Freelance Writing Income From Home

Selling Your Soul as a Freelance Writer

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Sun, 13 May 2018 14:20:00 +0000

It’s shameful how many publications and editors are willing to take advantage of freelance writers. After all, those editors know writers need the work in order to earn income.

They know the writers need the exposure to help build their own reputation and exposure to help them gain new clients in other fields.

What annoys the CRAP out of me are those shameful editors who pretend to publish “reputable” publications, but then demand payment from businesses who want their story to feature in that particular publication.

Are you confused?

Let me draw you a picture.

Let’s assume there’s an online publication out there known as News-stuff Monthly and the editor (and conveniently, also the owner) of that publication is called Jane.

Now, Jane has a little stable of obedient freelance writers who are told what to write every week. Those obedient freelance writers create lots of great content for Jane’s publication that earns her income. That’s nothing new. That’s called publishing. Get over it.

But let’s take the example another level further. Let’s now assume that Jane ALSO owns a marketing company outside of her online publication.

Jane’s marketing company charges clients who want to circulate their news or press releases to the world. She charges a handsome fee for her services. She ALSO charges those same clients a fee for having a freelance writer create a news-worthy ‘article’ that will be published in her online publication.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem as though there’s anything wrong with this business model.

What you might not realize is that the poor shmuck freelance writer doing the work of promoting businesses who are paying for the marketing are being ripped off.

Let’s look a little closer at this particular business model – and how much it stinks.

Fictional editor and publication owner, Jane, receives a press release from a paying client through her marketing company. She pays her pet freelance writer $30 to write an article about that press release to be published in her ‘reputable’ online publication. She sends an email to the poor shmuck writer, outlining the company and story she wants written and issues a deadline of a few hours away, because it simply needs to be published RIGHT NOW.

(Um…. $30? For a 600 word article WITH quotes from company execs and research on the company and a news-worthy story being written? I won’t start a rant about the outrageously low pay for such work. But I digress. Let’s get back to the fictional story.)

So the shmuck writer isn’t given the opportunity to say his or her schedule is already booked with other work. The shmuck writer doesn’t get an option to extend deadline or explain that other, more regular, higher paying clients have standing orders in place that need to be written first.

The megalomaniac editor, Jane, doesn’t want to hear that. The response is to write it NOW, or don’t write for that publication again.

So that silly, gullible writer is told to interview the company CEO and get some exclusive quotes to be published in the online publication NOW. Then that low-paid writer is expected to create a wildly wonderful, newsworthy article that will be published in just a few hours and that story is fully expected to go viral all over social media.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the writer is also expected to promote the piece written on all of his or her own social media profiles to increase circulation?

Go.

The writer stays up for 8 hours researching the piece, working out pertinent questions to ask the company execs, collecting quotes from the CEO, fitting them into the story, ensuring research is correct and completed, foregoing sleep and family, and ignoring personal needs.

For $30.

AND THEN the fictional editor, Jane, decides the article that was written is so great, she publishes it in HER OWN NAME, so the poor shmuck freelance writer doesn’t even get the benefit of a byline for those efforts.

Ugh.

I’m beyond disgusted with this story right now.

Matthew Hays, a Montreal-based author and journalist wrote about a particular ‘writer’ who took press releases received from clients, rewrote them, and then posted them on one of the world’s most popular publications (yes, I'll say it - it was for Huffington Post). His comment about that kind of behavior was:

“This is the exact opposite of what reliable journalism is supposed to be: It’s not about clients paying for advertising, but fair and reasonable assessments of what is going on around us.”

Now, let’s take the consistent abuse of freelance writers by asshole publishers and editors another step further.

Let’s assume that the fictional editor, Jane, and her fictional publication News-stuff Monthly also allows her pet freelance writers their own email addresses from the publication address (for example,. dumb-writer@news-stuff-monthly.com).

No matter what those poor freelance writers send out as questions to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies or marketing execs of globally-recognized brands, the editor goes into the account and edits the content being sent by that writer.

For example, let’s say the writer has posed some questions of a company exec and sent them out. The editor then logs into the writer’s account and asks a few more questions that are redundant in terms of the article being written.

But she does it AND THEN SIGNS OFF AS THE FREELANCE WRITER.

Not only is this extremely unprofessional, but it’s also highly unethical - and likely illegal.

The writer’s reputation in the industry is ruined. The writer’s credibility in the industry is destroyed. The writer’s name becomes known for being nothing more than a cheap hack, writing for a publication that insists on being paid for any kind of publicity offered in their cheap-ass bull$hit publication.

Seriously. It’s ridiculous the lengths some freelance writers will go to just to try and ‘break into’ new markets.

The Moral of the Story

This little ‘fictional’ story is actually happening to a friend of mine RIGHT NOW. He’s a qualified journalist with a long history of writing for some of the world’s most prestigious publications. And he got duped into working with a dodgy publication with an amateur ‘editor’ with a God complex just to get his name into an international market.

And the silly writer won’t stop. Apparently, he thinks he’s getting valuable ‘exposure’ for all those efforts and that below-minimum-wage payment.

Personally, I think he’d be better off flipping burgers and Micky D’s if he wants to earn that kind of bullshit money.

My advice – steer clear from any publication that doesn’t pay PROPERLY for your time and effort.

And completely avoid those editors who only want to use you for what they can get without paying you properly for the privilege of your time and effort.

End rant.

>:[

ContentMart - Great Freelance Writing Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Mon, 08 May 2017 01:19:00 +0000

If you're looking for a steady stream of online freelance writing work, try ContentMart.

ContentMart makes it easy for freelance writers to find good quality writing jobs quickly.

There are always plenty of jobs posted, so writers can pick and choose the projects they want to complete. There are new projects posted every day

What's more, ContentMart accept international writers, so as long as you can write quality articles and receive good ratings from the editors and clients, it's a great way to earn a constant income.

Getting Started with ContentMart

Head over to ContentMart and create your profile. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. You'll be sent an email to verify and activate your account.

Once your account is activated, you'll be asked to complete your profile, including contact information, preferred topics or niches of expertise, and a brief writing sample (about 500 words) to show off your writing style.

Complete the Tests

Before you can start picking up any work with ContentMart you'll be asked to complete some tests to show your proficiency in the fields you've selected as your preferred topics or niches of expertise. Each test is relatively quick and easy, so get them done and completed. You're given a set of 20 questions and given a time limit of 20 minutes to answer them, although it should take much less time than this to complete the test.

Start Writing

Once you've cleared the tests to become a 'Vericate Writer', you're able to start choosing the writing jobs and projects you want to work on. There are thousands of clients who submit regular assignments to the platform, so there are always plenty of jobs to choose from.

Payment

ContentMart has two different payment options. If you're a writer earning US dollars, your funds will be deposited into your PayPal account. However, if you're in India, you're able to withdraw any money you've earned from your writing efforts directly to your bank account once your balance reaches the minimum threshold of 3000 INR

The platform also offers a safe billing system that protects the writer. If a client assigns work to a writer and then cancels the order later, the writer still gets paid.

Referral Program

ContentMart does offer a referral program that pays 10% of the referred writer's earnings for 12 months. You'll find your referral link in your portfolio after you've completed the sign-up process.

If you know some writers who would like the opportunity to increase their freelance writing income, you can refer them to the platform and earn a bonus for your efforts.

And yes, all the links to ContentMart shown on this page are referral links. If you sign up using this link, I get a bit of a bonus that helps me keep this blog free.

:)

Content Gather - Alternative to Constant Content?

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 00:58:00 +0000

If you're searching for somewhere to sell your articles as an alternative to Constant Content, perhaps Content Gather could be a good solution for your needs?

Content Gather is a relatively new marketplace that allows writers to list their articles for sale in the hopes that buyers will come along and purchase them.

How Content Gather Works

There is no approval process to go through, but editors do take the time to approve each article submitted individually as it is uploaded by the writer. The editors assign a rating to each article submitted to the marketplace, between 1 and 10.

That rating, along with various other factors, such as the number of articles sold, ratio of approved-to-rejected articles, and the age of your account, will determine your overall account level.

The account levels available are:

Bronze
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Diamond

Your account level affects the number and quality of custom orders you can see on your account. The level also dictates the maximum price per word you're able to charge for any articles you submit to the marketplace. You can learn more about the writer rating system and how your rating is calculated here: https://contentgather.com/faq-writers

What Can You Write?

Content Gather is an article marketplace, so you can basically write any article you feel like writing on any topic that captures your interest and submit it for approval. There is no limit to how much you can write and submit to the marketplace.

The site does offer customer the option of ordering custom content, so there are opportunities for writers to receive orders to write custom content.

Fees

Content Gather takes a 20% cut of whatever you sell on their marketplace. That's pretty steep, but when you compare it to the whopping 35% cut taken by sites like Constant Content, it's suddenly not so bad.

Payment

Payment is made via Paypal as long as you have more than $5 in your account.

However, payments below $10 will attract a fee of $0.50. If you wait until your account reaches $10 or more, you won't pay a fee for the payment to be processed.

You can request a payment at any time throughout the month as long as your account balance is higher than the minimum amount required.

Advance Payment

The biggest factor that attracted my attention is that Content Gather offers writers a small advance payment on any articles approved for submission into the marketplace. Essentially, you get paid before it even sells!

If you're a Silver-level writer, you'll receive an advance of 5% of the cost of the article listed on the market place. The amount you can earn as an advance payment increases until you reach the 15% advance payment Diamond-level writers receive.

