Greetings from the PNW! I'm a 33 year old single woman currently working in the telecommunications industry.
I've always liked writing and always took pride in my writing skills, but never considered it as a way to make actual money. When I was in school I always tested far above my grade level, to the point where I was reading and writing at college level by the time I was a sophomore in high school. I started thinking about writing and getting paid for it when I posted on the Women in Red message board on MSN and someone suggested textbroker.com as a way to earn extra money.
Well, I wrote 12 articles at textbroker between $2.50 and $7 before I wised up and asked myself if it was really worth my time to spend three hours researching and writing an article that was going to net me less than $10. So I started looking elsewhere. After signing up for a few of the 'shared revenue' sites like eHow and figuring out that I was never going to do enough pimping my pages to make it worthwhile, I stumbled upon CC. The 35% cut scared me off starting writing for a week or two, but then I happened to look at the list of recently sold content and saw someone sold an article for almost $3,000! I couldn't believe someone would be willing to pay that much for writing. So I've moved myself over to CC. I currently try to write at least one article a night. No sales yet, but I have had two articles accepted so far and six currently in review, which I think is a good start. :)
I must confess, I still peek in on textbroker to see what kind of articles buyers there are asking for. If I see something worthwhile, then I'll write an article and submit it on CC in hopes someone else will want the same thing and be willing to pay a decent amount. Kind of cheating in a way, but hey... They ripped me off at $2.50 an hour, so I don't feel bad.
Newb from Boise
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
Re: Newb from Boise
Hi there sranta and welcome. Ideas come from all sorts of places and I'm sure that as long as you have an original slant and wording, your articles will be welcome here.
By the way, that $3,000 was something of an exception, and was probably payment for a package of articles. You need to price your articles sensibly bearing in mind that you will lose 35% of it to CC. You can certainly earn far more than you have already though.
By the way, that $3,000 was something of an exception, and was probably payment for a package of articles. You need to price your articles sensibly bearing in mind that you will lose 35% of it to CC. You can certainly earn far more than you have already though.
Re: Newb from Boise
Thanks for the welcome. I figured that the $3K article was something of a fluke, since from what I remember in the article title it was on some obscure programming language or something like that. I'm trying to price my own articles close to what the recommendations state. Maybe a little on the high end, but hey, I know I'm worth it. I've had a couple of rejections, but mostly for stuff that was my mistake. Uploading a draft instead of the final, not typing in enough for the summary... That kind of thing.
I have written one tutorial article on BlackBerries that draws on my job experience that hasn't been approved yet, and for that one I'm asking a usage price of $50, unique of $150, and $220 for full. I may write more. We'll see how it goes.
I have written one tutorial article on BlackBerries that draws on my job experience that hasn't been approved yet, and for that one I'm asking a usage price of $50, unique of $150, and $220 for full. I may write more. We'll see how it goes.
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HayleyWriter
- Posts: 536
- Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:28 pm
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Contact:
Re: Newb from Boise
Hi Sranta,
Welcome to CC! In depth articles may command the high fees. I'd say the $3k "article" was really a batch of articles representing a month's work for an author. You may like to consider using the best offer system, which gives prospective buyers an opportunity to make a lower offer, if your price is slightly too high. I use this system but find that many customers will buy the articles at higher prices without negotiating anyway. You can then choose whether or not to accept the offer.
Keep an eye on the recently sold list as this gives you a great idea as to what is selling currently for what prices. The typical prices CC has put on the submission page also give a good idea of what you can reasonably expect for an article. You can certainly make a decent profit for your writing on this site, and selling one article at $50 to $150 is much easier than writing and selling 25 to 75 articles for $2.50, to make the same money. Focus on offering quality articles that provide customers with new information, a new or unique angle to the article, or in depth discussion, if you want to sell at high prices.
Best of luck,
Hayley
Welcome to CC! In depth articles may command the high fees. I'd say the $3k "article" was really a batch of articles representing a month's work for an author. You may like to consider using the best offer system, which gives prospective buyers an opportunity to make a lower offer, if your price is slightly too high. I use this system but find that many customers will buy the articles at higher prices without negotiating anyway. You can then choose whether or not to accept the offer.
Keep an eye on the recently sold list as this gives you a great idea as to what is selling currently for what prices. The typical prices CC has put on the submission page also give a good idea of what you can reasonably expect for an article. You can certainly make a decent profit for your writing on this site, and selling one article at $50 to $150 is much easier than writing and selling 25 to 75 articles for $2.50, to make the same money. Focus on offering quality articles that provide customers with new information, a new or unique angle to the article, or in depth discussion, if you want to sell at high prices.
