70+ content formats writers can use to turn ideas into income
Because creative expression has no limits
Think your ideas only work as news or feature stories? Never believed you could earn a quick buck by writing résumés? Need innovative ways to present your prose? Here are 70+ content formats you can explore. Because you can do a lot with your craft.
1) News stories
2) Short & long-form features, creative nonfiction
3) Opinion pieces
4) Columns
5) Reviews
6) Essays
- Personal essays
- Third-person essays
7) Listicles & roundups
8) Long & short fiction
9) Personal experiments
10) Travelogues
11) History & biographies
12) Comparison pieces & tables
13) Explainers
- ‘What is’ something
- ‘Difference between’
14) How-to articles
15) Guides & fact boxes
16) Case studies
17) White papers
18) Research
19) Series or serialized stories
20) Profiles
21) Interviews
- Flowing text
- Q&A
22) Photo galleries, slideshows, features & essays
23) Previews
24) Blog posts & guest posts
25) Trend stories
26) Scripts, screenplays, videos, podcasts, video games
27) Oddities
28) Timelines or chronologies
29) Diaries
30) Vox pops
31) ‘As told to’ stories
32) Obituaries & ‘In Memoriam’ stories
33) Scenarios—predictions of future events based on current trends or developments
34) Recipes & demos
35) Poetry
36) Quizzes, puzzles, polls, contests
37) Event fixtures
38) Open & other letters
39) Anything ‘in numbers’
40) ‘A to Z’ stories
41) Live or real-time compilations of news, reviews or updates
42) Press releases, announcements, notifications & circulars
43) Teaching stories (e.g. a full article on a screenwriting trick, card-game move, yoga pose, etc., incl. backstory, demonstration, examples & case studies)
44) Social-media posts, series, campaigns & properties
45) Ad & product copy, classifieds, advertorials
46) Translation
47) Tables, charts, diagrams
48) Infographics
49) Transcripts of commentaries, event panels, talk shows, podcasts, etc.
50) Lyrics & dialogues
51) Website & app content
52) CVs
53) Dating & matrimonial profiles
54) Business & project plans
55) Mission, vision & purpose statements + other organizational systems & documents
56) Catalogues, brochures, manuals & other promotional materials
57) Greeting cards, online greetings
58) Motivational & other quotes (can also be used on T-shirts, footwear, coasters, etc. or as images in themselves)
59) Memes
60) Menus
61) PPT presentations
62) Emailers & newsletters
63) Testimonials
64) Comic strips
65) Sketches & doodles
66) Textbooks & courses
67) Pitches
68) Surveys
69) FAQs
70) User-generated content
71) Encyclopaedias, Wikipedia, dictionaries, etc.
72) Job & gig listings
73) Speeches
74) Invites for events, weddings, etc.
75) Confessions + ‘Overheard at’ stories