CornerScribe

Where to sell your writing

You’re interested in selling some writing, maybe even starting to “freelance,” but where do you go to SELL your work? Here are some of the most popular sites and the pros and cons of using each.

Constant Content

After registering, you’ll submit your work for approval. You can submit content that matches up to a previous request, or you can write whatever you like. After the content is approved, it’s up for sale.

Pros: You can write about what you want and charge what you want. Writers can typically get more from Constant Content than from other sites.

Cons: Your writing skills need to be a bit more polished than other sites might require; otherwise, your content is likely to be rejected. Your content may not sell for quite some time, or ever. In my experience, most of the content sold here will sell for full rights, meaning that the writer gets no byline or credit for the piece. Writers will need to accumulate $50 in earnings before being paid.

Associated Content

Associated Content is similar to Constant Content. Associated Content has different payment categories, some of which pay up-front and others don’t.

Pros: You can get paid something for just about anything you’ve written. Even if they offer no up-front payment, you’ll get paid a small amount for each article based on its page views, so your articles can continue to earn for months or even more. Even better, Associated Content will begin paying you about a week after your first article is bought. Beginning writers will find their work more readily accepted here. Because writers can claim their works publicly, Associated Content also makes a much better portfolio than Constant Content does.

Cons: The pay is pretty low, sometimes only $3-7 per article. Priority is given to content that is unique to the site.

Helium

Helium allows you to post whatever content you want, like Associated Content. However, Helium is unique in that members rate articles, and those ratings determine which articles move to the top of their categories and get the most page views.

Pros: You get paid something for your work, but it may be a small amount since Helium pays a percentage of the advertising revenue the article earns. Helium also has a marketplace where buyers can ask for particular articles, but in my experience there are usually few options there.

Cons: The pay is low. You’ll need to accumulate $25 or more before you get paid.

Suite 101

I can’t speak to the pros and cons of this site since I’m not a member. Unlike the other sites listed here, Suite 101 requires writers to apply to write for them. From that point, they sound a lot like Helium; they pay a percentage of the ad revenue your articles earn.

Xomba is another site that works very much like Helium or Suite 101.  The revenue model for many of these is the same, you earn a share of adsense revenue.

You may be asking, why would I use any of these sites that share their ad revenue when I can write for myself and get all the ad revenue? That’s a good question, and I think it depends on what your ultimate goal is. Writing for your own site will build your blog or website and, over time, increase its traffic. However, you’re likely to earn very little if anything in ad revenue for some time. Sites like Helium can provide you with better initial traffic, and higher earnings. If you’re allowed to put links back to your own site, you can also drive some traffic as well (check the TOS first).

This is what I do. If the content would work well on one of my blogs, that’s where I put it. If it’s an article that I’m interested in writing but that doesn’t fit with my blogs, then I sell it.

Note that I’ve deliberately eliminated sites that pay you to write advertisements and reviews on your own site. Those are a bit of a different animal. I also didn’t include article directories that don’t pay but that drive traffic back to your site. I also didn’t include freelancing sites like elance or guru.  All those are for a future post.

My best advice is to experiment with different sites. Join, write an article or two and see what happens. You may find some easier to work with than others. I tend to post most of my work to Constant Content. If an article doesn’t sell after several weeks, then I might consider placing it on Associated Content or even Helium. In short, try for the biggest payout first, and only later settle for one of the lower paying options.

Weekly Goals Update

Setting and trying to meet these goals has been a great motivator. I’m getting a lot more accomplished than I would have otherwise.

1. Spend one hour writing every morning before work (see my post on Rising Early to Write) I’m going to count this a success. I hit the snooze button a couple times, and I missed two mornings, but the habit is definitely settling in. I feel much better about myself and my work when I begin the day knowing some of my writing is already done.
2. Write 11 blog entries for my three blogs Done
3. Spend two hours EDITING the novel (in addition to the time I spend writing) I didn’t get to this one
4. Spend two hours networking and promoting the blogs Done
5. Write two articles to sell on Constant Content Done
6. Work on the Zombie short story I started a few months ago I didn’t get to this one
7. Go through my e-mail Done

Not bad, huh?

Goals for the coming week

1. Spend one hour writing before work, and use this time exclusively for the novel
2. Write 11 blog entries for my three blogs
3. Spend two hours networking and promoting the blogs
4. Go through my email
5. Write three articles and sell them online
6. Work on the Zombie short story

What are your writing or blogging goals for the week?

Entrecarders, please post RSS feeds here

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To get your RSS address, click your own RSS feed button and paste the url that pops up there.

This will make it easier to keep up with everyone’s newest posts. Thanks!

Writing Helper: Idea vs. Ideal

I think people get these two words mixed up simply because they sound and look alike. In reality, their meanings are quite different.

Idea is a though or inspiration.

• I have a great idea.
• Hey, what’s the idea!

Ideal means perfect (adjective).

• This is not an ideal situation.
• Janet is holding out for her ideal job offer.

Ideal can also be a noun, but it retains the concept of perfection.

• John Kennedy was Bob’s ideal.

Ideal can also refer to something to strive for.

• Many politicians are much too willing to compromise their ideals.