Writer Level	Advance Payment (% of Article Price)	Maximum Listings
Bronze	0%	N/A
Silver	5%	20
Gold	7%	25
Platinum	10%	30
Diamond	15%	50

Even if your articles don't sell right away, you're still earning at least some money for your efforts.

The 'Maximum Listings' column shows the number of articles a writer can have listed on the marketplace that will attract an advance payment. However, you are allowed to submit as many articles as you want over the maximum listings limit if you wish. You just won't receive an advance payment on additional articles you submit.

Keep in mind that you can delete your articles at any time and the rights revert back to you. However, you will need to pay back your advance payment if you do this.

Reliability

Content Gather is still only a relatively new site, opened in late 2016. However, the company who owns it used to also run PostLoop, a company that used to pay writers to post on forums, so they have a history of being reliable with payments.

Referral Program

Content Gather does have a referral program. They pay 5% of any sales generated by writers you refer.

The links shown on this page to Content Gather are referral links, so if you decide to sign up with the site, I will receive 5% of any sales you make. Keep in mind that your own payment doesn't change. You still earn the same amount. The company still takes the same 20% of your sales. However, I get a little bonus for introducing you to the site.

Final Thoughts

Constant Content has dominated the article marketplace scene for so many years that it's nice for writers to finally have an alternative option. The site is only new, which means it's competing with larger well-established sites for attention from buyers, so it remains to be seen whether sales pick up over time.

Let me know if you've dealt with Content Gather and what your experiences were like. It will be interesting to watch their progress as they grow.

GreenPrints Magazine - Freelance Writing Market

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 04:10:00 +0000

Do you have a personal story about gardening?

GreenPrints Magazine (The Weeder's Digest) is America's only not-how-to gardening magazine. They're not so concerned with the 'how' of gardening - they really want to hear more about the 'why'.

Write an article about your gardening tale and GreenPrints Magazine could pay you up to $150 US for your story.

GreenPrints Magazine wants to hear about the passion or frustration or enjoyment you get from gardening, so don't submit basic 'how-to' articles.

Their website says they want the following types of articles:

"Expressive, thoughtful, humorous, angry, contrite, flippant, searching, witty, observant, sad, inviting— whatever! We focus on the human, not how-to side of gardening."

If you're not sure what style of writing their editors want to see, take some time to browse through their sample stories (here: http://www.greenprints.com/content/7-sample-stories). These samples should give you a clearer idea of the style and tone of article they expect from submissions, which makes it easier for you to get your submissions accepted and paid for!

You'll find the full submission guidelines for GreenPrints Magazine here: http://www.greenprints.com/content/12-writer-guidelines

If you're tired of only getting paid pennies for your freelance writing, it's time to start looking at higher paying markets that pay you properly for your time and your efforts.

Good luck :)

My Next Foray into Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:15:00 +0000

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you'll know I'm a BIG advocate of writers enhancing their own incomes by putting their writing talents to good use. That means finding ways to earn more money from your freelance writing efforts.

As a freelance writer, there are SO many opportunities to earn more and more money from your talents. You can create your own blog and find ways to monetize your content. You can write for private clients. You can sell your writing on private marketplaces, such as Constant Content. You can join content mills and write random content for clients. You can pitch your article ideas to magazine editors or newspaper editors.

Or you can create passive income from royalties on ebook sales.

That's right. When you take the time to write an ebook, you do all the work of perfecting your manuscript. You create the content. You edit the words you wrote. You polish your creation and then you publish it. Each time someone buys a copy of your book, you earn a little more income, known as royalties.

Now, if you've read any of my previous posts you'll already know I despise the idea of revenue-share sites. Sharing the revenue some other website owner earns really isn't true passive income at all.

But I seriously LOVE the whole idea of royalties on book sales.

So... Would you like to see the latest series of ebooks I've just released via the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform? Okay, here they are....

Amazon.com Widgets

Yay!! I'm really pleased with how they turned out.
Here's the fun part - I'll be releasing ONE book per day as a freebie download over the next few days. So if you'd like to check out my Kindle ebooks without paying for them, keep an eye on the freebie lists. They'll only be free for 24 hours each, but I've already set the promotion dates for each of them. Take advantage of them while they're available.
Oh - and if you do download them, I'd love it if you'd take the time to leave a review. That would be awesome

Can You Leverage Amazon’s Kindle Publishing to Boost Your Freelance Writing Income?

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 27 May 2014 04:36:00 +0000

Can You Leverage Amazon’s Kindle Publishing to Boost Your Freelance Writing Income?

Did you know there are more than 18 million Kindle devices worldwide? There are almost half a billion Android devices out there as well, along with almost 400 million Apple iOS devices, all of which can download and read Kindle ebooks. Of course, you’re also able to read Kindle ebooks right from your desktop computer screen, using the right software to make reading accessible.

That’s certainly a lot of people around the world with access to downloading and reading ebooks. Of course, Amazon lists almost 2 million ebooks in their e-bookstore for you to browse and choose from. When you combine the sheer number of people browsing for something to read with the massive traffic Amazon generates, it’s easy to see why so many writers are jumping onto the Kindle publishing bandwagon.

So how can a freelance writer leverage the power of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform to boost freelance income?

It’s much easier than you think….

Write Your Knowledge

No matter what your clients might pay you to write, it’s very likely you’ll have a hobby or passion that you enjoy writing about in your own time. Think about what you already know a lot about. You might have a great way to help moms think up healthy meals that kids love. You might know a good way to train dogs to be perfect puppies.

You might love gardening and have plenty of knowledge to teach others who have never even pulled a weed before. Your hobby might be golf or fishing or sailing or jogging or….

You get the point. Think about what you already know. Make some notes about your knowledge. Compile those notes into some kind of logical order and turn them into an ebook.

Write Your Research

If you’ve been a freelance writer for any length of time, chances are you’ve written about some strange, bizarre, fascinating, obscure, interesting, helpful and truly weird topics for your clients. I still get surprised by some of the odd topics my clients order from me at times.

Of course, before I write anything at all I spend some time researching the topic. I always keep my research filed for future reference, just in case.

When I’m out of ideas for something new to write, I’ll go back through my research files. It’s sometimes entertaining to see the variety of topics I have lots of information about. Collate your information. Sort it into logical order and turn it into an ebook.

Write from Imagination

Yes, there’s always room for a freelance writer to get creative. Spark that imaginative flair and write a short story or a short novel. Write the type of stories you love to read. Format your story nicely and turn it into an ebook.

Why Bother with Kindle Publishing?

When I first heard about writers making decent incomes on Amazon via the Kindle ebookstore, I screwed up my nose and decided it wasn’t for me. After all, if ebooks are selling for .99 cents per download, that’s mere pennies.

Surely my time is better spent writing highly paid articles, right?

Boy, was I wrong.

You see, a friend of mine jumped onto the bandwagon a few years ago (yes, it’s my regular friend and mentor, Lee. Hi, Lee…) She wrote some simple ‘how-to’ ebooks and published them under a pen name. Her sales were steady, so she wrote some more in a different niche under a different pen name.

Two years later, she has a series of best-selling novels and a huge collection of ‘how-to’ series generating more income than she used to earn writing full time as a freelance writer. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know Lee has a team of 12 freelance writers working for her almost full time just to keep up with orders.

Many of her smaller titles don’t make significant amounts of money on their own. In fact, she has a couple of titles that maybe churn $40-$50 per month each. Nothing to write home about, surely.

But then she released those big profitable best-selling fiction titles that blew her monthly income through the roof! Rather than write another series of high-paying fiction, she promptly released another quick series of how-to books again.

My first question to her was: “Why didn’t you focus on writing the more profitable fiction stuff to start with?”

Her answer surprised me. She said “I write full time as a freelance writer. Orders from the clients come first. In my spare time I put together well-researched chapters about information that people need or want or find helpful. It’s all I had time to do.”

Then she said: “Besides, if you write something straightforward like a how-to instructional book, you’re working from reference material. You can have it finished in a matter of days, spend another couple of days editing it for quality and then publish it right away. Writing fiction takes time. A LOT of time. And patience. And creativity. And more time.”

In essence, those short simple non-fiction books and how-to books might only earn $50 per month. But imagine if you had 10 of them selling comfortably every month. Imagine if you had 20 of them. Or 50. Or 100! That would be cool.

And then you’d have income coming in that would allow you to focus on the more time-consuming fiction writing that has the potential to earn even more money each month.

By diversifying the types of books she has for sale, her income can’t be affected if sales of one or two slow down, or if a particular topic goes out of style. She spread her risk and guaranteed her income.

Why All the Different Pen Names?

Now, my friend has an easily-recognizable name in the writing industry. Yet she released a large percentage of her ebooks under different pen names.

I just couldn’t work out why she wouldn’t want to capitalize on the recognition of her own name. Again, I asked her why.

She said: “I chose to use different pen names across different genres to keep them separate.”

If you love to read romance fiction from one author and she also wrote nasty, gory horror books, or books about making model trains, or wrote about cooking with gluten-free ingredients, or wrote about cultivating a worm farm in your back yard, would you buy those too just because her name is on the cover?

Or would you stick to the genres and topics you prefer and follow individual authors across your chosen niches?

Why Start with Simple Books?

That first series of basic how-to books taught her the intricacies of Kindle Publishing. It taught her about the formatting requirements and how Amazon’s formatting can sometimes skew your paragraphs and page breaks. She learned how to tweak her book descriptions to boost sales a bit more. It taught her about book promotion and marketing tactics. And it taught her how to work through the payment systems Amazon has in place for earnings in different currencies.

