So the other night a poster on a message board gave me a brilliant idea. She thought I should write a blog on the people you run into on the web, and I took it a step further and queried a magazine and wouldn't you know it, I heard back right away from a magazine interested in the premise. The idea is for me to follow several boards (I already do) and basically write about the posters. Obviously, I won't use real names. So I prepared a little questionaire for anybody who would like to help me out. We are lucky on this board that we have a pm feature, so nobody would have to worry about their email address. However, if you would prefer, I've set up a disposable email address to send to. The address is messageboardlori-survey@yahoo.com Please answer the questions in whatever way you interpret the questions to mean. Obviously, there is no right or wrong way. Again, no names will be used. If I need to use a name I'll make one up. I thank you all in advance for your help. Here are the questions:
1. Who are you?
2. How old are you?
3. Where do you post from?
4. Why do you post?
5. What is your favorite website?
6. What is your favorite all time thread?
7. How many people have you met in person after meeting on a message board?
8. How long have you been posting?
9. How many boards do you regularly post on?
10. Tell me something you want me to know.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Aboutfreelancewriting.com
While this website isn't exactly a venue, I have made more money from this particular website than I have all of the others put together. The owner of the site is Anne Wayman. She is an incredibly generous person. Three times a week she puts out a list of available writing jobs. The jobs are listed on various sites, and she puts them all together in one nice list. There are also tips for landing freelance jobs. One particular story this week is on getting paid for your writing. Let's face it, we are professional writers and should be treated as such. So many offers out there are insulting. Anyway, as I was saying this is a website you must bookmark. Also, sign up for her email newsletter to get that list of gigs three times a week. Then you can be in direct competition with me! If you do go to her site and get on her email list, and land one of the gigs, please come back here and brag about it! Also, if you go over there please leave a comment and let them know that I sent you! Thanks and good luck landing that gig!!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
GetAFreelancer
GetAFreelancer.com is a listing service. How it works is that you sign up to be a writer and then clients post jobs they need filled and you bid on the job. It sounds great in theory. In reality, not so great! The problem that I have found with this site is that it is worldwide. This is not good for the American writer. The jobs go to bids that are incredibly low.
I have read ads where the client is saying that they want somebody to work 8 hours a day 5 days a week every week in and out and must be available at the whim of the client, oh and the maximum bid for this job is $250 a month. I kid you not. And to make it more wild, there were bids on this!
I read another one where the client insisted on perfection, everything had to be perfect or you would continue rewriting it until it is. No problem really, considering we should all do our best work. The problem comes with the description of the job. This particular client wanted five 1,000 word articles a day and was willing to pay up to $1 an article, and again there were several bids.
After doing some snooping around I have discovered that a lot of the writers are from India and I know $1 goes a lot further there than here. So, basically this is not a site for American writers, there is no possible way any self-respecting American writer that I know would work for that kind of pay. It's ridiculous to even expect anybody to work for peanuts. Some of the clients even specify that want American writers but don't seem to realize that they are only going to get substandard writers for that kind of money.
My advice, don't waste your time on this site. You will get 10-20 emails each day with the new jobs posted, and you will get discouraged and start questioning your sanity if you take this site seriously at all. If you are going to put out that much effort you should write for AC, at least you'll get page view revenue on top of your $1 per article.
I have read ads where the client is saying that they want somebody to work 8 hours a day 5 days a week every week in and out and must be available at the whim of the client, oh and the maximum bid for this job is $250 a month. I kid you not. And to make it more wild, there were bids on this!
I read another one where the client insisted on perfection, everything had to be perfect or you would continue rewriting it until it is. No problem really, considering we should all do our best work. The problem comes with the description of the job. This particular client wanted five 1,000 word articles a day and was willing to pay up to $1 an article, and again there were several bids.
After doing some snooping around I have discovered that a lot of the writers are from India and I know $1 goes a lot further there than here. So, basically this is not a site for American writers, there is no possible way any self-respecting American writer that I know would work for that kind of pay. It's ridiculous to even expect anybody to work for peanuts. Some of the clients even specify that want American writers but don't seem to realize that they are only going to get substandard writers for that kind of money.
My advice, don't waste your time on this site. You will get 10-20 emails each day with the new jobs posted, and you will get discouraged and start questioning your sanity if you take this site seriously at all. If you are going to put out that much effort you should write for AC, at least you'll get page view revenue on top of your $1 per article.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Bright Hub
Brite Hub is science based writing forum. They pay $10 per article plus a share of generated revenue. The articles written for BH are generally between 300 and 750 words.
I have mixed emotions about BH. First of all, I have obviously been hired to write for the Education Channel. I have not written for them yet and probably won't because the Managing Editor of the Education Channel is basically worthless.