Best of luck,
Hayley
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Celeste Stewart
- Posts: 3528
- Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:28 pm
- Location: California
- Contact:
Re: Newb from Boise
Hi and welcome!
The $3k article was actually a single project. It was a complete training course on a corporate topic for a regular CC customer. Though a nearly $3K price tag is relatively unusual, big projects and batches of articles aren't all that uncommon. Plus, many writers are quitely making similar amounts one article at a time. The key is to jump in and get started. Good luck!
The $3k article was actually a single project. It was a complete training course on a corporate topic for a regular CC customer. Though a nearly $3K price tag is relatively unusual, big projects and batches of articles aren't all that uncommon. Plus, many writers are quitely making similar amounts one article at a time. The key is to jump in and get started. Good luck!
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Celeste Stewart
- Posts: 3528
- Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:28 pm
- Location: California
- Contact:
Re: Newb from Boise
That's a bummer about the paycut.
By the way, I don't mean to imply that this site is populated with big jobs or that they're easy to land. It's not like a bid site where you'll see big projects posted. Most of the time, the larger projects are the result of relationships that have built slowly over time. Work on writing individual articles, answering requests, and building relationships as you go.
By the way, I don't mean to imply that this site is populated with big jobs or that they're easy to land. It's not like a bid site where you'll see big projects posted. Most of the time, the larger projects are the result of relationships that have built slowly over time. Work on writing individual articles, answering requests, and building relationships as you go.
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BarryDavidson
- Posts: 561
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:10 am
Re: Newb from Boise
Welcome to our planet...
There is money to be made out there. I'll give the same advice I try to beat into my head all the time. Write what you know first. Trust me on this one, you'll drive yourself nuts only trying to write for public requests. Build up a good sized "portfolio" on here, and slip a few public requests in there. (Of course, the going nuts depends on your personality type.)
I like the fun of writing. That's how my wife badgered me back into writing after ten-plus years, and I'm glad she did. When it starts to feel like a job, I have to set it aside for a while. I have enough jobs. I am a house-husband who works part time. You may be one of those people who thrive on deadlines, pressure, etc.
I too have trued several other "writing" sites over the years. I've made some big mistakes as well, and some of my work is basically lost in limbo because I can never assign exclusive rights to it. Revenue/ad-sharing sites are the worst I think. If we had a thirty-million dollar advertising budget to drive traffic to the pages with our work, we definitely wouldn't need to worry about getting paid for our writing.
When I first joined, I found that there were some older public requests on subjects I know and love. I started writing those articles (in my case it was computer related articles), and developed a relationship with two customers. Now they give me first dibs on articles they need. I am honest enough to tell them when a subject is beyond me so that they can find another writer who could get them what they need, when they need it, and do a better job of it.
The first rule of customer service is to get your customer EXACTLY what they need the first time, or send them to someone who can. At least that's my first rule. So develop relationships with customers when the opportunity presents itself, but be true to yourself first.
There is money to be made out there. I'll give the same advice I try to beat into my head all the time. Write what you know first. Trust me on this one, you'll drive yourself nuts only trying to write for public requests. Build up a good sized "portfolio" on here, and slip a few public requests in there. (Of course, the going nuts depends on your personality type.)
I like the fun of writing. That's how my wife badgered me back into writing after ten-plus years, and I'm glad she did. When it starts to feel like a job, I have to set it aside for a while. I have enough jobs. I am a house-husband who works part time. You may be one of those people who thrive on deadlines, pressure, etc.
I too have trued several other "writing" sites over the years. I've made some big mistakes as well, and some of my work is basically lost in limbo because I can never assign exclusive rights to it. Revenue/ad-sharing sites are the worst I think. If we had a thirty-million dollar advertising budget to drive traffic to the pages with our work, we definitely wouldn't need to worry about getting paid for our writing.
When I first joined, I found that there were some older public requests on subjects I know and love. I started writing those articles (in my case it was computer related articles), and developed a relationship with two customers. Now they give me first dibs on articles they need. I am honest enough to tell them when a subject is beyond me so that they can find another writer who could get them what they need, when they need it, and do a better job of it.
The first rule of customer service is to get your customer EXACTLY what they need the first time, or send them to someone who can. At least that's my first rule. So develop relationships with customers when the opportunity presents itself, but be true to yourself first.