I really thought about my friend’s advice long and hard. I definitely saw the benefits of learning the industry and the publishing platform with a series of simple books. I also saw the benefit of having a consistent income rolling in each month on books that were faster to write, giving me some freedom later to write more detailed work.

How Do You Promote Your Kindle Books?

I asked my friend how she promotes her books. She promptly wrote an article for her own blog so everyone can learn some marketing basics. You can find her article about Kindle book promotion here: http://fictionfactor.com/articles/book-promotion-tips-for-marketing-your-amazon-kindle-ebook/

So….

When is your first Kindle ebook being launched on Amazon’s ebookstore? Let me know your thoughts on the whole ebook publishing idea.

;)

Paying Tax On Freelance Writing Earnings as an International Writer - Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 05:35:00 +0000

I wrote at length about paying tax on freelance writing earnings as an international writer in an earlier post (here: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/paying-tax-as-international-freelance.html)

The original post looks at tracking your ACTUAL foreign income earnings from other countries in each different currency. It also looks at being accurate about tracking your converted earnings to your local currency as soon as you earn it so you're able to pay taxes correctly in the right currency.

While I provided a few examples to illustrate where you should be paying your own taxes, one reader offered an example I didn't cover.

Jords wrote:
What about this. A further complication....
Australian writer, living in Spain for the year.

Australian government still classifies me as a resident for tax purposes. Spanish tax office says I need to pay tax here as I will be here for more that 180 days.

Any advice before I pull my last hairs out.

That's an interesting dilemma - but it's not impossible.

Here's how I would work this situation:

Let's assume Jords is earning a mix of US dollars, Euros and UK pounds. Being an Australian writer, Jords still needs to pay taxes in Australia to the Australian taxation office each year.

However, the Spanish tax office wants Jords to pay taxes on earnings in Spain as well. I note that the Spanish financial year runs from 1 January to 31 December, while the Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. This overlap is a real pain in the @$$ (it's also the same overlap with the Aussie to US financial year).

I don't have to pay tax in Spain, but I sometimes end up paying tax in the US during that overlap of financial year.

So... let's get into it.

Step One: Create a spreadsheet that shows precisely how much was earned in foreign currency AND how much that converts to in Aussie dollars in the next column. Create a new column to reflect how much the same amount converts to in Euros. Tally each column at the end of the reporting timeframe.

Step Two: Register your Australian writing business to complete your BAS (Business Activity Statement) quarterly via the Australian Taxation Office web portal. (this is a painful exercise all by itself.... but awesome once it's set up)

Step Three: Enter ALL your non-Australian writing earnings into the 'foreign income' category, (no GST paid on foreign income - yay) but be ABSOLUTELY certain you enter the Australian-dollar equivalent amount into the form. If you also earn Aussie dollars, enter that amount into the regular income section, along with any GST claimed (if applicable). Provide a total income amount and your quarterly PAYE tax amount will be calculated automatically for you. You CAN amend this down to zero on the online form if you wish, but it's not usually a good idea.

Step Four: Declare any tax you have already paid to the Spanish tax office on your quarterly BAS AND your annual Aussie tax return. After all, you don't want to be paying taxes on the same income twice in two countries!

Step Five: Declare any tax you have already paid to the Australian tax office on your Spanish tax return. From what I can tell, Spain won't care what you've already paid elsewhere. But the Aussie tax office DOES! They should (.... remember the operative word here is should!) reduce the amount of tax owed here in the form of a tax credit for amounts already paid overseas on the same income amounts.

Step Six: Keep track of the two different end-of-financial year dates and be aware of the overlap. Always double-check your conversion rates and always report in the correctly converted currency. You're reporting in two different countries with very different tax laws, so it matters that you get it right.

Step Seven: Learn as much as you can about what's deductible in which tax system for where you live. After all, there are some benefits to earning foreign income living abroad in terms of deductions and costings with the ATO. This will help keep your taxes down :)

***Important Note: I am not an accountant! I am just a freelance writer earning money from multiple countries in a variety of currencies.***

I hope this helps :)

How to Get a 30% Increase in Amazon Kindle Royalties

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:53:00 +0000

Have you written and published anything on the Amazon Kindle store yet? You're a freelance writer, after all. It makes sense to write your own stuff along with articles for clients too.

I've had a couple of different book series selling well in the Kindle bookstore for almost 2 years now and they royalties are really handy each month.

The biggest problem I've had as a non-US author is that Amazon insist on withholding 30% of my royalty income and giving it to the IRS. You see, when you sign up for your Kindle Direct Publishing account, you're required to submit a short tax questionnaire. Your answers determine whether they withhold almost a third of your income or not.

The only way I had to get that income back into my account where it belongs was to submit a tax return in the US each year. That's really painful, especially since I already submit a tax return here in Australia at a different time every year.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when my long-time friend and mentor figured out a way to get out of paying that 30% withholding amount.

You can find the original article, along with instructions how to stop the IRS from withholding 30% of your royalty payments here:
http://fictionfactor.com/articles/getting-out-of-the-30-tax-withholding-for-non-us-amazon-kindle-authors/

Now, I followed the instructions and I figure it took me around 15 minutes to complete the necessary steps. The IRS issued me a new EIN immediately.

I logged into my Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing account, re-submitted the tax questionnaire with the EIN included and now they don't withhold ANYTHING from my income.

That's an instant 30% pay rise I just received on my royalty checks each month!! Thanks for the tip, Lee. The additional income is MUCH appreciated.

:)

Bubblews Has NO Confidence In Its Own Future!

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 11:46:00 +0000

You may recall I wrote at some length about whether its worth writing for a site called "Bubblews" earlier on this blog. After learning that you give up all your rights to anything you post there, and after comparing the low pay to real freelance writing opportunities available (here and here) I gave up trying to help those writers who seem to be somewhat brainwashed by the whole pennies-per-hour culture.

I also learned they are asking people to "interview" the site owners. According to the Bubblews website, they're happy for ANYONE to email them with questions they say they will answer "honestly".

Of course, in my efforts to warn REAL online freelance writers away from rip-off scam sites paying writers pennies-per-hour for their time and effort, I immediately emailed the Bubblews staff a list of questions at once!

Here is an exact copy of the email I sent:

I own a blog that focuses on helping freelance writers increase their income from home. The blog is at http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com

My questions are as follows:

1) What do you see Bubblews evolving into over the next 12 months? Or will it stay as it is right now?

2) Does the threat of a "Google Slap" punishment for low-quality content bother Bubblews in any way in terms of traffic or advertising revenue?

3) Is the revenue-share model and payment structure you've adopted for Bubblews sustainable over the long term, or is the payment structure chosen simply a way to build popularity during the start-up phase?

4) Is there a valid reason as to why so many people receive zero response from admin staff to queries received regarding redemption issues, other than "we're too busy"?

5) Do you actively employ writers directly to endorse the site on this site, or any others, in blog posts, Bubbles, or other forms of endorsement, to improve the perception of Bubblews, or to enhance the online reputation of the company?

Thank you in advance for your responses. I'm certain my blog readers will be very keen to see your replies.

That email was sent to Bubblews almost 2 months ago. As expected, I received ZERO response.

Apparently, the Bubblews management, admin and staff only bother to respond to people who offer them positive feedback on their amateur efforts, their low pay and their poorly designed, badly coded and unreliably hosted site. They don't seem interested in honest questions from real freelance writers who want honest answers.

If you're one of those poor, mistreated, misled, underpaid people being paid a few pathetic pennies-per-hour for your time and effort on Bubblews, I'd love to hear from you.

Likewise, if you've managed to get the Bubblews team to respond to your interview questions at all, I'd REALLY love to read their responses to your questions - almost as much as I'd like to read your initial questions.

After all, any long-term professional website with any credibility or future would happily answer questions from ALL their readers - not just the brain-washed slaves willing to sing their praises...

Are You Giving Away All Your Rights When You Write on Bubblews?

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 21:28:00 +0000

Blowing Bubblews

You've probably heard all the hype surrounding revenue-share site Bubblews. There are plenty of people singing the praises for Bubblews being an 'easy way to make money online'.

The rules are so simple. Write about anything you want, make sure your post is at least 400 characters long, post it and you make money. 400 characters is around 100 words, so it's quick to get going.

What could be easier?

The site is filled with thousands of people posting endless 'bubbles' about what they ate for breakfast or about some mundane thing they saw on the way to work.

There are also loads of posts containing highly personal information, such as kid's names, family member's names, pet names, locations of where they live, personal family photos, and other personal trivia.

Of course, there are also people there willing to publish their own creative inspirations, such as poems and short stories, all in the hopes of earning a few extra pennies.

What Are Your Rights?

When you write anything at all for Bubblews, you do all the hard work. You do the writing. You promote your posts. You try hard to find more people to view your work. And then Bubblews pay you a few pennies (if you get paid at all, that is....)

But what does Bubblews get out of the bargain?

Maybe it's time to read their Terms of Use a bit more closely and see what you're REALLY giving away.

If you look at Paragraph 5, Section C in some detail, you'll notice a lot of legal sounding jargon that looks as follows:

Bubblews.com owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to it. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part.

Is Your Work Still Your Own?

So, once you've published your 'work' on Bubblews, do you still own it? Or is the copyright for your work handed over to Bubblews in return for a few pennies?

What about those beloved photos of your kids and pets you posted to the site? How about those precious poems you labored over during their creation? Do the rights for those now belong to the site's owners?

I've seen it written that many people are happy to post "otherwise under-performing" articles on Bubblews in the hopes of making a few extra cents.

