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Srategy for making more income from your writing?

Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 1:53 pm
by Mary Shows
I have noticed that some authors who are quite active here also have content on other content sites. Since it appears that CC is the higher quality site and provides the best prices for your work, I am wondering what the strategy is for using other sites. Do you move articles there if they have not sold here after a certain lenght of time? Or are there just certain types of content that do better at the other site(s)? Would anyone be willing to share their thoughts on this subject? I am just trying to find the best way to make a little income from my writing. I admit to being discouraged when I see that one of my articles has had a lot of hits (I assume this means viewings) and has not sold. It makes me wonder, if the viewer was interested enough in the topic to look, what did my article not provide that would make them purchase it? Is there any consensus on when it is time to give up on selling an article here?

Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 2:42 pm
by Celeste Stewart
I'll occasionally dump a few non-performers on Associated Content for a quick boost but that was back when they paid more upfront.... Right now, they're paying by the click too so I've been adding content here and there to see how that program goes.

Also, by having something like AC to fall back on, it makes me more likely to try a specific request that doesn't have widespread appeal because I know if it doesn't sell here, I can get a few bucks out of it over there.

If I think an article will eventually sell here, I'm not gonna move it to AC unless I think it will be a click-generator over there. FOr example, some articles I have over there are bringing in plenty of clicks and now that they're paying per click, I'm getting free money. To me, CC's is much more profitable, AC's just a hobby.

Also, figure a great deal of your "hits" here are other writers checking you out! It's fun seeing what others are writing, what their word count is, etc...

Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 3:14 pm
by Mary Shows
Thanks for the response, Celeste. I never thought about the aspect of writing for a topic with limited appeal and then putting it over there if another article is selected over mine. I hardly ever try for the requests especially if they are only looking for one article but your strategy makes sense and I may start writing for some of those. I do not really understand the "paying for clicks" thing. Anyone care to explain things to a relatively internet illiterate writer?
And, yeah, I realize some of the "hits" on my articles are other writers. I love to read what others are writing. I hate when I get to the part that says "more......" LOL. I want to know .....the rest of the story.
Mary

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:40 pm
by RFHarris
Actually this is the only site I will upload content too for sales. I also use elance, guru.com, lifetips.com for income. I also have my own website for business proposal writing. You want to have a wide variety of income sources because the writing market is volatile. Some months I have so much work I can barely breathe, others I have so little work I am trying to scrape together rent.

You have to do a lot of selling yourself to others. I suggest writing up 5-10 fluff articles--common, non-threating, well written articles across a wide variety of topics and around 500 words that you can send to editors and hr dept as examples along with a well written CV. These are not articles you would sell, but they are your selling points. Selling yourself to editors means you have to answer the WHATS IN IT FOR ME question every buyer (no matter what they are buying) wants to hear.

I also blog like a nutcase. I have two blogs, one professional--which NOBODY EVER READS! LOL and one unprofessional, which gets a lot of readers. My unproffesional blog, if you are bored, is http://zombies.blogspot.com/ pop in an leave me a comment. It always makes me smile when people leave me a comment.

More importantly, write what you know. Don't go for jobs with big pay but you have little experience...I stay away from real estate and travel articles.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 3:07 pm
by Mary Shows
Thanks for the information and advice. I will check out those websites. I guess I need to get more involved in the self-promotion part of writing if I want to increase my income.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:53 pm
by Celeste Stewart
Hi RF, what's Guru like? I have been on ifreelance but the only job I ever won ended up being a TON of work and the guy skunked me and never paid.... ugh. That's why I love CC :)

Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 6:58 pm
by Rhyahcf
I use AC to put articles on that don't sell on here. BUT give them to AC as non-exclusive so you can still offer them for usage over here. I know most people here want full rights, but if you need the money and the AC offer is decent, at least it's immediate money. Then there is always the chance for the article to sell on here for usage. But I pick and choose which articles I do that with. I just submitted one article to AC that I wrote for a request over here but didn't sell and got a decent offer AND it made the front page which means lots of page views, which equals extra money. I also have a website, personal blog, and a blog for 451Press. I link to here from my website but not my blogs.

Rhyah

Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 6:07 pm
by Liberty
RFHarris wrote:Actually this is the only site I will upload content too for sales. I also use elance, guru.com, lifetips.com for income. I also have my own website for business proposal writing. You want to have a wide variety of income sources because the writing market is volatile. Some months I have so much work I can barely breathe, others I have so little work I am trying to scrape together rent.

You have to do a lot of selling yourself to others. I suggest writing up 5-10 fluff articles--common, non-threating, well written articles across a wide variety of topics and around 500 words that you can send to editors and hr dept as examples along with a well written CV. These are not articles you would sell, but they are your selling points. Selling yourself to editors means you have to answer the WHATS IN IT FOR ME question every buyer (no matter what they are buying) wants to hear.

I also blog like a nutcase. I have two blogs, one professional--which NOBODY EVER READS! LOL and one unprofessional, which gets a lot of readers. My unproffesional blog, if you are bored, is http://zombies.blogspot.com/ pop in an leave me a comment. It always makes me smile when people leave me a comment.

More importantly, write what you know. Don't go for jobs with big pay but you have little experience...I stay away from real estate and travel articles.
Can you get paid to write blogs?
I have a blog with myspace and another site that I use to write in frequently. Now I blog as much as I write in my journal, which is like never. Most of my entries are set to private now though, I use to get a lot of readers and started getting web stalkers.
If I can get paid or it I think I can manage to deal with a little web stalking.

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:11 am
by telzzz
There is a site called BlogsVertise dot com and they pay you for reviewing certain websites on your blog. They have some stiff criteria you have to pass, like your blog must be at least 30 days old and updated about 3 times a week - I think they also check on the amount of traffic your blog gets.

I joined last weekend and have already had two $5 posts accepted.

Ok, its not much, but the word count for each blog post was only around 200 words and it gets my blog updated more often. It also helps as I host my blog on my own website, so it counts towards new content for the site too - a good thing where the search engines are concerned.

If you want to see how it looks, my blog is at http://www.thehonestway.com/blog (I guess that's ok as RF posted his blog too!). One of the posts for BlogsVertise is called "Merchant Accounts". Notice I had to include a link to the reviewed site at least 3 times in the text.

So far I've had only one more request (for a site I already reviewed), so I guess they have to spread out the work between bloggers. I won't plan my retirement just yet...

Terry Roberts

Question about use rights

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:13 pm
by mgwhitemti
Hi - I have been writing for CC for a while, but this is my first post. I have a couple of questions about use rights.

When an article sells for use rights, do I need to go back into the article and take out the unique and exclusive price options?

Also ... is it ok to post articles that have sold for use on Associated Contents or other sites, as long as they aren't "free article directories"?

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks

Mary White