I have written for many different websites and have developed an idea of what I want in a freelance writing website before I will write for it.
When choosing a writing site, I usually read the F.A.Q. page and look for the following topics: how much traffic the site gets, if there is a minimum or maximum number of articles that you can submit, if and how much they pay, what type of content they are looking for, and rights information.
Here is a list of freelance writing sites that I have either written for or checked into. I will tell you if I would write for them and why or why not.
Associated Content: Yes. I have written about 70 articles for this site and have made nearly $250 as of the beginning of June, 2007. I average about $3.50 per article-not much, but more than most sites. I also get a page view bonus and the ability to submit my articles to other sites so that they can make more.
Absolute Write: Most likely. So far, I have looked into the site and have sent a couple of articles to feel out the site. The pay is supposed to be a lot better than many other sites that I have written for.
Epinions: Not anymore! Epinions is a review site. I put five reviews from another site there as prospecting articles. More than one month later, I have only made $0.15 and I have to have $10.00 to cash out. Also, if you don’t write impossibly long reviews, you get a lesser rating on your work. This site is not worth writing for unless you have work from other sites that you put there to make a little more money.
Helium: Yes. I started freelance writing with Helium. At first, I just put up really short articles; then I began putting up mostly articles from other sites to build my profile there. So far, I have 49 articles there and have only made about $11, but I also learned a lot from this site and made great connections. To make at least $25 every month, you have to have a lot of articles on this site, or do a lot of promoting, or invite a lot of people. You make 5% of the money that the people you invite make, it can be lucrative.
Triond: I’m giving serious thought to writing here. They give you 50% of the earnings on your articles and they put your articles on several sites. I have been told that writer can make at least twice as much on Triond as they do on Helium, but you have to give them your article exclusive for one year.
DooYoo: Yes. DooYoo is a review site, but it is supposed to be only for people who live in the U.K. I wrote my first review there, but I’m an American! After I cashed out a gift certificate worth $20 US, I was kicked off of DooYoo, not because I am an American, they are lenient on that policy. It was because I messed up. So let me give you some advice, part of DooYoo is that you should rate other people’s work on the site. When you go to rate other’s work, actually read the reviews, don’t just click whatever everyone else has clicked like I did.
Ezine: Never. This is for a single reason, they do not pay and they make money off of your work. If they were a charity, some kid having fun, or even just a site that groups together informational articles for people to learn from I wouldn’t have a problem. But I will not put my work on a website for free so that someone else can make money off of it. This is the only non-pay site that I will write here because the answer for most of them is the same.
Constant Content: Yes. This site has you putting up your articles in PDF format. You set the price, and people come looking for articles to put on their websites. I haven’t used Constant Content yet, because I can’t do the PDF files on this computer. Once I get a computer of my own, I will be using Constant Content often.
Commonties: Yes. I have heard stories from several different people about themselves and other people making $100-$400 for a short story. I started looking into the site and it seemed too good to be true, so I started asking a lot of people I knew from my writer’s groups and all of them said that Commonties is legitimate. So I wrote a short story for them and am waiting to hear back from them. Commonties use many of their stories in anthology books. As I understand it, they buy exclusive book rights only.
About: Yes. From what I’m told, About pays extremely well, but they are very picky. All articles are exclusive, which is perfectly fine, as they pay a lot. If I could get in, I would probably spend a great deal of time writing for them.
Hub Pages: Yes. This is a good site for promoting. Hub Pages itself doesn’t pay you anything, but you are allowed to put links for different affiliate accounts, which gives you the opportunity to make some money. You can also put up a teaser to your article and a link to where your article is on another site. This is great for writers who want to get more page views on sites that pay for page views.
Gather: Yes. I love this site! You can put up real articles, games, jokes, short stories, whatever you want and other people comment on them. You get points for each comment you receive and for giving others comments. One point equals about $0.02. I have cashed out two $10.00 gift cards from this site and I ma about halfway finished with a third one. If you can get 3000 points in a month’s time, Gather will let you cash out in actual cash! Otherwise, you can only get gift cards to places like Borders. You also have charity options as well.
This list should help many people when deciding what sites to write for and which ones should never be touched.