When the next big revenue-share site fad is launched and you want to shift your work over to the new site, what happens then? If you delete your own posts on Bubblews, they deduct money from your account. If you don't have much in your account, your bank balance will drop to a negative figure indicating that YOU owe THEM money for removing THEIR content!

Let's find the nicely worded section in the Terms of Use that explains that little bit of trivia more clearly. You'll find it in Paragraph 5, Section D:

...you grant Bubblews.com and its assignees and licensees right to review and make public any and all game play, film, photograph and record your name, nickname, pseudonym, persona, picture, biographical material, voice and/or likeness and to use and distribute the same in any manner or media whatsoever, by any and all means, media, devices, processes and technology now or hereafter known or devised anywhere in the universe at anytime in perpetuity, for any lawful purpose whatsoever, including advertising, publicity or trade.

Blowing Bubblews Back at You

In Paragraph 5, Section D, it actually states that by posting any of your work to Bubblews, you're handing it over to them in exchange for a few pennies. That's right, folks, they can do what they want with YOUR hard work. You accepted the pennies in payment and they get to do what they want with YOUR work, photos, artwork or whatever else you post to the site.

Aren't you generous?

By submitting material to any public area of this Site, or otherwise submitting materials to Bubblews.com, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such material has expressly granted Bubblews.com the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, edit, creative derivative works from, distribute, and sub-license such material (in whole or in part, through multiple tiers and/or via syndication) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in such material. You also permit any other user to access, view, store or reproduce the material for their personal use.

What About Using Graphics on Your Bubblews Posts?

Almost everyone uses graphics to highlight their Bubblews posts. Some people make their own graphics featuring nothing more than their name or random pictures. (yes, Bubblews owns those too - you submitted them. You got a couple pennies. They're not yours any longer...)

However, lots of people choose to use images from royalty-free stock sites. As long as you have the rights to use and reprint those images - and you credit the source correctly - you have no problem.

But if you spend even 5 minutes on the site, you'll see tons of Bubblews posts float past the 'recent additions' scroll featuring images that are copyrighted to other people. There are pictures of celebrities and products and name brands floating around on the site at any time.

So, what happens when the rightful copyright owners decide to take up legal action against Bubblews for publishing a copyrighted image? Yet again, their Terms of Use make it really clear how they intend to deal with that. Just read Paragraph 6, that states:

Any controversy, claim or dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms of Service, its breach or claimed breach shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules in Virginia, except that, to the extent you have in any manner violated or threatened to violate Bubblews.com 's intellectual property or confidentiality rights, Bubblews.com may seek injunctive, monetary or other appropriate relief in any state or federal court in the State of Virginia (and Bubblews.com may assert both intellectual property causes of action and other appropriate causes of action in any such action), and you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in such courts.

Awesome!
They even TELL you they're coming after you to seek compensation for any damages YOU caused them by publishing whatever you want in your 'bubbles'.

Did Bubblews Make it Clear Enough Yet?

Just in case you didn't read the rest of the Terms of Use on the Bubblews website, they decided to make it abundantly clear in Paragraph 8 that YOU will be held responsible if someone decides to pursue legal action against them in anyway, including coming after YOU for their expenses and fees:

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Bubblews.com, Bubblews.com affiliated companies and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, assignees and licensees from and against all claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, resulting from (i) any breach of these Terms of Service or your negligent and wrongful conduct; (ii) your use and access of this Site, including the posting of any content on this Site by you; and (iii) violation by you of any applicable law, rule or regulation.

Think Before You Bubble

If you're happy bubbling away on Bubblews, fine. Go for it! Have fun!

Just be sure you think about what you're posting - because you're giving away all your rights the moment you hit that submit button.

I still refuse to endorse any site that makes getting paid a random event.

Claiming Foreign Earnings as Export Income for International Freelance Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 23:18:00 +0000

A reader left an interesting comment on a previous post about international freelance writing income: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/benefits-of-being-international-writer.html

Emma asked:
Hi Bianca, I was wondering how you claim income if it is not a full rights sale of an article and the income is from a foreign country? For example, if you earn residual income from a company like Hubpages where you do not sell them your article, or if you earn income from an affiliate sale that came from an article written on your own site about a product? Do you still claim these as export income, or as regular income?

Basically, if you earn any income from a foreign country in a currency that is different to your own local currency, it's instantly foreign income - regardless of where you earned it.

For example: if you live in Canada and you sell an article to a US client and you're paid in US dollars, you earned foreign income.

Now, Emma's questions was more about residual income, such as through HubPages. In this case, you're not selling your own article, but you ARE still earning foreign income. The amount you earned is still paid to you in US dollars and it still forms part of your freelance business's revenue.

Obviously, you'll need to convert that income to your own local currency in order to spend it. But the amount you earned was still derived from a foreign source.

Personally, the Australian Taxation Office asks that I report ALL income in Australian dollars. Yet I earn the vast majority of my income in US dollars, Canadian dollars, British pounds or Euros.

So I keep a spreadsheet that shows me exactly how much I received in which currency AND what that amount of money equates to after it's been converted to Australian dollars. I also take careful note of any fees charged for the exchange, as those are tax deductible for me.

Then I report the TOTAL income amount to the Australian Taxation Office - but the form includes two separate components: one is for locally earned money and the other is for export income earned. It's important to keep the amounts separated wherever you can.

While the total income may be shown in your local currency, one component of your income will be comprised of foreign earnings. Those foreign earnings are usually taxed differently within most countries' taxation laws. It pays to ask your accountant how this works for your own country's laws and how you should report it, just to be sure you're getting it right.

What If You're Paid in Local Currency from a Foreign Source?

One aspect of foreign earnings that can be very tricky is when you're paid in your local currency, but the source is still a foreign client.

As an example, if you set up a Google Adsense account you can change the currency you receive to be the same as your local currency. I personally receive Australian dollars when I reach payout with Google.

However, the client is still American. The source of the income is still American, despite the fact that they pay my in Australian dollars.

Therefore, any income I earn from Adsense ads is automatically export earnings and is considered foreign income.

I hope this helps!

Increase Freelance Writing Income by Broadening Your Income Sources

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 07:41:00 +0000

There are so many writers around complaining about how hard it is to make a decent income from writing articles these days. Unless you've signed up to a site paying pennies-per-hour for your time and effort, nothing could be further from the truth! I’ve been writing full-time for 8 years now and I’ve learned that a good writer can easily earn a full-time income from their writing efforts.

In order to break away from the low-paying ranks, you’ll need to treat your writing as a business proposition – and this means learning to make sure your business has as many streams of income coming into it as you possibly can. The key to making this work for you is to treat your writing skills as a viable, marketable product - and then go out and find the right customers for your particular products

In business terms this is called “broadening your debtor base” but it simply means making sure that there is always money coming in from someone, somewhere, all the time. If you rely on just one source of income, then you’re really in trouble if that one source dries up! The more sources of income you have coming into the business, the more chance you have of getting your business to grow to a six-figure income.

Here are some of my favorite options for keeping my writing business strong:

1) Write Articles Offline

This is the main income source for my writing business. I’ll write about whatever topic comes into my head. Selling articles to magazines and newspapers is fun, challenging and rewarding - and pays a whole lot MORE than any writing market you'll find online. Do a Google Search for “Writer’s Market Listings” and search out the high-paying magazines actively looking to pay big dollars for quality articles.

2) Write Articles Online

This has become a secondary form of income for me in the last year because the pay is about 1/10 of what you could earn by writing for offline publications. Even though the pay-rate is lower, the potential for quick, easy, repeat-business means quick cash into your writing business.

Marketplaces like Constant Content make it very easy to write anything you feel like. You set your own prices and wait for buyers to snap them up. I've written a lot about how to earn more from Constant Content sales on this blog already, so check them out (http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/increasing-your-freelance-income-with.html)

You can also find plenty of private clients willing to pay good rates for professional, reliable writers to create content for them. If you're really stuck, you'll also find various content mills around the place offering to pay a flat rate for articles you generate.

3) Royalties

I am always amazed when I meet a writer who is serious about earning a full-time income from writing - and they haven't even considered the true value of earning royalties for their skills. You get paid royalties for writing a book, novella or short story and publishing it with a good publisher or publishing platform. It doesn't matter whether your work is non-fiction and informational in nature or a fictional story you created. You do the work once and you earn money for each sale you make for as long as that work remains available for sale! Such an easy option to boost income for any real freelance writer. You will have to think about some book promotion and marketing tactics to keep sales coming in, but it's really easy when you know how.

4) Write Fillers

This one is a weird little writing market – but it’s one of my favorites. The pay-rate per word is so high and the work is so quick that you can churn out quite a lot of these every week and make good money. A “filler” is the tiny snippet of information you'll find in multiple places and pages inside every magazine. It might be a joke or a riddle or a funny saying or puzzle or even a recipe. Many glossy magazines will pay $20-$25 for a 50-word phrase or joke or recipe. That’s great money for very little work!

5) Paid Blogging

I’ve had a blog for a while but it never occurred to me that people would pay me to post in my own blog! But they do. My logic in taking on this extra source of writing income was that I’m now being paid to do what I was doing anyway! There are sites around that will pay you to blog about topics their clients want. Others will pay you to create blog posts for their own blogs. Easy money.

6) Building Your Own Blog

When you write on your own blog, you're building your brand. You have the freedom to monetize your site however you choose and it's likely you'll be happy to share the links to your blog posts on various social media sites you have profiles on. You're building a readership at the same time as giving you another platform to write on.