In my experience, people usually say ideal when the mean idea. For instance, “I have a great ideal!” Remember, that’s incorrect, and you’ll drive people like me batty if you do it!

Check out some of my other grammar articles on my Writer Helper page.

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American Idol, for Writers?

I’m talking about WeBook, a site I ran across the other day through StumbleUpon. From their about page…

Webook is an “online book publishing company, which does for the industry what American Idol did for music.”

That’s a pretty interesting intro, don’t you think? From browsing around the site, it looks like you can start a project, collaborate with others on projects, and vote for projects (the American Idol part). I haven’t joined, but I’ll keep it in the back of my head. Right now I’m more focused on finishing my novel than getting started with something like this.

Any members out there?

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Weekly Goals

Photo by Martin Kingsley

I’ve been lax in posting (and achieving) weekly goals for my writing. I do think it helps me get more done, however, so here we go again.

One thing you might have noticed is that I usually set goals that are a bit higher than is reasonable. I know that it’s not likely that I’ll do everything on my list, but having a long list means that I’ll accomplish more in the long run than if I’d set a reasonable goal in the first place. Make sense?

Think of it like this. If you were going to train to compete in a triathlon, you’d train harder than you would if you were training for a 5K. You might never get to the point that you can do a triathlon, but I’ll bet you’ll be in better shape than if you’d shot for the 5K only.

And here are my goals for the week.

1. Spend one hour writing every morning before work (see my post on Rising Early to Write)
2. Write 11 blog entries for my three blogs
3. Spend two hours EDITING the novel (in addition to the time I spend writing)
4. Spend two hours networking and promoting the blogs
5. Write two articles to sell on Constant Content
6. Work on the Zombie short story I started a few months ago
7. Go through my e-mail

Ambitious, yep. But I guarantee I’ll get LOTS of that finished by next weekend. So, set some ambitious goals and see how well you do.

Rising Early to Write

Photo courtesy of clemson

I’m finally going to do it. Really. For sure this time.

I’m going to start getting up an hour early in the mornings to write. And I’m going to keep you updated here on the blog (to help keep me on track).

I’ve been frustrated for a while at my writing time. I don’t get home until 5:30 or 6:00, and my writing is crammed in to my evenings with everything else I need and want to get done. I’m surprised that I get as much accomplished as I do some days.

So, I’m doing to give this a try for a month and see how it works out.

My rules…

1. Spend the 1 hour WRITING, not reading, networking, e-mailing, etc.
2. I can write blog entries, short stories, articles, or work on the novel
3. No editing allowed, just writing
4. I’ll track my word count progres
5. I’ll update the blog frequently (every couple days or so) to let you know my progress

I’ve also set a goal to finish the novel I’m currently working on by the end of July. That’s a lot of work right there, so having an extra hour a day will come in handy.

Anyone care to join me?

Novel Writing Software

Photo courtesy of mysticchildz

I’ve been working hard at finishing/editing my novel, and I just had to share a nice little piece of software that I found.

YWriter

If you’ve been looking at Scrivener and can’t use it because you’re not on a Mac, this might just be the answer.

It has the storyboard layout that I’ve been looking for. You can drag and drop scenes and rearrange them easily, which also means all the text associated with the scene moves too. This is much easier than copy/paste in a word processor.

The thing that really sold me was that it will import works in progress. Go through your existing document and make sure chapter titles are “Chapter 1″ etc. Then, put “* * *” between scenes. (Note, that’s *space*space*). Save your file as RTF.

YWriter’s import tool will bring it in and automatically split it into chapters and scenes. How cool is that?

Writing Prompts

Image Courtesy of Kiwanja

It’s been a while since we did any writing prompts, so I thought it would be fun to do a few.

1. What was the best summer vacation you ever had?
2. What did you like best about summer break?
3. What did you miss most, or least, about school?
4. When did you see the ocean for the first time?

Here are a couple story starters as well.

1. Janice pulled her ragged flannel shirt tighter around her middle despite the oppressive heat. The bus wasn’t crowded, and she found a seat near the middle. It smelled of sweat and perfume and reminded her of her mother.
2. When Frank opened the door to his apartment, he sensed something was wrong. He flipped on the too-bright lights. Everything seemed in order, even the change he had left on the table was untouched. The refrigerator hummed softly, and he watched as his cat padded across the linoleum.

While we’re at it, let’s get outside and do some writing. No need to stay couped us, is there?

Social Media Update

Social media sites can be a great way to promote your blog. However, choose one that fits in with your site’s content and tone. For example, Digg is a great site, but it would be a bad fit for most of my content.

I tend to use StumbleUpon and Twitter primarily. I try not to bombard by followers/friends with links and posts, but many of them are nice enough to Stumble my posts when I do.

The one thing I recommend about using any social media site is to spend time really socializing and contributing before trying to get something back. Many of the people who frequent these sites are very attuned to what they consider “spamming,” and it’s all too easy to seem like you’re in it just for yourself. Remember, these sites are intended for everyone’s use and enjoyment, not as a marketing tool.

If you’re interested in following me, here are some of my social media identities.

Twitter: cornerscribe

StumbleUpon:  cornerscribe

Ravelry: jkay

Please feel free to leave your identities below, and I’ll reciprocate.