I have a client whom I really like working for. I write a set number of content stories for him every week. What he does with the stories I have no idea. But he always pays on time, each and every week.
So why am I considering "firing" this client? As nice as the guy is, writing for him is starting to make less financial sense by the week.
Earlier this month, I picked up a new ghost-blogging job for a financial services provider. I write about anything to do with mortgage loans, auto financing, credit scores, credit card debt ... you get the idea. He pays me about $600 a month. Basically, I make $20 for every 400 words I write. Not great money, but solid. And I'm a fast writer, so it works out.
I'm also taking on a new personal blog at a blogging site run by a major metropolitan newspaper. For this blog, I'll be covering residential real estate. I'm excited about the opportunities here. My goal is to develop an audience -- thanks to the blog network's already built-in readers -- and then translate that into more opportunities down the road: a book, a position with one of the more lucrative blogging platforms on the Internet, a guest columnist position. Why not reach for the stars, right?
In the meantime, my reliable content publisher has become a bit of a burden. I simply no longer enjoy writing his stories, and the time to pound them out has become terribly scarce. Because the pay-per-article just isn't high enough, I have to let him go.
This, by the way, is actually a good problem to have. When you have to fire a client, you know that you're starting to do better again. At least that's how I look at it.
Showing posts with label blog networks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog networks. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Frustrated with Creative Weblogging
For the last three months, I've been writing a mortgage blog for a blogging network named Creative Weblogging. The pay isn't great, but it was steady.
I say "was" because the folks behind Creative Weblogging just downgraded my contract. Instead of having me post every weekday, they are now asking me to post just four times a month, at an even lower pay rate.
I accepted their new contract -- some money is better than no money -- but I'm not happy about it. The powers that be at Creative Weblogging said that my blog wasn't bringing in enough income. Yet, they barely gave me three months to boost traffic.
And that leads me to my biggest beef with blogging networks: Why do they want us writers to boost traffic, and ad revenue, for them? With the piddly amounts of money they're paying us, you'd think they'd get off their rears and handle blog promotion themselves. I'm a writer, not a promoter. Yet it seems that everyone who wants you to write for the Internet expects you to be both. It's a big pain in the butt.
My worst fears about the Internet are being realized: It's not given writers great new writing opportunities. No, it's given us more work for lousy pay. And the idiots behind blog networks? They expect us to not only write every day for them, they want us to bring traffic to their sites, too. What, may I ask, are the blog networks actually doing? Not much.
I say "was" because the folks behind Creative Weblogging just downgraded my contract. Instead of having me post every weekday, they are now asking me to post just four times a month, at an even lower pay rate.
I accepted their new contract -- some money is better than no money -- but I'm not happy about it. The powers that be at Creative Weblogging said that my blog wasn't bringing in enough income. Yet, they barely gave me three months to boost traffic.
And that leads me to my biggest beef with blogging networks: Why do they want us writers to boost traffic, and ad revenue, for them? With the piddly amounts of money they're paying us, you'd think they'd get off their rears and handle blog promotion themselves. I'm a writer, not a promoter. Yet it seems that everyone who wants you to write for the Internet expects you to be both. It's a big pain in the butt.
My worst fears about the Internet are being realized: It's not given writers great new writing opportunities. No, it's given us more work for lousy pay. And the idiots behind blog networks? They expect us to not only write every day for them, they want us to bring traffic to their sites, too. What, may I ask, are the blog networks actually doing? Not much.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The randomness of content writing
Sometimes I kid myself into thinking that the "publishers" I write content-mill stories for actually care about what I write. Then I get an e-mail from one of them and I'm quickly proven wrong.
For instance, yesterday I turned in a package of three content stories of the longer side. Each was about 600 words. The stories took me longer to write than usual, but I turned them in on time.
The publisher was happy with the work. He had just one complaint: Two paragraphs in one of my columns were both about the same subject. In other words, the eighth paragraph in my story talked about creating a new blog. The ninth paragraph added just a bit more information to that thought.
