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.

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.

Demand Studios

I have been writing for Demand Studios for a few months. The best thing about Demand Studios is the fact that they are exactly what they appear to be. There are no fees. Once your application is accepted you can start writing for them. They pay $15 per article, as long as you choose to write a topic from their list. You can suggest an article but they only pay $5 for those. The review times are usually quite slow and some of the editors have no clue what they are doing, but after checking out so many other sites this is the most upfront place that I've tried. Once they have paid you for an article it is theirs. You sell your rights. There is no revenue for page views. They do pay weekly. If your article is reviewed and accepted by 5:00 pm on Wednesday your pay will be in your pay pal account on Friday. The draw backs are that the titles they have suck, sometimes the editors have really strange demands, some others have complained that their plagiarism checker is flawed, but I've not experienced that yet. My very favorite thing about DS is that there is a yahoo group of DS writers, and the support from that group is awesome. There is also a forum on the DS site, but I've never been there. I have heard horror stories about that place, so if you apply and are accepted by DS, I'd suggest you avoid the forum. The articles are about as hard to write as a third grade research paper, and you know up front how much you will make. Give it a try.