Thursday, October 1, 2009

Giving TextBroker a try

Maybe I'm desperate. I had a solid September and a good August. But October looks to be rather shaky from a paying-jobs standpoint.

So it's time to give TextBroker a real try. Sigh.

Yes, I'm not proud to admit it. Let's face it, TextBroker pays some embarrassing rates. I've seen folks requesting 500-word articles for $1.50. That's pitiful.

Still, TextBroker, like Demand Studios and Writer Divas, can help fill in those gaps in months when the number of paying assignments isn't as high as you'd like.

So far this month -- and yes, I know it's only October 1 today -- I've written a 500-word story in the fitness field for $7.57 and a 350-word story on mortgage lending for $5.03. I next plan to write a 350-word story on online dating for $5.50. Each of the first two stories I wrote, which required no research because I'm familiar with each subject, took me 15 minutes to write. If the online dating one takes as long, that'll mean I'll have made about $18 for 45 minutes of work. That's not terrible.

Of course, it's not particularly sustainable, either. For instance, tomorrow I have to write a 1,200-word story for the Washington Post. That will take up most of my morning. I also have to prepare three blog posts for a Chicago real estate agent. That will take time, too. If I'm lucky, I'll get one TextBroker assignment done.

TextBroker is an option, though. If you can pound out the stories quickly, and write only on topics that you don't need to research, you can make a decent hourly wage. Of course, you won't pay the mortgage with TextBroker, but you might be able to pay the cable bill.

2 comments:

  1. I went a little nuts on Textbroker once, and wrote about 20 articles in a few hours - if the assignments (that require no research) are there, then of course it's totally worth it. But TB has its slow times. After that spurt, I didn't find anything I could write about for a long time ... but maybe I'll check out the site now, see what assignments are available.

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  2. Thanks, Eve, for your comments. I'm a bit frustrated with Textbroker now because the editors there are supposedly reviewing my work, something they do after new writers for them submit their first five stories. Unfortunately, you can't take on any additional stories while Textbroker's editors are reviewing your work. It's been about three business days now, and I'd really like to get back to churning out those easy-to-write articles.

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