The problem with this? My publisher spins the stories so that all the paragraphs except for the first and last are jumbled in random order every time a new version of the story is posted on one of his Web sites. If two paragraphs, such as my two on blogging, need to follow one another, this screws up his random jumbling. After all, it won't make much sense to have the second of my two blog paragraphs appearing before the first.
I've always known that I do content writing just to fill in the financial gaps from the writing I like better, the stuff I do for trade magazines and comic-book publishers. Sometimes, though, I get little reminders like this: It's not really the quality of my writing that matters when I'm turning in a content story, it's all about hitting the right keywords and turning in the right number of small paragraphs.
For instance, yesterday I turned in a package of three content stories of the longer side. Each was about 600 words. The stories took me longer to write than usual, but I turned them in on time.
The publisher was happy with the work. He had just one complaint: Two paragraphs in one of my columns were both about the same subject. In other words, the eighth paragraph in my story talked about creating a new blog. The ninth paragraph added just a bit more information to that thought.
The problem with this? My publisher spins the stories so that all the paragraphs except for the first and last are jumbled in random order every time a new version of the story is posted on one of his Web sites. If two paragraphs, such as my two on blogging, need to follow one another, this screws up his random jumbling. After all, it won't make much sense to have the second of my two blog paragraphs appearing before the first.
I've always known that I do content writing just to fill in the financial gaps from the writing I like better, the stuff I do for trade magazines and comic-book publishers. Sometimes, though, I get little reminders like this: It's not really the quality of my writing that matters when I'm turning in a content story, it's all about hitting the right keywords and turning in the right number of small paragraphs.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Hoping to add another blog to my list
Earlier this week I completed the second phase of a tryout for a new career blog being launched later this month. I made it past the first hurdle: The editors behind the blog liked my submission package. The second phase involved me writing two sample blog posts -- which I get paid for. The editors will then select four of a final eight writers to contribute regularly to the blog.
It's a bit of a jumping-through-hoops process, but the work should be easy. And if I do get the job, it'll be one more steady bit of income.
Granted, the income's fairly small. But it's worth it for the amount of work required. It will also mean that I'll have six blogs that I write for that pay me by the post.
This is the only way to go with blogs, by the way. (Well, a flat monthly rate is fine, too.) Don't ever think you're going to make money from blogs that pay you according to how many people visit or click on ads. You'll be lucky to make a dollar every month with this kind of payment schedule.
I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens with this career blog. I'm proud of the two sample posts I wrote. Now it's in the hands of the editors.
It's a bit of a jumping-through-hoops process, but the work should be easy. And if I do get the job, it'll be one more steady bit of income.
Granted, the income's fairly small. But it's worth it for the amount of work required. It will also mean that I'll have six blogs that I write for that pay me by the post.
This is the only way to go with blogs, by the way. (Well, a flat monthly rate is fine, too.) Don't ever think you're going to make money from blogs that pay you according to how many people visit or click on ads. You'll be lucky to make a dollar every month with this kind of payment schedule.
I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens with this career blog. I'm proud of the two sample posts I wrote. Now it's in the hands of the editors.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Exploring Creative Weblogging
You might not have heard of Creative Weblogging. But it's another blogging service, one that has blogs focusing on business, technology, digital media, sports, family and other topics.
Last month, I began writing a blog for them. It's not a lot of money, but it is a set payment every month that I can count on.
I'm glad I began working with the company, too. A residential real estate blog I wrote for ended my contract last week. Again, it wasn't a ton of money each month, but it was steady pay that I could look forward to.
The problem wasn't the writing, the real estate company told me. It was the visitors. There weren't enough of them.
The blog had existed for about eight months. The real estate company was hoping for 10,000 visitors a month. I never felt this was a realistic goal, even though I tried to help out by posting messages on related forums and using Twitter. But the company wasn't paying me enough to promote the site as much as it needed to be.
Which brings me to this question: Why do blogging networks expect their writers to do all the work involved in promoting their blogs? Many of the networks I've worked with have asked me to Twitter for them, or promote them through services like LinkedIn. I'd be happy to do this if the blogging networks weren't paying me peanut money each week.
I mean, what are the blogging networks themselves doing? Are they doing any work, or are they just collecting money?
