Venturing into the Online Writing Market

            I write a lot, but I seldom do more than short articles and materials for use in the classes I teach.  I have played with the idea of writing a textbook, but I have yet to take the plunge.  One plunge I did take this summer and continued again during the winter break is trying to write online.  I do write here, but I’m talking about submitting my work and having it approved and published online.

            This summer, after some research and some thought, I chose to try InfoBarrel and Yahoo Contributor Network.  Today I am going to comment about my more successful venture:  Yahoo Contributor Network.

            Yahoo Contributor, as the name implies, is part of the Yahoo group of sites.  Writers who belong to it submit various types of articles for publication in a variety of its sites including Yahoo Voices.  It describes itself as a “platform for crowd-sourced content.”  It does pay writers, but the sums are low.  Still, I decided to give it a try. 

One thing that is nice about the network is its academies.  They are mini lessons that show you what Yahoo wants in terms of content and how to successfully write for the Web.  Once I began taking those courses and putting their advice into practice, my submissions were accepted at a much higher rate.

One thing that is not as nice is that the pay low.  When I have received upfront payments for my articles, they have been only $3 so far.  There is the promise of performance payments for the life of the site, but a writer won’t see payment until she begins to submit consistently and constantly.  One person offered the advice that you should strive for at least two articles a day.  Yahoo Contributor Network starts its performance payment at $1.50 per 1000 views.  You can eventually earn as much as $2.00 per 1000 views.  I took at look at some of the more successful Yahoo Contributor Network writers who have been there since 2005 and 2006.  They have impressive numbers as to how many views, but when I did the math, they earned maybe $8,000 in 7 years.  That’s a little more $1000 a year.  Still the articles they you write request average about 300 words, so I figure it’s worth a try.

Like I said, I’m still new at this, but there is the promise of more, and more importantly, it will force me to write constantly and consistently which will help hone my writing skills for the Web and make my brain function better, so ideas come to me more easily.  Wish me luck!