Well, today I hit 40 stories published at Suite 101. This isn't a great achievement, of course. I had written 25 stories in my first month. It's taken me three more to write my last 15.
My revenues at Suite 101 have tailed off fairly sharply from my first month. During that first month, when I mostly wrote about mortgage topics, I made about $27. Last month, I made an even $10. That's a significant figure, though: You have to hit $10 in a month to receive payment for that month. If you don't, you have to wait another month until you do reach the magical $10 payout amount.
Anyway, I've been inspired to get busy again with Suite 101. I read a forum posting recently from a Suite 101 writer who makes about $20 a day. That comes out to about $600 a month. That's not a fortune, but, it's not bad. My goal now is to get to 100 stories on Suite 101. I have no idea how much money a month that will give me, but it should be a decent addition to my monthly income.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Want to make money at Examiner.com? Don't count on it!
I'm always amazed whenever I read on other forum's writers getting accepted at Examiner.com. For one thing, Examiner.com accepts just about anyone who can string more than two sentences together. Getting "hired" at this outfit isn't exactly something to crow about.
Secondly, and most importantly, I know that 99 percent of these new Examiners won't earn hardly anything.
Examiner.com started out paying posters a penny for every page view their Examiner homes notched. This is pitiful, considering that it's hard to earn more than, say, 25 cents a day this way. If you're keeping track, that's just $1.75 if you manage those 25 page views every day for a week.
But here's additional proof that Examiner.com won't make you money. Even the powers that be at the site say you shouldn't write for Examiner.com if you want to make money. Here's a quote from an e-mail sent out by one of Examiner.com's channel managers: "As I’ve said since I joined this team in August 2008, as the first channel manager in the office – money should not be the motivating factor behind being an Examiner. It’s about the opportunity to write about a topic you’re passionate about, with the potential to reach a worldwide audience."
If you do decide to become an Examiner.com, that's fine. Just don't expect to earn much money at all. And don't ever list it as a professional writing job if you're looking to get work from newspapers or magazines. You'll be laughed out the door.
Secondly, and most importantly, I know that 99 percent of these new Examiners won't earn hardly anything.
Examiner.com started out paying posters a penny for every page view their Examiner homes notched. This is pitiful, considering that it's hard to earn more than, say, 25 cents a day this way. If you're keeping track, that's just $1.75 if you manage those 25 page views every day for a week.
But here's additional proof that Examiner.com won't make you money. Even the powers that be at the site say you shouldn't write for Examiner.com if you want to make money. Here's a quote from an e-mail sent out by one of Examiner.com's channel managers: "As I’ve said since I joined this team in August 2008, as the first channel manager in the office – money should not be the motivating factor behind being an Examiner. It’s about the opportunity to write about a topic you’re passionate about, with the potential to reach a worldwide audience."
If you do decide to become an Examiner.com, that's fine. Just don't expect to earn much money at all. And don't ever list it as a professional writing job if you're looking to get work from newspapers or magazines. You'll be laughed out the door.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Found another scammer
It's easy to ferret out the scammers: Ask them how much they'll pay you for your writing. If they don't respond, they're a scammer.
Here's an example. Last week, I responded to a craigslist ad from someone who needed a writing coach to help him craft letters to his bosses, write reports and compose short speeches. It sounded fairly interesting, especially compared to some of the dry-as-dirt content writing I've been doing lately.
I responded, and I heard back from the ad poster within an hour. He wanted to know if I could write a sample letter for him. He wanted a raise, and he wanted me to write the e-mail message that he would give to his boss asking for one.
I'm not that smart. But I knew this was fishy. I'd already given him samples of my writing. He didn't need additional ones, then, to figure out my writing style. I e-mailed the poster back, anyway, asking him what he'd pay for such a sample. Of course, I didn't expect a response, and I didn't get one.
Here's my advice: Never, ever write a fresh sample for a potential employer, especially if you hooked up with this employer through craigslist. The odds are, that the poster is going to use your sample without paying for it. Only send job posters samples of your previously published writing. And make it absolutely clear that the samples you are sending have been published already.
Web site owners laugh at writers who are stupid enough to send them fresh samples. It's a great way for these scammers to fill their Web sites with unique, free content. Don't fall for this trick.
Here's an example. Last week, I responded to a craigslist ad from someone who needed a writing coach to help him craft letters to his bosses, write reports and compose short speeches. It sounded fairly interesting, especially compared to some of the dry-as-dirt content writing I've been doing lately.