7) Value Your Time

If you're serious about earning a full-time income that will cover your bills and sustain your lifestyle comfortably, it's important you take stock of how much you're earning for your efforts in the time you spend. As an example, if you spend 1 hour writing an article you intend to sell on Constant Content for $50, it's likely you're earning around $32.50 per hour (that's after CC take their fee from your sale). However, if you spend waste 50 hours per week trying to earn $50 on a pennies-per-hour amateur site like Bubblews, you're earning $1 per hour.

Always monitor the hourly rate you're earning for your writing skills and talents. Have some self-respect and get rid of any writing avenue that doesn't match up to the amount you need to survive. Be brave enough to replace low paying sources with better quality clients or writing income sources as you find them.

These are just a few ideas to help increase your writing income. The best part about writing across different forms and niches is that you never get bored. You’ve always got something different to work on – and they all have the power to increase your income!

Any writer who is really willing to diversify and break into a few different forms of writing will find that earning a full-time income really is easier than you think!

Writing Articles for Upfront Pay vs Writing for Revenue Share Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 12:19:00 +0000

Have you ever read a freelance writing blog or website that tells you how AWESOME revenue share sites are for earning extra income? Usually, those tips are written by freelance writers who work from home and earn a bit of pocket change working on some cheap-skate revenue share sites.

Now, don't get me wrong - there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with earning a few extra bucks on the side from your writing efforts. Good for you! It's a great way to earn some pocket money.

What I'm talking about are those freelance writers who really want to make a real, sustainable, full-time income from their writing skills. You won't find any realistic tips to further your freelance writing career by following the advice from someone who earns a few pennies per hour on a revenue-share site.

How do I know this? I've joined up and made contributions to a few of those sites in the name of being able to research my reviews honestly and thoroughly. You can see two of them here:

Bubblews - http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/10/can-you-really-earn-money-writing-for.html
HubPages - http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-passive-income-from-freelance.html

All the freelance writing "tips" you've read from other beginners tell you it's a good idea to write lots and lots and lots of articles. Unless you're on Bubblews, then you're told to write lots and lots and lots of posts that their community call "bubbles".

You're also told not to expect much while you're still starting out. Rather, you're encouraged to keep submitting more content to a website you don't own and you don't control so those faceless website owners can get richer off your efforts while your popularity is still growing.

Let's Do Some Math...

I hear you groaning over there "oh, Bianca you're such a math-nerd". But seriously, math can be awesome fun for proving where your time and writing efforts are better spent.

Let's assume you spend 5 hours per day writing articles or posts for a revenue-share site, such as Bubblews. You spend another hour finding ways to promote your articles and entice other people to read them so you can earn a few extra pennies. You connect to a lot of other people, read their stuff, leave a comment and hope like crazy they bother to read yours in return.

By the end of the week, you've worked 30 hours and you've earned $25 (if you're lucky). YAY! That's less than a dollar an hour... if you can manage to get page views high enough... if you can get that many people viewing your articles... if the site's advertisers actually pay enough to warrant paying you a few cents for that post...if the site's cheap web-hosts actually keep the site online long enough for you to post anything on there...

If you do the same thing for 12 months, you'll have earned a grand total of $1,300... maybe. Remember, the amount you earn is shared revenue. If the site you're writing on loses their advertisers or changes their advertising modules, or if Google changes their algorithms again, your income could easily go way DOWN. You're also heavily dependent on making sure you can get lots and lots and lots of people to view your articles or posts.

Every. Single. Day....

All year long. Without stopping.

What's the Alternative?

Now let's look at it a different way. Let's assume you spend two hours writing a well-researched, well-written 700 word article and you submit it to a good marketplace like Constant Content or Ghostbloggers or Daily Article. You charge $78 for your effort. The marketplace takes their cut and you're left with $50 in your pocket that you get paid for right away.

You've earned $50 for 2 hours work. That's $25 per hour. Not awesome, but certainly not bad. Imagine spending 30 hours per week doing the same thing? That's a potential income of $750 per week if you did this full time. That's money you receive right now without having to spend hours promoting someone else's site or ~~spend~~ waste time commenting/liking/interacting. You simply move onto the next order.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Let's just stick with spending only two hours a week, writing one single, solitary article per week at $50 per piece. You put that in the bank and you earn 4% interest on your earnings. After 12 months, you have a guaranteed $2,704.12 in your account. Not a bad effort for 2 hours work per week.

It's also more than double what you could earn if you ~~spent~~ wasted your time on a crappy $1 per hour revenue-share site and the money is guaranteed. It's not a guess. It's not a maybe. That money is yours.

How does it look side by side:

	Revenue-Share Site	Selling Articles
Words Written	100 per post	700 per article
Number of pieces written	20	1
Sub-total words per week	2,000 (+words written for comments)	700
Number of comments left	100 (about 20 words per comment = 2,000)	0
Total words per week	4,000	700
Number of connections required	50	0
Time spent per week	30	2
Amount earned	$25 (maybe)	$50 (after fees)
Earnings after 1 year	$1,300	$2,600
Guaranteed Payment	No	Yes

Okay, so based on this example I know I would rather spend 2 hours earning $50 I can spend right NOW than spending 30 hours earning a variable and unpredictable amount of money that may never arrive. Besides, once I've earned my money, I can go hang out at the beach or in my boat and relax and enjoy the company of my husband and my daughter and my dog and the rest of my family. I'm not "bubbling" for 12-13 hours a day into the small hours of the night to earn an extra 3 cents.

Of course, I happen to work more than 35 hours per week writing articles for various clients and marketplaces ,so I do earn more than the examples shown here. It's not difficult. It's not slavery. It's not rocket science.

However, if you're still starting out 2 hours per week is a great start for someone wanting to start replacing income from a job with writing income. It's also a very handy part-time income for anyone already earning money elsewhere.

Comparing Accurately

Just to ensure that I'm giving accurate comparisons, in the past month I spent 30 minutes per day - AFTER I'd finished actual properly and respectfully paid writing assignments - ~~spending~~ wasting time on Bubblews to see whether the "claims" of various bubblers were actually true.
(here's the original post: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/10/can-you-really-earn-money-writing-for.html)

Yes, I got paid twice - despite the fact that lots of writers don't get paid by this site. If I spent 30 minutes per day on the site I earned a little more than $25 per month.

If I spent 30 minutes per day writing articles, I earned $50 per day which adds up to more than $1,100 per month. TWO HOURS PER DAY compared to more than 30 hours a week....

Gee... let me think for a moment.... Um $25 per MONTH on a crappy revenue-share site paying pennies or $50 per DAY? Hmmmm.... take a moment.... think about it.... what would you do?

Get the idea?

Even if you sold your articles for $10 each and write five articles per week, you're still earning $50 per week, which is still $200 per month - and still far more profitable than ~~spending~~ wasting time on a site like Bubblews.

Math lesson over.

Writing for Revenue Share Sites vs Writing On Your Own Private Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 09:47:00 +0000

I admit it. I'm a numbers-nerd. I like to compare options and work out the actual numbers before I make a decision that might impact my freelance writing business.

Recently, I've had a lot of people slam my decision to NOT recommend revenue-sharing sites.

So here's my math-nerd response - and some questions for you to consider in the meanwhile.

Answer these questions...

Are you willing to write lots and lots of content for free in the hopes that you MIGHT earn some "passive" income in the future?

Are you also willing to spend a lot of time promoting your work to make sure you get lots of page views?

Does the idea of reading and commenting on lots of other people's pointless, aimless posts in the hopes that they might visit yours in return excite you?

If you said yes to any of these things, you probably already spend a lot of time trying to earn money from writing on a revenue share site. You may also own your own blog.

How do Revenue Share Sites Work?

Revenue share sites all work on a similar platform. The site owners earn money from advertising revenue generated by the content you create for them. They pay you a tiny portion of the revenue they receive based on how popular your posts are and how much they're earning at the time.

Owners of revenue share sites also place the responsibility for increasing your own page views right on your own shoulders. If you get no page views, you earn nothing. Even if you DO get page views, you may not always earn anything, depending on the advertisers they've chosen to use on their site that show up on your posts.

So it's your job to write the content, promote your work and find traffic for THEIR site.

If you're willing to write lots and lots of content for someone else's site, chances are you could end up in the ranks of "high" earning revenue share site writers, who are always in the minority. Or you could become another statistic earning less than $150 per year for hours and hours of low-paid work each week.

Let's be honest, most new online writers believe that getting paid by a "get paid to write" revenue share site is a good opportunity for them to learn. Likewise, the spiel sold on 'get paid to write' revenue share sites is that you earn more for contributing more. In other words, they really want you to work hard to make their site more popular for them. As they become more popular the amount of money they can earn from their advertisers increases, so they try to tell you that you'll earn more in the long run. If that was true and the site owners were so confident about earning enough revenue from your work, why wouldn't they pay you upfront for your contributions?

What Are Your Options?

By comparison, you could create your own blog. You can also spend your time and effort writing lots and lots of free content. Only this time you have the choice which advertisers you work with.

You're still responsible for finding your own traffic and attracting new visitors to your posts and you're still responsible for promoting your work, so nothing changes there. You're also responsible for connecting with your readers and finding ways to entice them to keep coming back to visit your blog.

The difference is - you don't have to share your revenue with ANYONE. It's all yours.

Unfortunately, far too many new writers believe they can't do this. So they fall for the slick sales pitches revenue share sites sling at them and they hope to earn a few extra dollars over the long term. They think writing lots of posts and attracting visitors and promoting their new blog will be too hard.

... and yet they do the same things willingly for a revenue-share site for a fraction of the revenue. Curious.

