Dear Reader,
Here’s this week’s Featured Publication, with five places you can get published and paid royalties for writing about what you love.
Lori Allen
Director, AWAI Travel Division
P.S. Most blogs don’t pay a lot at first... but they’re a great way to build up your clip file and practice writing on a regular basis.
Travel writing is a fun way to see the world, experience new things, and get paid for telling others about what you see and do. Join us this July at the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop in Denver, Colorado, and learn how you can travel as a paid travel writer and get your articles published in magazines, newspapers, and websites, here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver09.
May 7, 2009
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Featured Publication: Paying blogs
Websites: See below
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WRITE WHAT YOU LIKE, COLLECT MONTHLY ROYALTIES
By Bonnie Caton in Portland, Oregon
Blogging is a fun way to practice writing on a daily (or weekly) basis. You’re free to write about whatever you want. And some blog sites, like Hubpages.com, Helium.com, and AssociatedContent.com pay writers royalties from ad revenue generated by their articles.
As with microstock photography, the payments per article at these sites are very small. But you get paid for them more than once. Call it microfreelancing. Usually, payment is based on page views, or how many people are reading your article and seeing or clicking on the ads on the page.
You might make less than a $1 per article per month when you’re first starting out. But if you can write articles that attract a lot of readers -- and write them often -- you could grow a decent side-income while you practice your writing. And the next time an editor wants to know where you’ve been published, you can send him links to your best online articles.
In most cases, all you need to do to get paid to blog is sign up for a free account, fill out an application, sign a contract, and start blogging. You can be up and running in an afternoon.
Here are five blogs where you can write travel-related content, build your clip file, and get paid:
** Suite101.com
Suite101.com, a veritable online encyclopedia of articles, has an expansive travel section. To become a contributing writer, sign up for a free account, and fill out the online application. You’ll be asked to provide two writing samples. Once you’re approved, you’ll sign a contract agreeing to provide at least 10 new, previously unpublished articles every three months. The contract grants Suite101.com exclusive rights to the articles you submit for one year following publication. You’ll be paid through Paypal once your revenue surpasses $10.
**Hubpages.com
This site gives you a platform for writing about whatever you want, bringing a community of readers to your articles. It’s up to you to set up the advertising on your page. You do so by creating a free account with Google.com, Kontera.com, eBay.com, or Amazon.com, and giving Hubpages.com access to place ads from these sites into your articles. As Hubpages.com generates most of your viewers, it keeps 40% of your ad revenue and you keep 60%. How much you make will be tied to how many articles you produce... and the number of people who read them (and click on the ads).
When you write for Hubpages.com, you keep the rights to your articles. You can even post pieces that you’ve already published elsewhere. You can also earn money by referring new writers.
** AssociatedContent.com
Associatedcontent.com is a little different, in that it pays for articles up-front (between $1 and $20 per article) and also offers royalties based on page views.
When you first begin, you’ll earn $1.50 per 1,000 page views. So if you submit 10 articles to AssociatedContent.com, and each of them gets about 1,000 readers (or page views) per month, then you’ll make $15.00 per month. The more articles you add, and the more page views they attract, the more you earn. As your articles begin to generate more readers, your commission will rise to $2 per 1,000 page views.
** About.com
About.com, owned by the New York Times, gets over 60 million readers per month. To write for About.com, you need to become a “guide,” writing on one specific topic that you know well. After a long application process, you’ll be required to meet standards and produce regular content in the form of articles and blog posts. In return, you’re guaranteed $675 a month in your first two years, plus additional income based on page views. (Average guide compensation is about $2,000 per month.)
Currently needed travel-related guide topics include: Boston, Columbus, OH, Flea Markets & Yard Sales, German Language, Greek Food, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Mountain Biking, Philadelphia, Rodeo, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Scuba Diving, Tampa Bay, and Thailand Travel.
** Helium.com
Helium.com is both a blog and a writing and publishing network with a somewhat complicated payment system. You’ll earn a chunk of ad revenue by writing articles and remaining active in the Helium.com community (commenting on other articles, rating them, improving and updating your own articles, etc.). Helium.com members rate your stories with one to five stars, helping you achieve a higher level in the community and make more money per article.
Another way to get paid is through Helium.com’s “marketplace,” where you can compete for paying assignments. If an outside publisher wants to use an article you’ve written for Helium.com, it will grant the publisher license to use it and offer you a cut.
As a member of Helium.com, you can also participate in any of its numerous writing contests, which offer money prizes for the highest-voted entries.
[Note: Some of the sites above allow you to keep the rights to your writing, whereas others want exclusive rights. If you decide to write for these or similar sites, take care to read the fine print about rights and payment before you sign anything.
Knowing which rights you’re selling when you publish any article anywhere can help you make more money in the long run. When you know what you own, you can submit articles to multiple publications and get paid double -- sometimes triple -- for half the work.
Freelance writer Steenie Harvey is an expert at selling stories to multiple publications. She’ll be talking about rights and how to take advantage of them at the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop this July in Denver, Colorado, here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver09]
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