I responded, and I heard back from the ad poster within an hour. He wanted to know if I could write a sample letter for him. He wanted a raise, and he wanted me to write the e-mail message that he would give to his boss asking for one.
I'm not that smart. But I knew this was fishy. I'd already given him samples of my writing. He didn't need additional ones, then, to figure out my writing style. I e-mailed the poster back, anyway, asking him what he'd pay for such a sample. Of course, I didn't expect a response, and I didn't get one.
Here's my advice: Never, ever write a fresh sample for a potential employer, especially if you hooked up with this employer through craigslist. The odds are, that the poster is going to use your sample without paying for it. Only send job posters samples of your previously published writing. And make it absolutely clear that the samples you are sending have been published already.
Web site owners laugh at writers who are stupid enough to send them fresh samples. It's a great way for these scammers to fill their Web sites with unique, free content. Don't fall for this trick.
Want to make a living as a freelance writer? Learn to juggle
I make enough money as a freelance writer to support my family, keep our house out of foreclosure and put food on our table. Some months are better than others, but for the 15 years I've been working as a freelancer, I've been able to keep us relatively sound financially.
My writing certainly has won any Pullitzers along the way. But I do enough of a good job to keep the work coming in, though it has gotten harder to do that this year.
What's the secret? It's all about building a writing career that's varied enough to survive the little downturns or hiccups that hit every industry.
Here's my formula: I specialize in real estate writing for trade magazines and newspapers. This includes my work as an editor for a real estate trade magazine in Chicago. Of course, this part of my business has taken a big hit lately thanks to the housing meltdown. A slew of the real estate-centered trade magazines that I've written for have either gone out of business or have slashed their freelance budgets.
Fortunately, I have also developed a busy content-writing career. I haven't been writing content stories for too long, but I generally make anywhere from $800 to $1,000 a month in content writing.
I also do some ghost writing for corporate blogs. That part of the business has suffered a bit, too, thanks to the economy. However, I still have a handful of reliable blogging clients.
I still write regularly for the Washington Post, too, and have picked up work this year for an Illinois publisher that creates books full of odd trivia. This means that I've been able to write about the history of Mighty Mouse, the most overwrought Harlequin romance book titles and the world's most dangerous professions. I also write regularly for a local newspaper chain.
Finally, I have nabbed some -- not a lot, but some -- paid writing for comic-book work. That's a blast.
Every day, I make sure to apply for new writing business. It's the only way you can survive as a freelance writer, especially in this lousy economy.
It's a lot of work, but it's better than sitting behind a desk all day.
My writing certainly has won any Pullitzers along the way. But I do enough of a good job to keep the work coming in, though it has gotten harder to do that this year.
What's the secret? It's all about building a writing career that's varied enough to survive the little downturns or hiccups that hit every industry.
Here's my formula: I specialize in real estate writing for trade magazines and newspapers. This includes my work as an editor for a real estate trade magazine in Chicago. Of course, this part of my business has taken a big hit lately thanks to the housing meltdown. A slew of the real estate-centered trade magazines that I've written for have either gone out of business or have slashed their freelance budgets.
Fortunately, I have also developed a busy content-writing career. I haven't been writing content stories for too long, but I generally make anywhere from $800 to $1,000 a month in content writing.
I also do some ghost writing for corporate blogs. That part of the business has suffered a bit, too, thanks to the economy. However, I still have a handful of reliable blogging clients.
I still write regularly for the Washington Post, too, and have picked up work this year for an Illinois publisher that creates books full of odd trivia. This means that I've been able to write about the history of Mighty Mouse, the most overwrought Harlequin romance book titles and the world's most dangerous professions. I also write regularly for a local newspaper chain.
Finally, I have nabbed some -- not a lot, but some -- paid writing for comic-book work. That's a blast.
Every day, I make sure to apply for new writing business. It's the only way you can survive as a freelance writer, especially in this lousy economy.
It's a lot of work, but it's better than sitting behind a desk all day.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Dropping out of Creative Weblogging
My mortgage blog was the last I ran on a blogging network. But this week, I decided to drop out of this blog, hosted on the Creative Weblogging network, too. The reason? The people behind the network weren't treating me well.
And that's a common theme on blog networks. They treat their writers like garbage.
Here's what my Creative Weblogging experience was like: I signed up late last year to write a mortgage blog for the network. Everything was set up. Then, two days before my blog was set to go live, I received an e-mail message: My blog had been canceled, before I had even made my first post. Worst of all, there was no explanation in that message.
So I checked with my contact person. Turns out, Creative Weblogging was struggling financially. All new blogs would be canceled.