Your Own Free Blog vs Revenue Share Sites

Let's say you spend three minutes setting up your own free blog on Blogger or on Wordpress or Typepad - or whatever blogging platform you want. You spend another 30 minutes signing up for a Google Adsense account, or an Amazon affiliates account, or a Clickbank affiliate account, or Chitika or Donanza or Neverblue - or any other type of advertising platform you want to play with.

You set up your blog's format and layout and you start blogging about whatever you love. You write 2 posts per week at around 500 words per port. Of course, you post a link to each post on your Facebook account and on your Twitter account so people know to come and read it.

Yes, it takes time to build up a following. But that's the same amount of time and effort you'd put into building up a following on a revenue-share site anyway.

Time for the Freelance Writing Math Lesson

It's time now for a little more freelance writing math.

Let's look at the comparisons side-by-side. For the purpose of this example, we're going to compare writing simple 100 word posts for Bubblews to writing 500 word posts for your own blog.

	Revenue-Share Site	Writing Articles for Your Blog
Words Written	100 per post	500 per article
Number of pieces written	20	2
Sub-total words per week	2,000 (+words written for comments)	1,000
Number of comments left	100 (about 20 words per comment = 2,000)	0
Total words per week	4,000	1,000
Number of connections required per week	50	0
Time spent per week	30	2
Amount earned per week	$25 (maybe)	$50 (maybe)
Earnings after 1 year	$1,300	$2,600
Guaranteed Payment	No	No

Hmmm... so you're earning around double the amount of money (maybe), but you're only spending two hours a week writing something you actually enjoy. Plus, you're not dependent on another site owner choosing what ads are displayed on your work.

You're also not dependent on them being honest about the amount of revenue you're actually earning for them while they give you a few pennies in return. When it's your blog, you get to see exactly how much you're earning from each different advertiser you have.

When you can see the statistics of which blog posts earn you the most money and gain you the most page views, you can duplicate your efforts and choose topics that people are more likely to come and read. You have more control over your online business, because you can see what's really happening behind the scenes.

But Owning a Blog is Hard Work...

What's that? You say it's hard to drive traffic to a blog? It's hard to increase page views? It's hard to think of new things to write?

So, what exactly are you doing on those revenue share sites anyway to earn a few extra pennies? You're focused on increasing your page views. You're focused on thinking of new things to write. You do all this in the hopes that someone else will pay you AFTER they get paid from the same advertisers you have the same level of access to directly.

Before you fall for the hype of earning "passive income" from a revenue share site, think carefully about your options. Your time and effort could be better spent elsewhere - for more money in the long run.

Personally, I own several blogs across a range of niches and topics. I know it took me a bit of time to get them up and running. It also took a bit of effort to get them ranked in search engines and to find a few regular followers.

I also know I earn quite a bit more each month from my blogs than most of the "higher earning" people on Bubblews earn. And I really only spend a few hours a month on each of them, because I also write articles and ebooks for various other clients throughout the day.

So, what's your choice for your own freelance writing business and your own freelance writing future?

:)

Making a Living As a Full-Time Freelance Writer Made Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 22:49:00 +0000

One of the best parts about being a freelance writer is that YOU have the power to set up your business and your income YOUR way. You can choose what you write. You choose what clients you want to keep. You choose what sites you visit.

It's all under your control.

Yet I receive so many emails from writers who have absolutely no idea where to start. I get emails from writers who get stuck in low-paying content mills and end up burning out. I get lots of emails from writers who want to increase their income and build up business.

Of course, I also get emails from writers who just want to write for fun and not to try and make a big income.

It doesn't matter what your goal is with your freelance writing. The key is to remember that it's all about YOU and what you enjoy doing. When you can work that out, you're in a position to build your freelance business around your preferences, so you end up getting paid for doing what you love.

So let's look at all the options and see if you can find any that suit you...

Writing Just for Fun - And a Little Extra Cash

Believe it or not, there are sites out there that will pay you for writing anything at all. You can tell stories about your day or your memories or your dog or random thoughts. Whatever. Those sites do exist. The pay isn't great, but it's better than hanging out on Facebook. Go and have some fun. Socialize, connect and network with other people. Earn a couple of extra dollars while you're there. You'll find several sites mentioned in this post:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/01/freelance-writers-who-dont-want-to-be.html

Hobbyist vs Business-Person

Before you start building up your freelance writing business, take a careful look at whether you want to be a hobby writer who does this just for fun or whether you really want to head off down the professional business person path. Take a look at the difference between the two in this post:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/04/what-is-freelance-writing-really.html

Freelance Job vs Freelance Business

Did you know there's a difference between a freelance job and a freelance business? I'm often surprised by the number of people who ask me what freelance site they can join with so they can get a freelance job. There's nothing wrong with that, but just be sure you're aiming at the right thing before you sign up. You'll learn more about both options here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/freelance-job-vs-freelance-business.html

Debunking Freelancing Myths and Building Your Confidence

Ugh! The number of silly myths I see circulating online about freelance writing really frustrate me. Let's debunk some of those silly myths and find ways to build up your confidence in your own writing abilities at the same time. You'll find more information here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/freelance-writing-myths-dispelled.html

Finding Freelance Work

The biggest challenge most freelance writers face is figuring out how to find freelance work. There are plenty of options available to you, but the key is to work out which options suit your goals best. You'll learn all about some of those options here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/how-to-find-freelance-writing-work.html

Diversifying Your Freelance Business

It's a shame how many really good writers I see fall into the same trap. They become reliant on one form of income and they end up stuck when something goes wrong. This is why it's important to diversify your freelance income wherever you can. You'll see some options here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/private-freelance-clients-vs-content.html
and here: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/increasing-your-freelance-income-with.html

Recession Proofing Any Freelance Business

Yes, it really is possible to recession-proof your freelance business. In fact, back in 2008-2009 my business almost tripled, so the big Global Financial Crisis didn't affect everyone. But you need to set up your business so you're protected, no matter what. Check out how right here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/recession-proofing-your-freelance.html

Benefits of Expanding Your Business Internationally

Many of the writers who read this blog are international writers, just like me. I'm in Australia, but the majority of my clients are in the US, the UK, Europe, New Zealand, India and several other parts of the world (of course, I have a few Aussie clients too). If you really want to build up your freelance business, you should understand the benefits of taking your business global, here:
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/benefits-of-being-international-writer.html

Hopefully the posts listed above will help you on your way to building up your freelance writing income so that you get paid for doing exactly what you love doing every day - WRITING!

:)

(image from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1197801)

Boost Freelance Writing Income with Cloud Crowd

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:12:00 +0000

Recently I received an email from a reader asking if I had heard of Cloud Crowd and whether the money making opportunities there are any good.

I had never heard of them before, so I figured I would sign up and see what it's all about. Here's what I found out:

What's Cloud Crowd About?

Basically, Cloud Crowd pays you to complete various tasks that range in pay from just pennies up to $30 per task. You can select whether you want to work on lots of really easy micro-tasks that take 30-40 seconds to complete or whether you want to work on more involved tasks, like researching and writing articles at $30 per piece.

Can Anyone Join Cloud Crowd?

Yes. Anyone with a Facebook account and a Paypal account can join Cloud Crowd.

Keep in mind that Cloud Crowd doesn't operate from a standard .com website, even though all their instructions and support forums are on a regular website. The actual work is posted to a Facebook application instead.

Once you've created your Cloud Crowd account, head over to the link that says "Earn Money Now". You can select tasks right away - however, it's strongly advised that you read the FAQ on their site so you understand what's expected of you.

Micro Jobs vs Writing Jobs on Cloud Crowd

If you intend to just complete lots of little micro-tasks to earn your money, then go right ahead and get started! The pay for this type of work is quite low, but as long as you're quick and you're careful about making sure your work is correct, you will get paid tomorrow for any approved work you do.

However, if you intend to accept more involved work, such as writing articles or press releases, editing, marketing work or proofreading, you can expect to be paid up to $25 per hour or 5 cents per word for your time for some of these more involved tasks. In order to qualify for this level of work, you will be asked to complete a Writer Credential Test.

There are several Credential Tests you'll need to take, depending on the type of work you want to complete. The majority of these are basically testing your comprehension and usage of the English language. If you're already working as a freelance writer you should find these Credential Tests very easy to pass.

Does Cloud Crowd Really Pay You?

Yes. Payment is made daily on Monday through to Friday via Paypal for any tasks you've completed that day. There is no minimum payout threshold you have to reach. You just need to have finished some tasks in your Cloud Crowd account.

So if you complete a few tasks on a Monday and they're all approved on Monday night, you can expect to see payment turn up in your Paypal account on Tuesday night.

Advantages to Working with Cloud Crowd

There are some definite advantages I've noticed when working with Cloud Crowd. Here are some of them:

1. Next Day Payment - that's always a bonus in anyone's book, right? It's even nicer that there's no minimum payout threshold you have to reach. You just get paid for any approved work you submitted.

2. Lots of Variety - if you're keen to work on the higher paying tasks, it's quite easy to earn a decent amount of money fairly quickly here. However, if you want a bit of a break from the researching or editing or whatever you're doing or you just want to fill in a bit of time at the end of a work day, you can always pick up some quick, basic categorization tasks that only take a few seconds to complete.

3. Get Paid to Review - yes, that's right. You don't even have to do the work yourself if you don't want to. You can choose to review other people's work and get paid for your time that way.

4. Correct Any Rejected Work - if your work is rejected, you still have the opportunity to correct it and resubmit it again. At least your work isn't wasted!

