Adventures in Freelancing

Okay, there are a few sites in the webiverse that are easy to make some money with and that pay quickly- something Freelancers depend on during slow times. I’ve written about these sites before, but here they are all in one easy post:

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Amazon Turk. It is silly, low paying and sometimes monotonous, but you can make anywhere from $5-$10 per hour sitting at home in your PJs. You can get paid in Amazon Gift cards (which is what I do), or have the cash transferred to your bank account. It’s a nice little way to make a couple of extra dollars to help you out this Christmas.

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 Associated Content. This is a writing site that allows you to write pretty much anything you want. You won’t need a resume or writing sample to start. They have calls for content that pay anywhere from $1 to $4 for a 350 word article. You can also submit your own articles and they will make an offer to you for an up front payment. They usually pay your Paypal account within a week of receiving your submission. Make sure that you do not print your material anywhere else if you accept an upfront payment.

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Digital Point Forums. Okay, this is the dodgiest of all the sites. In the content creation area of this site, you can offer your services to create content, post in forums, comment youtube videos, all kinds of assorted crap. You may need a resume or writing sample for some of the jobs. Before you work for one of the posters, be sure the person has positive iTrader feedback. You will see the iTrader link on the top right of each person’s post. This site pays very little .005-.01 per word for articles, and you have to turn the article in to the buyer and just hope he or she ends up paying you. So far, I’ve not been burned on the site. I don’t do much there though because of the low pay.

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So, there you go! Easy ways to make some extra money before Black Friday. Now, click on my Amazon Affiliate link and make me some extra money

As many of you know, Demand Studios recently reduced the rate they pay for their “User Suggested” titles. This was a huge blow to my personal economy. I love writing for Demand Studios. I enjoy the format, like the pay rate, and enjoyed developing my own titles.

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I understand the reasons for the change in their pricing policy, and I certainly don’t begrudge them their right to change pricing policies in order to maximize their profits. I get that. It does, however, make me think about what I want their role to be in my business.

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Since writers will now only receive $15 payments for the Demand Studios suggested titles, I will limit myself to writing only their suggested titles. I assume this is what they want. Unfortunately by sticking with their suggested titles I am forced to write about the following topics:

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1. Chinese Knife Fighting

2. Blacksmithing

3. Robot, automobile and backyard jet plane building

4. Post workout rectal bleeding

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I will still write for them, but luckily I have many back up gigs.  Bright Hub-which pays slightly less (but they pay page view and link bonuses)- is a gig that gives you popular search terms for subjects and asks you to develop your articles around them. This makes Bright Hub very flexible and fun to write for. I am approved for the Personal Finance, Small Business and Accounting & Business Finance channels- 3 subjects I know oodles about, so I’m pretty comfy there.

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Textbroker pays extremely well and offers a ton of different subjects to write about. When you are a level 5 writer with Textbroker, you get paid more per word than you do with  Demand Studios, which makes the Textbroker client suggested titles definitely more appealing.

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So, I guess my point is that I’ll be doing fewer Demand Studios articles.  Way fewer. 

If you look in the top left corner of my blog, under the blog title, you may notice my new tagline, “making newbie mistakes for you since 2008.” Can you guess what kind of week I’ve had?

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It’s funny, this whole freelancing thing. I know that I have skill, business acumen, ideas…potential. There are, however, many little nuances, and big…well…whatever the antonym for nuance is….things that I don’t know.

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I almost got declined at Bright Hub because I turned in a writing sample that did not pass copyscape. Okay, that’s a pretty big deal. The Editor of the channel I was applying for asked me why it didn’t pass and I explained that it was because I ghostwrote it for a client. She was fine with this and accepted me into the channel as well as two others. So, happy ending, but for Bowie’s sake was I embarrassed! 

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Can someone please learn me on what I can and can’t do with these clips? I need them as samples to show that I can write about certain topics…but what is the right way to show them, use them, prove that I didn’t copy them from someone else? 

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Oh, and for those checking back for the Amy Winehouse pics, please see my personal blog: Notamomma . They seemed to be more appropriate for that blog