1. My first post on WordPress – how a blog was born. My old blog site crashed and I lost everything, but valiantly committed to rebuilding. I made sure i posted regularly and the content was worth something to freelancers.
2. The post most fun to write – An interview with Chicago-based mystery writer Libby Hellmann. I so liked talking with her. She gave great advice.
3. Readers contributed to this one – a young writer complained loudly about how the industry failed to accommodate her. Writers rang in and a discussion ensued on LinkedIn.
4. An article on ghosting I wish I had written – It’s worth your time.
5. A title that said it all – I chimed in on the raging battle of why writers shouldn’t have to settle for a pittance.
6. I wish more people had read this three-part series – I felt it was worthwhile to learn about how U.S. copyrighting protects your work. The cool part? You needn’t spend a dime to be protected.

Thanks for browsing. What’s your favorite post at OnText. What do you need to know to get your career super-charged?

Content mills and farms can be good for writers

I’ve written for Suite101 and other content mill farms in various iterations on and off for about 10 years and have seldom been a fan of how they treat writers. But let me say this: Suite101’s newest management team, seems to have a better path.

There have been a confusing number of shake ups there, but now they may have put together a group that understands both the make-money and the treat-writers-with-dignity points-of-view.

How much do writers get paid, and is it on time?

First off, know that Suite101 always pays writers as agreed and on time through Paypal. Like clockwork. Every month. Can’t argue that. Some content  mills don’t pay consistently.

The amount of pay at all content mills if you don’t know how to work the system is minuscule at best. We all know that. Yes, Suite101 touts occasional writers who make “thousands.” Money depends on the topic, the section, and your writing (quality and quantity), PLUS promoting your articles effectively. But thousands? Rare.

As far as residuals, I make enough per month, without writing anything else for Suite101, to cover a nice car payment. Get that – no work, and I cover a car payment. I have about 125 articles up in carefully selected topic areas. My traffic is steady as a clock, no spikes, no dips. If you read my ebook, Writing for Content Mills, you’ll learn how to create a passive revenue stream that can really work — as a stream, not a river.

How Suite101 is fixing some things

Suite101 may, however, be heading in a direction that will increase writers’ rewards. And I don’t mean their contests, which are basically, sophomoric and not very helpful.

What they’ve done right, to my way of thinking, is dumped some of their arrogant, unprofessional, unskilled “editors” in favor of people who at least have experience within the Suite101 environment. The quotas for writers are reasonable. The exposure, no matter what nay-sayers say, is significant if you are in a trending topic. You must be savvy enough to know what topics are trending.

They pay residuals on existing articles, which many, many mills have stopped doing. Examiner, though they promised forever residuals, stopped paying them about a year ago. Suite101 just inked a deal with Google to feed Google News with Suite101 news articles from certain writers. This could mean traffic spikes and more money for certain news topics. Inquiring about writing news features is worthwhile.

How writers can win

Decide what your goal is and what YOU need to advance your freelance business. If you are looking for a way to make a living, look elsewhere. If you seek steady streams of modest revenue, consider Suite101.

I’ll keep you posted on how things progress. This company may end up being a good place for SOME writers.  If you want to know more, post a question here or browse Ontext.com

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