Downsides to Working with Cloud Crowd

As with most things, there are always negative aspects to think about. Here are some of the biggest disadvantages I noticed:

1. Peer Review - any work you submit at Cloud Crowd is reviewed by other workers on the site. If somebody decides to reject what you've submitted, you don't get paid for it unless you successfully appeal the decision. It's also a bit lame that anyone can decide to reject something you've done, even if you've followed the rules exactly. You can keep appealing those incorrect rejections, but you're limited to 16 appeals per month.

2. You Must Disable Secure Browsing - when you're working on tasks at Cloud Crowd you are required to switch off your browser's secure browsing option. You can always turn it back on again when you've finished work, but always remember to run a good anti-virus or anti-spyware software on your computer every day or two. You'll be amazed at how much spyware and adware programs turn up on your computer the moment you switch off secure browsing. Personally, I decided to do any Cloud Crowd work on my laptop and keep my office computer safer that way.

3. 16 Appeals per 30 Days - as there are so many people working on Cloud Crowd the number of people having perfectly good work rejected is very high. Unfortunately, you're only allowed to submit 16 appeals each month.

4. Credibility Score - everyone who works at Cloud Crowd is given a Credibility Score that doesn't seem to make much sense. Every time you complete a task, your credibility score will increase. If your work is rejected, your credibility score will decrease. If you let your score get below 30, Cloud Crowd will close your account. While this seems like a really positive way to get people to follow the instructions and submit great work, I don't see it that way. What I see is that it takes a lot of tasks and a lot of effort to get a high score. But if you get one piece rejected, your score drops really fast.

5. They Want Your SSN - if you're in America, Cloud Crowd will ask for your SSN. I personally don't have one (I'm in Australia!!) - but for those of you in the US, you can just switch up the first two or middle two numbers in your SSN to get your foot in the door. That way no one has your details, you get your account and your identity stays safe :)

What's the Verdict for Cloud Crowd?

So far my verdict is mostly positive. For those looking for easy ways to earn quick money online that pays you the very next day, Cloud Crowd could be a great start. If you're willing to work your way through the Credential Tests, there's even the possibility of earning decent money for your time and effort.

I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone who's tried this site and had any success.

:)

Get Paid to Write Music Reviews on SliceThePie!

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:06:00 +0000

Well, here's a site that really made me sit up and pay attention. Apparently it's possible to get paid to write reviews and critique new songs from music artists. You actually get to give your opinion about what you think of new music being released.

The site is called Slice The Pie and all writers/reviewers are called Scouts here.

All you need to get started is a Facebook account and a Paypal account - and you're set to earn money.

You don' t need any special skills to get started here. The site just wants your opinion on what you think of song tracks you listen to. Just say what you think about the song and move onto the next. It's really easy.

It takes a few minutes to create a new account, simply because you're asked about your interests and music genre preferences. This is so Slice The Pie can match your tastes to the type of music they offer you.Choose the type of music you actually enjoy, as this will make it much more fun for you when you're only listening to tracks you're likely to enjoy.

When you get through the 8 question process, you're ready to become a scout. You'll be taken immediately to your first track.

Basically, your task is to listen to at least 90 seconds of a new song. You can rate that song on a scale of 0 to 10. You also need to write a review about your opinion of the song you just heard.

Earning More Money on Slice the Pie

Remember, the better your review is for the song you heard on Slice The Pie, the more you're likely to get paid for it. Be constructive in the feedback you offer and if you really feel the need to leave criticism, be respectful about it.

The musicians who created those tracks value your opinion and your feedback, so try to be fair to the work and effort they put into making that song.

The length of your review isn't important - what matters here is the quality. If you can write constructive reviews that contain descriptive words relating to what you felt about each song, it's really easy to reach payout very quickly.

You can cheat here by remembering to use lots of adjectives to describe what you're saying. The automated system seems to think that describing a song with lots of adjectives means paying you more money! It works.

Building Your Member Rank

Slice The Pie have a Ranking system for their writers. Whenever you submit a review you gain experience and member ranking. As you increase both of these factors, the amount you can earn also increases.

You start off with a ranking of about 40%. As you do more reviews, your ranking increases and so does your pay.

Does Slice the Pie Pay Writers?

Yes. Slice The Pie will pay you directly into your PayPal account every Tuesday and Friday. You can request a payout the moment your account reaches $10 US.

How Much Do Slice the Pie Pay for Reviews

The amount you're paid for reviews on Slice The Pie varies widely. You can earn up to $0.20 cents per review, but they're very quick and easy, so you should reach payout relatively fast. The site seems to prefer reviews that contain descriptive words and be sure you use proper English when you're writing.

What's the Verdict for Slice the Pie?

This site seems to be legitimate. I've only reviewed a couple of songs so far to see how the process works and it seems very easy. The pay is quite low, but if you're bored at the end of a work day and want a bit of extra cash, it's a fun way to earn money.

With that in mind, I've also seen a couple of complaints from writers saying they didn't get paid - but some of those also admit to not sticking to the rules. ALWAYS take the time to check that you're following the rules before you start reviewing. If you stick to the rules, you should get paid for writing reviews every time with no problem.

If you've joined with Slice The Pie and been paid, or if you've had problems with the site, I'd love to hear your comments and feedback about your own experiences

:)

Let's Talk Freelance Writing Math....

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 01:30:00 +0000

In a previous post, I reviewed a site called Bubblews. This is a revenue-sharing site that pays its members a share of the revenue they generate from placing ads on the site.

Members are expected to post short little 'bubbles' that are longer than 400 characters (or around 100 words). They're also expected to read other people's bubbles, 'Like' them and leave comments on them.

A part of my review also pointed out that there are a LOT of people out there writing every day for this site and not getting paid for their efforts.

So.... let's play with some freelance writing basic math:

Case Study 1

Let's say you spend 5 hours a day for a whole month writing bubbles, reading other bubbles, liking other people's stuff and generally trying to get other people to read yours. You finally make it to the $50 payment threshold limit and click the big green 'Redeem' button. Nothing happens. You don't get paid. How odd. You've always been paid before - and so has every other bubbler you know. Why did they miss your payment this time? And so you start wondering what you've done wrong.

Now, it's estimated that there are about 100,000 users on Bubblews. If everyone accidentally gets passed over for just ONE payout each.... that's $5,000,000 that the owners aren't paying out. But you can bet the site owners are still making that same $5 million dollars in their account from the work and effort of all those other people.

Curious!!

Let's look at some different math figures...

Case Study 2

Let's say you spend lots of hours writing and connecting and liking and commenting on Bubblews. After two whole weeks of working for 5 or 6 hours a day, you finally reach the $50 minimum payout threshold.

Seriously? 50 hours work for $50 payout? That's a $1 per hour wage.

There are people on the site who take 2 or 3 weeks to reach payout. That's $0.30 cents per hour they're struggling and slaving so hard for. Seriously??

Let's compare that to picking up a writing gig at a site like Fiverr.com You accept a job paying $5 to leave comments on someone else's blog. You finish the job and you get paid. Awesome. You still have time left in the same day to pick up another gig and earn another $5. If you're quick, you might be able to do a few of these in the same day. And you ALWAYS get paid.

It's not great pay, but it's certainly higher than slave-labor rates.

Case Study 3

There's always some bright spark out there willing to put on a smug face and say "Oh, but you're totally forgetting about the residual income you can earn on Bubblews".

No.

I'm not forgetting a thing. I'm working on facts, figures and actual math. When you're doing the same, we'll talk about who's forgetting what.

Let's do some more math.

You write 10 bubbles a day at a minimum of 100 words each. That's 1,000 words you've written for the day. Then you spend hours and hours connecting to other people, liking their posts, commenting on them, all in the hopes that they MIGHT come and look at yours in return so you get paid another $0.01 cent for your 6 hours of time and effort.

I wrote 1,000 words in my Bubblews review right here on this blog (here: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/10/can-you-really-earn-money-writing-for.html) It took me around 20 minutes to write the review, but I admit it took me about 2 hours to research the site, join up, create some bubbles of my own so I knew what I was reviewing, look around, email a few other writers about their experiences and put together my notes.

I earned more in residual income from writing and posting on my own blog yesterday than I did from my time on Bubblews. AND I didn't have to go and visit multiple other blogs, leave comments, try and make lots of connections or any other pathetic time-wasting activity.

Guess what? The math says it's FAR more profitable to start a free blog on Blogger and post a few ads in the sidebar, then spend 20 minutes a WEEK publishing a post when you have time.

End of case study 3.

Case Study 4

While we're talking about residual income, let's look at the difference between hoping for a few cents per page-view from Bubblews and calling it "residual income" and how a professional, full-time freelance writer earns income every day.

Yes, I write full time for various clients who pay me for the words I write. Nice.

But I also generate a considerable amount of passive income every month without doing a thing after the initial work is completed.

Yes, I have Google Adsense ads in the side bar here on this blog. I have Donanza ads running. I have Clickbank affiliate ads running. I also have Constant Content widgets running. On other blogs, I have Amazon Affiliate ads and Commission Junction ads running as well.

And I have multiple blogs running across various niches and topics. Add the residual earnings from all those up every DAY and they add up to far more than most people working full time on Bubblews make in a MONTH.

Sure, I tried Hubpages with some success (review is here). I tried Squidoo with some success. Meh. Not impressive.

You know what really does work for residual income for a writer? Royalties. Write a book. Publish it. Get paid every time you sell a book for the next few years to come. It's not hard. Think of it as compiling 15 articles together in logical order called Chapters (or think of it as putting together 200 bubbles and a few hundred comments into some kind of order for a similar result).

So What Else Should You Write to Earn Money?

