: Any pitfalls to avoid? Lucas: Biggest one: don't try to be funny unless the brand is funny. Clarity beats cleverness every time. Jen had a client who wanted puns in their error messages. Users got confused. They reverted to plain language and error rates dropped. Luna: So resist the urge to be cute. Lucas: Resist the urge. And don't overcommit. Start with one or two clients. Jen's sweet spot is three retainer clients at two thousand each. That gives her a steady base without burnout. Luna: And if someone wants to learn more, any resources? Lucas: There's a book called 'Strategic Writing for UX' by Torrey Podmajersky. Also the UX Writers Collective has a free course. And just—practice. Rewrite everything you see. It's a muscle. Luna: I love that this is so accessible. No coding, no design school. Just good writing and empathy. Lucas: And a willingness to be wrong and iterate. That's the core of UX. Listeners, if this episode moved the needle for you—maybe it gave you an idea or saved you a few hours of figuring things out alone—consider throwing a coffee our way. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just if it felt worth it. Luna: Yeah, that kind of support is what keeps this show ad-free and focused on real stories. Lucas: Alright, so back to the craft. One thing Jen emphasized: you don't need to be a designer to talk to designers. But you do need to learn basic design vocabulary. Know what a modal is, a toast notification, a hamburger menu. It builds credibility. Luna: That makes sense. You're speaking their language. Lucas: Exactly. And once you have that, you can sit in on design reviews and contribute meaningfully. Jen says her biggest career leap came when she started attending sprint planning meetings. She caught UX issues before they were coded. Luna: That's the dream—catching problems early, saving time and money. Lucas: And it makes you indispensable. That's how you go from a one-off project to a retainer. You become part of the team. Luna: So the path is: learn the principles, build a portfolio with before/afters, do free audits, then land a retainer. Lucas: That's the playbook. And the timeline? Jen went from zero to six thousand in about eight months. That's not a get rich quick thing. But it's achievable. Luna: And if you're already a writer, you're halfway there. You just need to pivot your focus. Lucas: Exactly. The market is huge. Every company with a digital product needs this. And most of them don't even know what UX writing is. You're not just selling a service—you're educating the client. Luna: That's a nice position to be in: the expert who defines the need. Lucas: It is. And it's a side hustle that can scale. Some freelance UX writers eventually build agencies. Others move into full-time roles as content designers. Jen is happy with her three clients and her twenty-hour week. Luna: Sounds like a solid side hustle. Or even a main gig. Lucas: It can be. And honestly, it's one of the few side hustles where the barrier to entry is basically a willingness to read and write with empathy. That's a superpower most people don't realize they have. Luna: Alright, I'm inspired. Maybe I'll audit my banking app tonight. Lucas: Do it. And if you get a client out of it, let us know. We'd love to feature you on a future episode. Luna: Sounds like a plan. Until next time.