We'll see, then, how Creative Weblogging goes. So far, it's been hassle-free. Let's hope it stays that way.
Last month, I began writing a blog for them. It's not a lot of money, but it is a set payment every month that I can count on.
I'm glad I began working with the company, too. A residential real estate blog I wrote for ended my contract last week. Again, it wasn't a ton of money each month, but it was steady pay that I could look forward to.
The problem wasn't the writing, the real estate company told me. It was the visitors. There weren't enough of them.
The blog had existed for about eight months. The real estate company was hoping for 10,000 visitors a month. I never felt this was a realistic goal, even though I tried to help out by posting messages on related forums and using Twitter. But the company wasn't paying me enough to promote the site as much as it needed to be.
Which brings me to this question: Why do blogging networks expect their writers to do all the work involved in promoting their blogs? Many of the networks I've worked with have asked me to Twitter for them, or promote them through services like LinkedIn. I'd be happy to do this if the blogging networks weren't paying me peanut money each week.
I mean, what are the blogging networks themselves doing? Are they doing any work, or are they just collecting money?
We'll see, then, how Creative Weblogging goes. So far, it's been hassle-free. Let's hope it stays that way.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Lunching with a soon-to-be freelancer?
I met my very first editor for lunch today. He was in charge of my local community weekly when I graduated from college back in 1991. I made $13,000 that first year working for him as a sports, crime, obituary and features writer. The money was awful, but I did learn how to interview sources, research stories and write an effective lede.
I've moved on to mostly freelance writing these days. But my former editor is still banging away at community newspapers. It's a job he's always loved.
Unfortunately, he's worried he may not have this job much longer. So as we both munched on egg rolls and fried rice, he picked my brains about the freelancing life.
I told my editor, and now friend, that it's not an easy job these days. Print clients are drying up every day. Others are paying $400 for stories that last year they paid me $700. It's a drag.
Online writing is especially tough, I told him. You have to sacrifice a lot of style if you want to really make money. The key for writing for the content sites or blogging networks is to write a lot of stuff really fast. It often doesn't even have to be all that well-written.
This news depressed him. And, I gotta' admit, it made me a bit glum to be telling it to him. I told him about my forays into content and blog writing. I told him that I hope that one day this writing will be more lucrative, but that for now it's mostly grind, grind, grind with little reward.
Still, it is writing. And not many people can support themselves by writing. That is a positive. And I'm also hoping that we have reached the bottom of this economy. Perhaps the publishing industry will begin a slow recovery soon. If that happens, who knows, maybe my print clients will come back.
We skipped the sweets after lunch, by the way. No one was in the mood to break $10 for our meals.
I've moved on to mostly freelance writing these days. But my former editor is still banging away at community newspapers. It's a job he's always loved.
Unfortunately, he's worried he may not have this job much longer. So as we both munched on egg rolls and fried rice, he picked my brains about the freelancing life.
I told my editor, and now friend, that it's not an easy job these days. Print clients are drying up every day. Others are paying $400 for stories that last year they paid me $700. It's a drag.
Online writing is especially tough, I told him. You have to sacrifice a lot of style if you want to really make money. The key for writing for the content sites or blogging networks is to write a lot of stuff really fast. It often doesn't even have to be all that well-written.
This news depressed him. And, I gotta' admit, it made me a bit glum to be telling it to him. I told him about my forays into content and blog writing. I told him that I hope that one day this writing will be more lucrative, but that for now it's mostly grind, grind, grind with little reward.
Still, it is writing. And not many people can support themselves by writing. That is a positive. And I'm also hoping that we have reached the bottom of this economy. Perhaps the publishing industry will begin a slow recovery soon. If that happens, who knows, maybe my print clients will come back.
We skipped the sweets after lunch, by the way. No one was in the mood to break $10 for our meals.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why I won't write for Today.com
When I first heard about Today.com, a popular blogging network, it didn't sound like such a bad idea.
Considering that the company was paying at that time $1 a post, that shows how far my standards have fallen during the recession. But the posts took me minutes. And I got to write about whatever I wanted. Because I was running two blogs on Today.com at the same time, I usually made about $60 a month from the company.