I don't usually slam individual people here, but I have to say she is absolutely clueless and careless. She doesn't follow through or follow up. I had to practically harass her and ended up going through the Contact Us button to even get a first response from her. I was accepted, filled out all of the paperwork, read all of the tips and information about writing for BH, and was excited and ready to write, so I emailed her and asked what now? BH Channels all operate differently. Some ME's suggest articles for you to write. Some ME's want you to suggest articles. The ME's assign writers to CE (Contributing Editors). Obviously, you can't start writing until you hear from your ME. Mine is either overworked or not organized or is just plain lazy, I'm not sure which one she is, but the fact remains, she's whines about being overworked, but doesn't get new writers on board. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt since I had heard so many wonderful things about BH, but then another writer that belongs to a writer's forum that I belong to, said they had the exact same experience. We compared notes, and discovered that my experience with the Education Channel was the norm.
Now, as I said, I have mixed emotions, because I know people who write for other channels and absolutely love it. There are two members of our writer's forum who are CE's in other channels in BH and I know they are very organized, talented people. There are other members of the forum that write for these two particular channels as well as other channels (not the Education Channel) and they all have nothing but positive things to say about BH. So, I can't help but believe that the problem child of BH is the Education Channel and it is just in that channel.
My suggestion would be to try Bright Hub. I believe that most of the channels have a very positive outlook and I know the writers and CE's are happy there. I will say avoid the Education Channel at all costs. You will not have a happy experience and it just may sour you on the rest of the site.
I have mixed emotions about BH. First of all, I have obviously been hired to write for the Education Channel. I have not written for them yet and probably won't because the Managing Editor of the Education Channel is basically worthless.
I don't usually slam individual people here, but I have to say she is absolutely clueless and careless. She doesn't follow through or follow up. I had to practically harass her and ended up going through the Contact Us button to even get a first response from her. I was accepted, filled out all of the paperwork, read all of the tips and information about writing for BH, and was excited and ready to write, so I emailed her and asked what now? BH Channels all operate differently. Some ME's suggest articles for you to write. Some ME's want you to suggest articles. The ME's assign writers to CE (Contributing Editors). Obviously, you can't start writing until you hear from your ME. Mine is either overworked or not organized or is just plain lazy, I'm not sure which one she is, but the fact remains, she's whines about being overworked, but doesn't get new writers on board. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt since I had heard so many wonderful things about BH, but then another writer that belongs to a writer's forum that I belong to, said they had the exact same experience. We compared notes, and discovered that my experience with the Education Channel was the norm.
Now, as I said, I have mixed emotions, because I know people who write for other channels and absolutely love it. There are two members of our writer's forum who are CE's in other channels in BH and I know they are very organized, talented people. There are other members of the forum that write for these two particular channels as well as other channels (not the Education Channel) and they all have nothing but positive things to say about BH. So, I can't help but believe that the problem child of BH is the Education Channel and it is just in that channel.
My suggestion would be to try Bright Hub. I believe that most of the channels have a very positive outlook and I know the writers and CE's are happy there. I will say avoid the Education Channel at all costs. You will not have a happy experience and it just may sour you on the rest of the site.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Associated Content
I have not published on AC, so I'm going to give you my impressions as somebody who did submit an article, but chose to not publish it.
I wrote and article on Nanowrimo in the middle of October. Since Nanowrimo is during the month of November, I thought the timing would be perfect. However, it took over three weeks for my article to be reviewed and accepted. To add insult to injury, I was offered a measly 99 cent upfront payment. Needless to say I didn't even bother to dignify that offer with a response. I'm not going to sell my writing to anybody for such a little amount of money. I do have some dignity and I am a professional writer. Don't get me started on how wannabe writers accept peanuts for their work, which makes it hard for those of us who really do know how to write to make a decent wage. But then again, you get what you pay for and I see clients whining all the time about the quality of writing they are getting!
Now that I've gotten distracted...I'll get back on topic. AC does pay for page views. I believe this is where most of the money is made. I know a girl who is doing great on AC. She loves writing for them, and she is making really good money. She is a great writer though, and puts A LOT of time and effort into it.
I do want to say that my personal belief is that AC used to pay better upfront fees, but now that so many people are trying to get into freelance writing, they aren't paying as well, because they know they will always have writers who will accept less than a dollar for their work.
My conclusions on AC are this, some people love it and make really good money off of them, some people hate it, and have had experiences similar to mine. So, I'd recommend you check them and decide if you can live with their terms. If you choose not to write for them, at least go read some of the articles there. They do have some very talented writers writing for them and you can find articles on almost any subject.
I wrote and article on Nanowrimo in the middle of October. Since Nanowrimo is during the month of November, I thought the timing would be perfect. However, it took over three weeks for my article to be reviewed and accepted. To add insult to injury, I was offered a measly 99 cent upfront payment. Needless to say I didn't even bother to dignify that offer with a response. I'm not going to sell my writing to anybody for such a little amount of money. I do have some dignity and I am a professional writer. Don't get me started on how wannabe writers accept peanuts for their work, which makes it hard for those of us who really do know how to write to make a decent wage. But then again, you get what you pay for and I see clients whining all the time about the quality of writing they are getting!