Fine. I forgot about Creative Weblogging until about two months ago, when the network contacted me again. The powers that be were ready for me to start writing for them again. This time, my mortgage blog actually went live. For two months, I posted five times a week for $140 a month. Not a princely salary, but the blog posts were short.
Then, about two weeks ago, I received another e-mail message: My blog wasn't making enough money. Creative Weblogging wanted me to now post once a week for a fee of $28 a month. This time, I declined.
It just doesn't seem worth it.
Besides, Creative Weblogging wouldn't even give my blog a full two months to grow its traffic. Why should I stick with a network like that? Problem is, every blogging network I've worked with treats writers with the same level of contempt.
So avoid those networks. Even content writing is less degrading than writing for a blogging network.
And that's a common theme on blog networks. They treat their writers like garbage.
Here's what my Creative Weblogging experience was like: I signed up late last year to write a mortgage blog for the network. Everything was set up. Then, two days before my blog was set to go live, I received an e-mail message: My blog had been canceled, before I had even made my first post. Worst of all, there was no explanation in that message.
So I checked with my contact person. Turns out, Creative Weblogging was struggling financially. All new blogs would be canceled.
Fine. I forgot about Creative Weblogging until about two months ago, when the network contacted me again. The powers that be were ready for me to start writing for them again. This time, my mortgage blog actually went live. For two months, I posted five times a week for $140 a month. Not a princely salary, but the blog posts were short.
Then, about two weeks ago, I received another e-mail message: My blog wasn't making enough money. Creative Weblogging wanted me to now post once a week for a fee of $28 a month. This time, I declined.
It just doesn't seem worth it.
Besides, Creative Weblogging wouldn't even give my blog a full two months to grow its traffic. Why should I stick with a network like that? Problem is, every blogging network I've worked with treats writers with the same level of contempt.
So avoid those networks. Even content writing is less degrading than writing for a blogging network.
Friday, September 4, 2009
What are the odds of landing content-writing jobs from craigslist?
I'm a bit of a slow learner. But I'm starting to realize that applying for content-writing jobs at sites such as craigslist -- or even through job boards such as the ones at WAHM.com -- is a waste of time.
It doesn't matter much how good you are as a writer. So many talented writers respond to these ads, especially now in these tough economic times, that the odds of the publisher actually picking you as a content writer for his or her site or project are extremely slim.
It's a numbers game. If, say, 500 content writers respond to a craigslist posting, what are the odds that the poster is even going to open your e-mail message? You can have the best resume' or clips in the world, but you're not going to get that job. That's because the poster, in all likelihood, opened the first seven to 10 e-mails responding to the job request and picked the best writers from that batch. The rest? Erased.
So how do you get content jobs? Here's how I've gotten most of mine. I contacted a Web publisher directly and offered to write some content for her. She was looking for content, so I got lucky. I wrote a few stories for her, then a few more, then a few more.
After building a relationship with her -- This didn't take long, about four assignments -- I asked if she knew of anyone else who needed content sites. She posted a message with my e-mail address on the forums she visits. Before long, I had more content writing work than I could handle. I am still working with about 10 regular clients that have found me through this original client.
At the same time, I can cut on the fingers of one hand the number of content-writing jobs I've secured from craigslist. It's a bit depressing, actually.
The advice, then, is to build your client list slowly and steadily. Find work for one good client. Do great writing for that client. Meet your deadlines. Keep asking for more work. Then, when you've earned that client's trust, ask that client to send your name to other publishers. Then do the same with the new publishers you find. You'll soon have a lot of content writing to take on.
And you can finally ignore all those scammy-sounding craigslist ads.
It doesn't matter much how good you are as a writer. So many talented writers respond to these ads, especially now in these tough economic times, that the odds of the publisher actually picking you as a content writer for his or her site or project are extremely slim.
It's a numbers game. If, say, 500 content writers respond to a craigslist posting, what are the odds that the poster is even going to open your e-mail message? You can have the best resume' or clips in the world, but you're not going to get that job. That's because the poster, in all likelihood, opened the first seven to 10 e-mails responding to the job request and picked the best writers from that batch. The rest? Erased.
So how do you get content jobs? Here's how I've gotten most of mine. I contacted a Web publisher directly and offered to write some content for her. She was looking for content, so I got lucky. I wrote a few stories for her, then a few more, then a few more.
After building a relationship with her -- This didn't take long, about four assignments -- I asked if she knew of anyone else who needed content sites. She posted a message with my e-mail address on the forums she visits. Before long, I had more content writing work than I could handle. I am still working with about 10 regular clients that have found me through this original client.