Again, because my standards have fallen so low, that didn't seem so bad.
When Today fist burst onto the scene, it advertised like mad for writers. In fact, many freelance pros wondered just how legitimate the company was since it seemed like they'd accept any writer who bothered to apply. I remember reading on one online writers' forum about writers who filled out gibberish -- incomplete sentences, tons of grammatical errors -- on Today.com's application form. Invariably, these writers got accepted.
And, yes, once I began writing for Today.com, I noticed that there was plenty of terrible writing on the blogs the company ran.
For some reason, though, I liked that guaranteed $60 a month. It was insignificant when compared to my regular monthly writing income. But the short blog posts -- I believe Today.com required every paid blog post to be 100 words or more -- were the perfect break between "real" journalism or scheduled phone interviews.
Then came the change. The powers that be at Today.com changed the pay structure for blogs that weren't generating thousands of page views a month. That included mine. Each of my blogs generated about 400 views a month. And they were rising.
Today.com sent me a very poorly worded message that my pay structure was changing from $1 a post to $2 for every 1,000 page views. To generate my $60 a month, then, I'd need 30,000 page views combined for my two blogs. Sorry. That was not going to happen.
So I ended my time at Today.com.
Now, a blogging network has the right to change its pay structure. It would have been nice, though, to have a more coherent explanation as to why. It also would have been nice for Today.com to acknowledge that it takes time to grow a blog's traffic. I was pleased that my blog's traffic was inching upwards every month. Apparently, though, it wasn't moving up fast enough.
Also disappointing was the extremely defensive tone taken by the people behind Today.com when bloggers questioned the pay changes to their blogs. The powers-that-be seemed amazingly offended that any blogger would be upset. After all, all bloggers had to do was spend 40 hours a week promoting and writing their blog. Maybe then they'd get that $60 a month.
So here's another recommendation: Stay away from Today.com. It's just one more blogging network that cares little about quality of writing. Today.com, like most other blog networks, cares only about page views.
Considering that the company was paying at that time $1 a post, that shows how far my standards have fallen during the recession. But the posts took me minutes. And I got to write about whatever I wanted. Because I was running two blogs on Today.com at the same time, I usually made about $60 a month from the company.
Again, because my standards have fallen so low, that didn't seem so bad.
When Today fist burst onto the scene, it advertised like mad for writers. In fact, many freelance pros wondered just how legitimate the company was since it seemed like they'd accept any writer who bothered to apply. I remember reading on one online writers' forum about writers who filled out gibberish -- incomplete sentences, tons of grammatical errors -- on Today.com's application form. Invariably, these writers got accepted.
And, yes, once I began writing for Today.com, I noticed that there was plenty of terrible writing on the blogs the company ran.
For some reason, though, I liked that guaranteed $60 a month. It was insignificant when compared to my regular monthly writing income. But the short blog posts -- I believe Today.com required every paid blog post to be 100 words or more -- were the perfect break between "real" journalism or scheduled phone interviews.
Then came the change. The powers that be at Today.com changed the pay structure for blogs that weren't generating thousands of page views a month. That included mine. Each of my blogs generated about 400 views a month. And they were rising.
Today.com sent me a very poorly worded message that my pay structure was changing from $1 a post to $2 for every 1,000 page views. To generate my $60 a month, then, I'd need 30,000 page views combined for my two blogs. Sorry. That was not going to happen.
So I ended my time at Today.com.
Now, a blogging network has the right to change its pay structure. It would have been nice, though, to have a more coherent explanation as to why. It also would have been nice for Today.com to acknowledge that it takes time to grow a blog's traffic. I was pleased that my blog's traffic was inching upwards every month. Apparently, though, it wasn't moving up fast enough.
Also disappointing was the extremely defensive tone taken by the people behind Today.com when bloggers questioned the pay changes to their blogs. The powers-that-be seemed amazingly offended that any blogger would be upset. After all, all bloggers had to do was spend 40 hours a week promoting and writing their blog. Maybe then they'd get that $60 a month.
So here's another recommendation: Stay away from Today.com. It's just one more blogging network that cares little about quality of writing. Today.com, like most other blog networks, cares only about page views.
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