Now that I've gotten distracted...I'll get back on topic. AC does pay for page views. I believe this is where most of the money is made. I know a girl who is doing great on AC. She loves writing for them, and she is making really good money. She is a great writer though, and puts A LOT of time and effort into it.
I do want to say that my personal belief is that AC used to pay better upfront fees, but now that so many people are trying to get into freelance writing, they aren't paying as well, because they know they will always have writers who will accept less than a dollar for their work.
My conclusions on AC are this, some people love it and make really good money off of them, some people hate it, and have had experiences similar to mine. So, I'd recommend you check them and decide if you can live with their terms. If you choose not to write for them, at least go read some of the articles there. They do have some very talented writers writing for them and you can find articles on almost any subject.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Helium
I write for Helium in their Market Place. The thing I like best about Helium is that there are several different ways to earn on their site. They have the regular write an article and get a share of the revenue based on page views. I never write for that section.
Helium also has Market Place, in the Market Place magazines post topics that they need and how much money they will pay for it. So when you find a topic you want to write about, you write about it. So do several other people, then your stories are voted on, I haven't quite figured out the reason to vote on these, but once the deadline for the article has arrived, the publisher who needed the topic goes through the submitted articles and chooses the one they wish to purchase. If your article is chosen then you get paid. If your article is not chosen then it goes into the Helium site for page view revenue.
Helium also has contests. They post topics and people write on those topics and then everybody votes on the submitted articles and you can win cash prizes. I believe first prize is $60. That's not bad at all.
They also have Journalism Awards. I've not written for any of these yet, so I'm not clear on how that works.
So, with the different types of writing and pay structures with Helium, it is probably my favorite place to write. Check it out. I'm sure there will be something that will catch your attention and beg for you to write it.
Helium also has Market Place, in the Market Place magazines post topics that they need and how much money they will pay for it. So when you find a topic you want to write about, you write about it. So do several other people, then your stories are voted on, I haven't quite figured out the reason to vote on these, but once the deadline for the article has arrived, the publisher who needed the topic goes through the submitted articles and chooses the one they wish to purchase. If your article is chosen then you get paid. If your article is not chosen then it goes into the Helium site for page view revenue.
Helium also has contests. They post topics and people write on those topics and then everybody votes on the submitted articles and you can win cash prizes. I believe first prize is $60. That's not bad at all.
They also have Journalism Awards. I've not written for any of these yet, so I'm not clear on how that works.
So, with the different types of writing and pay structures with Helium, it is probably my favorite place to write. Check it out. I'm sure there will be something that will catch your attention and beg for you to write it.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Personal News Network aka PNN
What can I say about PNN? It is going to be REALLY hard for me to find something good to say about it. I can say that pretend to offer stipends for writers, but you have to be part of their inner circle and you have agree 100% with everything that the "in" crowd does or you will not get a position. I say this because that was my experience. I applied for one of the stipend positions. By Lauren's (the developer of the site) own admission I had more page views in one month than most people who have been writing for them since the beginning. One of their stipend writers hit the 10,000 page view milestone about two months after I left PNN and she had been writing for them for almost a year. I personally had over 11,000 in my first month. They have a very nice rating system there. Viewers can click on the red star to give a writer a star if they like the writer's blog. A person can only star a writer once, so that keeps cheating out of the equation. I personally left after five weeks with over 90 stars. The closest to me at the time was their star writer who had 30 something stars.
Why was I "blackballed"? I wrote a political blog from the POV of a Conservative Woman. Apparently, they are all PC there and were shocked that I would write anything against Obama and for Sarah Palin, so...whatever, it was their site and they had the right to make those decisions. I just felt that they should have been upfront in their Craigslist posting and said they were looking for a political blogger that would only write about PNNs political stance.
What was good about PNN? It was idiot proof. I learned a lot about blogging from that site. It was incredibly easy to set up a blog with all the bells and whistles. There are also very nice people who post on there. There are also blow hards who think if they talk down to people in the comments and in their blogs that it makes them look more professional. It's a good place to learn as long as you have no expectations to make any money blogging there.
Why was I "blackballed"? I wrote a political blog from the POV of a Conservative Woman. Apparently, they are all PC there and were shocked that I would write anything against Obama and for Sarah Palin, so...whatever, it was their site and they had the right to make those decisions. I just felt that they should have been upfront in their Craigslist posting and said they were looking for a political blogger that would only write about PNNs political stance.
What was good about PNN? It was idiot proof. I learned a lot about blogging from that site. It was incredibly easy to set up a blog with all the bells and whistles. There are also very nice people who post on there. There are also blow hards who think if they talk down to people in the comments and in their blogs that it makes them look more professional. It's a good place to learn as long as you have no expectations to make any money blogging there.
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