At the same time, I can cut on the fingers of one hand the number of content-writing jobs I've secured from craigslist. It's a bit depressing, actually.
The advice, then, is to build your client list slowly and steadily. Find work for one good client. Do great writing for that client. Meet your deadlines. Keep asking for more work. Then, when you've earned that client's trust, ask that client to send your name to other publishers. Then do the same with the new publishers you find. You'll soon have a lot of content writing to take on.
And you can finally ignore all those scammy-sounding craigslist ads.
Sometimes you have to slow it down
I'm a list person. I start each morning by jotting down the writing tasks I want to accomplish during the day. And because I get up at 5 a.m. most mornings -- Thanks, 2-year-old son! -- I have a lot of time to think about those things on my list.
Not only am I a list person, I'm also someone who really enjoys checking items off a list. It gives me great satisfaction to cross something off as done.
Problem is, sometimes I want to get things off my list -- which on some days stretches to nearly 30 items -- so badly, I'll half-ass some of my projects.
I'm beginning to wonder if this is showing. It's one thing to half-ass my content-writing duties. Even at 50-percent effort, I can still string together coherent sentences into coherent paragraphs. My content-writing clients still love me, as long as I turn my stuff in on time. Of course, sometimes I wonder if my content publishers even read what I send them before they slap the content on the Web.
But when it comes to pitching ideas to print-magazine clients, or when it's time to actually write a story for a newspaper or trade magazine, I have to force myself to slow down. Otherwise, the results are horrible.
This week, I wanted to pitch some real estate story ideas to the Washington Post. I'm working with a new editor at the paper -- the one I'd worked with for more then seven years retired from the paper earlier this year, and is now traveling around the world -- and am still working on establishing a good rapport with her. So instead of rushing through this item on my work checklist, I took a deep breath and ... it was painful, but necessary -- worked slowly.
I thought carefully about the real estate stories that the Post had run recently. I didn't want to duplicate them. I also considered what I could realistically cover for them; I don't live in the D.C. area, after all. It doesn't pay to shoot too high and then not be able to find all those "real people" sources the Post needs.
In all, it took me about an hour to come up with three good ideas, write coherent paragraphs pitching each one and send it to my editor. Normally, I'd try to do this job in about 20 minutes.
Fortunately, my slow-and-steady pace paid off. The editor accepted one of my ideas. I now have a new $500 assignment to show for my willingness to slow down.
It's easy to get overwhelmed with tasks that need to be completed, especially when you're working for yourself. But don't forget to slow down once in a while. There are certain projects you have to give 100-percent effort to.
Not only am I a list person, I'm also someone who really enjoys checking items off a list. It gives me great satisfaction to cross something off as done.
Problem is, sometimes I want to get things off my list -- which on some days stretches to nearly 30 items -- so badly, I'll half-ass some of my projects.
I'm beginning to wonder if this is showing. It's one thing to half-ass my content-writing duties. Even at 50-percent effort, I can still string together coherent sentences into coherent paragraphs. My content-writing clients still love me, as long as I turn my stuff in on time. Of course, sometimes I wonder if my content publishers even read what I send them before they slap the content on the Web.
But when it comes to pitching ideas to print-magazine clients, or when it's time to actually write a story for a newspaper or trade magazine, I have to force myself to slow down. Otherwise, the results are horrible.
This week, I wanted to pitch some real estate story ideas to the Washington Post. I'm working with a new editor at the paper -- the one I'd worked with for more then seven years retired from the paper earlier this year, and is now traveling around the world -- and am still working on establishing a good rapport with her. So instead of rushing through this item on my work checklist, I took a deep breath and ... it was painful, but necessary -- worked slowly.
I thought carefully about the real estate stories that the Post had run recently. I didn't want to duplicate them. I also considered what I could realistically cover for them; I don't live in the D.C. area, after all. It doesn't pay to shoot too high and then not be able to find all those "real people" sources the Post needs.
In all, it took me about an hour to come up with three good ideas, write coherent paragraphs pitching each one and send it to my editor. Normally, I'd try to do this job in about 20 minutes.
Fortunately, my slow-and-steady pace paid off. The editor accepted one of my ideas. I now have a new $500 assignment to show for my willingness to slow down.
It's easy to get overwhelmed with tasks that need to be completed, especially when you're working for yourself. But don't forget to slow down once in a while. There are certain projects you have to give 100-percent effort to.
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