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How to Become a Writer: Degree, MFA & Salary (2026)
Key takeaway: You become a writer by finishing original work that other people can read -- there is no license, exam, or required degree. A creative writing bachelor's or MFA is workshop training, not a permit; the MFA is the terminal artistic degree and the usual minimum for teaching creative writing at the college level, where tenure-track jobs are scarce. Writers and authors earn a national median annual wage of $76,910 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Freelance income is variable.
Writing is one of the few occupations on this site with no gate. No state licenses novelists. No board certifies poets. A degree can make the work better. It cannot authorize you to do it, and plenty of working writers never majored in it.
What replaces the credential is evidence: finished pages, preferably published or revised to a standard you would show a stranger. The degree is the most reliable environment for building that evidence – deadline, critique, revision – rather than the qualification itself.
This path is for original literary work (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting). If the job is documentation, proposals, or content for an organization, that is professional writing. If the job is reporting, that is journalism.
Step-by-step: how to become a writer
Write on a schedule and finish pieces. The skill that separates people who “want to write” from writers is completing work and revising it. A degree does not substitute for this. Read in the genre you intend to publish in, at the current standard of that genre, not only the books that made you want to start.
Decide whether you want a degree, and which one. A degree is optional for writing and typical for teaching. An online bachelor’s in creative writing (BA, BFA, or English with a creative writing concentration) is undergraduate workshop inside a four-year credential. An MFA is the terminal artistic degree, built around a thesis manuscript. An MA is more academic and is not the credential most colleges list for teaching creative writing. Admissions often require a writing sample in your genre.
Use workshop as a revision machine, not as a substitute for reading. In a good program you submit original work, take specific critique, and turn in a revised draft. Treat every substantial piece as a manuscript page you might still want in two years. Programs without a real workshop core are literature degrees with a writing label – compare catalogs, not titles. Confirm institutional accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education database; there is no programmatic accreditor for creative writing.
Build a manuscript or portfolio you can send. For literary work that means a set of stories, a novel excerpt, a sheaf of poems, a CNF collection, or a script, revised past the first workshop pass. For mixed writing employment it can also include edited samples. Pedigree matters less than the pages for most writing jobs.
Submit work and, separately, look for paid writing. Magazines, presses, contests, agents, and producers evaluate pages on their own calendars. Paid work – staff writing, freelance assignments, editing – is a different search. Many literary writers do both. Freelance income is variable; treat client-getting and submission-getting as skills the degree will not automatically install.
If you want to teach creative writing at the college level, plan for an MFA plus publications. That combination is what searches typically want. Tenure-track jobs are scarce. English language and literature teachers, postsecondary, have projected 0.0 percent employment growth from 2024 to 2034, with 5,100 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). An MFA is not a teaching license.
What degree do you need to be a writer?
None, legally. In practice:
- No degree is compatible with publication and with freelance writing if the pages hold up. The cost is that you must build critique, deadline, and range without a program.
- An online bachelor’s in creative writing is a direct undergraduate route and also a general four-year credential many employers want for any professional role.
- An MFA is the terminal artistic degree. Choose it for studio time, a thesis manuscript, and the teaching credential. Choose an MA only if you want the more academic graduate degree and understand it is not a quiet MFA.
- Pair creative writing with professional writing, journalism, or communications if you need a workplace writing path alongside the literary one.
See Is a Creative Writing Degree Worth It? for how to weigh the degree against the roles it actually reaches.
How much do writers make?
Writers and authors earn a national median annual wage of $76,910 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Half earn more and half earn less. The spread is wide: the 10th percentile was $44,310, the 25th percentile $58,230, the 75th percentile $101,950, and the 90th percentile $139,870 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). OEWS employment – wage-and-salary workers – stood at 47,940. The Employment Projections program, which includes self-employed workers, counted 135,400 writers and authors in 2024 and projects 140,300 in 2034, 3.6 percent growth, with 13,400 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That employment gap is the freelance and self-employed share of the occupation. Self-employed earnings are not reflected the same way as salaried wages, and freelance income is variable.
Related occupations on this silo, for people who edit or teach rather than (or in addition to) writing: editors had a median annual wage of $77,920 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with 0.6 percent projected growth and 9,800 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). English language and literature teachers, postsecondary, had a median annual wage of $78,760 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with 0.0 percent projected growth and 5,100 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
How long does it take to become a writer?
There is no clock that confers the title. There are clocks on the optional credentials.
| Phase | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| Building a practice and finishing work | Ongoing; starts before any degree |
| Bachelor’s degree with creative writing coursework | About 4 years from scratch; shorter with transfer credit (approximately 120 semester hours) |
| MFA or MA | Varies by school and by MFA vs MA – confirm credits, residencies, and thesis timeline |
| Submitting work / seeking paid writing | Ongoing; not a commencement event |
| College teaching eligibility | MFA plus a publication record is the typical ask; jobs are not guaranteed |
These are ranges rather than guarantees. Catalogs set credit totals and residency rules; magazines and employers set their own bars.
Frequently asked questions
What degree do you need to be a writer?
None is required. A bachelor’s in creative writing is undergraduate workshop inside a four-year degree. An MFA is the terminal artistic degree and the usual minimum for teaching creative writing at the college level. Publication and most writing jobs hire on the manuscript.
Do you need to be certified to be a writer?
No. There is no state license and no professional certification that authorizes literary writing. Institutional accreditation matters if you enroll in a degree; it is not a writing license. Verify schools through the U.S. Department of Education database.
How long does it take to become a writer?
As long as it takes to finish work other people can evaluate. A bachelor’s from scratch is typically about four years. Graduate calendars vary by MFA versus MA. Neither timeline includes publication, which runs on its own clock.
How much do writers make?
Writers and authors earn a national median annual wage of $76,910, with the 25th percentile at $58,230 and the 75th percentile at $101,950 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A large share of the occupation is self-employed, and freelance income is variable.
Is an MFA required to teach creative writing?
It is typically the minimum artistic credential, usually paired with publications. Tenure-track jobs are scarce, and projected growth for postsecondary English language and literature teachers is 0.0 percent from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Is a writer the same as a professional writer or a journalist?
Not in the way these degrees use the words. Creative writing is original literary work in workshop. Professional writing is workplace writing for organizations and clients. Journalism is reporting and verification. You can do more than one. They are different training paths.
Related guides
- Online Creative Writing Degrees Guide – the full hub covering degree levels and program formats
- Online Bachelor’s in Creative Writing – undergraduate workshop inside a four-year degree
- Online Master’s in Creative Writing – MFA vs MA, thesis manuscript, teaching credential
- What Can You Do With a Creative Writing Degree? – writers, editors, and postsecondary teaching, with BLS wages
- Professional Writing Program Guide – the applied workplace-writing path
- Journalism Program Guide – reporting, if that is the work
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025 national medians) and Employment Projections (2024-34).
Data verified: September 1, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.