Aside from Bubblews offering writers their insane slave-labor pay rates, there are SO MANY better paying writing gigs out there that you really want to start questioning what you're doing on a slave-labor site in the first place.

Let's look at simple, easy, quick "paid to post in forums" type of jobs. There are plenty out there. The work is easy and you get paid regularly. Here are some for you:

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/10/paid-forum-posting-and-paid-blog.html
http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/12/paid-forum-posting-jobs.html

What about writing articles for other people? There are lots of content mills out there paying anywhere from $2 per article up to $25 per article. That's not great, but it still pays a LOT higher than a slave-labor site like Bubblews. Think about iWriter.com or textbroker.com (international writers to textbroker.co.uk) or need-an-article.com or places like that. The pay is not great, but you'll do far better with these than you ever will with Bubblews.

How about writing articles and submitting them to a marketplace for sale? I generate a lot of sales from writing whatever I feel like and submitting them to Constant Content. Set your own prices and write what you want. Easy.

Want to take your writing to a pro level? Submit queries to editors at your favorite magazines. The pay rates are 50 to 100 times better than you'll find with online markets. And it's much easier than most people realize.

So there's our freelance writing math lesson for the day.

Any questions?

Can You Really Earn Money Writing for Bubblews?

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 01:31:00 +0000

Recently, I received an email from a concerned reader telling me about a site known as Bubblews . The reader was worried that the site may potentially be a scam, as that reader had amassed earnings of around $125, only to find that the account had been de-activated, closed down, and all earnings removed.

So I thought I'd look into the site a bit further.

What is BubbleWS?

Basically, Bubblews is the new revenue-share kid on the block. They share the revenue generated from Google Adsense ads and a few other advertisers on their site with the users. The site is set up much like a social networking site, where you're expected to make connections and read posts by other users. Of course, you're expected to write things and post to the site too if you hope to make any money.

What's Different About This Site?

Most revenue-share sites (including HubPages and Squidoo) have their own little communities. However, Bubblews is a little more like a social networking site than a content site. You're expected to make connections and you're expected to leave comments on any new posts your connections publish.

Now, you're definitely NOT allowed to suggest that other people leave comments on your own posts. You're also NOT allowed to link back to your own posts or add referral links to other sites.

However, because this site has such a strong social feel to it, there's an unspoken agreement that the more posts you read and leave comments on, the more likely it is that those people will come and read yours in return.

Obviously, the more Likes you have and the more page views you get, the higher your income is supposed to get.

What's the Catch?

Bubblews wants you to sign up and just write! Write about anything you want, on any topic you feel like. They don't mind. They'll even accept international writers, as long as you can accept payments via Paypal.

What they DO want is that each of your posts is longer than 400 characters. Read that part again properly. I didn't write 400 words per post. I wrote 400 characters! This is around 100 words or so, which won't take long to write.

If you can do that, you're ready to start making money on Bubblews. In fact, if you can't find a way to make money anywhere else online, this is a great way to get started earning a few bucks here and there.

How Does Payment Work?

When you first sign up, you'll be paid $1 for your first post. After that, it seems that you're paid based on how many views your posts get and how many 'Likes' they receive. Apparently you're paid $0.01 cent for each page view you receive, $0.01 cent for each Like you receive, $0.01 cent for every comment you receive and $0.01 cent for every social media share you get.

Join the community and make some connections. Visit them and they'll visit you too. Leave comments and they'll come and comment on your pages. It seems to be the only real way to keep your page views high. Unfortunately, the majority of people who connect with you without any prior contact are those who are hoping you'll like their bubbles or comment on their bubbles. They have no interest in you or your writing at all. Sad, really - but very prevalent on this site.

The minimum pay out amount is $50 USD through Paypal. As long as you have more than $50 in earnings in your account, you can ask for a payout.

Is There a Referral Program?

Yes, there is a very lame referral program. Yes, I used to have an evil referral link behind every mention of Bubblews you see on this page. They pay a pathetic $0.20 cents for each person who joins up AND who writes a 400 character post. Not exciting. The referral program is not really worth the effort.

Is Bubblews a Scam?

Before I wrote this article, I spent some time researching what other people have to say about Bubblews. The reader who originally emailed me about this site was concerned that more than $125 in earnings had disappeared unpaid.

A quick Google search confirmed that there are LOTS of writers out there that haven't been paid by this site. There are plenty of writers out there who just didn't get paid for the time and effort they put into this site. Actually refine your search and type in "Is Bubblews a Scam?" and the results you get are astounding. Then try searching for "Bubblews doesn't pay writers". You'll get the same staggering results.

Most people who haven't been paid have legitimately read the terms and conditions. They haven't done anything to contravene them. The comments on their complaints are from readers who all say the same thing... "Oh, you must have broken the rules". Those commenters don't look any deeper into the problem and dismiss those complaints.

However, the exact same Google search also showed me lots of writers who make some decent pocket money on the site AND get paid regularly. It appears there are even a few writers out there pressing that big green 'Redeem' button quite a few times a month and getting paid each time. It's still VERY low earnings, but it's not bad for spare change, right?

It seems to me that Bubblews is still new and finding their feet. They have lots of glitches and bugs to work through.The site is often offline for hours at a time. They also have some downtime problems, where the site goes down due to being overloaded. If those unfortunate writers pressed the big green 'Redeem' button during one of their downtime sessions, then it's likely their payout request was never received. Unfortunately, another glitch on the site is that if that request disappears, it doesn't come back. You lose.

What Are My Concerns about Bubblews?

Okay, so I've had a look around the site. I've spoken to a few other writers and I've searched the internet for any information I can find about Bubblews. I even created an account there and aimed at reaching payout to see if they actually paid or not.

The site is slow. It's filled with incredibly mundane, low-quality content. Its quite amateurish in its design. And its filled with absolute newbies who think being paid 1 cent per page view is a huge amount of money - and then instantly brag about how much they're earning.

My biggest concern is the number of writers complaining about not being paid. There are LOTS of them out there. The majority of them say that they've adhered to the terms and conditions. Sure, there are some that admit they've posted referral links. There are some who realize they may not have attributed the rightful source of various graphics.

But the rest have done nothing wrong. They didn't get paid.

My next biggest concern is the apparent lack of communication or support from the site owners/moderators when users email or contact them.

Another major concern is that the business model for Bubblews just isn't sustainable. There have been a lot of decent sites disappear due to lack of funding over the years. Now, Bubblews does have sponsors and it does earn ad revenue through Google Adsense ads and various other network ads shown on posts. But is this enough to sustain it through the start-up phase and on into prosperity? I'm doubtful.

There's also the concern of so many low quality posts shown on Bubblews. Seriously, you can write ANYTHING at all and you'll earn money if you get page views and a few Likes. But I'm thinking about all the Google algorithm changes that actually punish low quality content.

Can a site with no real, actual quality content remain financially viable? Doubtful. Remember what happened to Squidoo, Suite101, Triond, Associated Content, Ezine Articles, Xomba, Article Dashboard, InfoBarrel and other sites like that?

Yeah. They all got punished for their amazing array of low quality drivel and either had to change their tactics, improve their quality or just vanished totally.

My Verdict?

I've decided that I can NEVER endorse this site as a viable option for serious freelance writers. The pay is pennies-per-hour slave labor that anyone with a passing knowledge of the English language could out-earn without much effort on any other professional freelance writing site.

However those few pennies might be a decent start for absolute beginners and amateur hobbyists. I've seen some excellent reviews and some very positive comments about Bubblews. I've also seen some very negative, disturbing and worrying comments and reviews at the same time from writers who feel ripped off by the site for not being paid after doing what they were supposed to do.

I also read a LOT of comments from writers who had their work on Bubblews deleted, removed or otherwise censored, just because their posts mentioned other writing sites that could help other writers to earn more than a few lousy pennies.

I personally had multiple posts deleted from the site for daring to mention that there are other freelance writing sites around that people might find more profitable (that was before I vandalized, trashed and otherwise deleted my own account once my research was finished). Apparently Bubblews doesn't like any form of competition, despite them claiming to love 'freedom of expression'.

Yes, folks. If you dare to say anything negative about the site at all, the chances of you getting paid are very close to ZERO. Including saying anything on private blogs, social media or other sites AWAY from Bubblews. If you want your money, play nice, play dumb and act like a total newbie. Those options seem to be the only way to guarantee you'll get paid on Bubblews, sadly.

And then there's my own time ~~spent~~ wasted on the site trying to research for this post. I ~~spent~~ wasted quite a lot of time posting silly things and trying to get the account up high enough to see if they would bother to pay me. Of course, I only bothered with the site AFTER my main income-producing writing gigs were finished for the day. There's NO WAY I'm going to earn pennies for my time and effort when I have clients that pay REAL adult income levels for my time and effort properly.

Final verdict:

Bubblews is not worth your time or effort. By the time you ~~spend~~ waste hours trying to make new connections and read other people's stuff in the hopes that they *might* drop by and read one of your posts so you can earn one more penny, you'll make more money flipping burgers at McDonalds. Seriously.

If you've already joined the Bubblews community, I'd love to see your comments about your experiences there! Have you been paid? Are you earning money? Or are you one of those who has lost their earnings and not been paid, despite the time and effort you've put in?

Let us know!

:)

Update 1: here's a quick look at some simple freelance writing math using Bubblews as a basis for earning vs not being paid. http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2013/10/lets-talk-freelance-writing-math.html

Update 2: it's been 4 weeks since I joined this site and tried to reach payout minimum. Geez I'm BORED!!! There's no bigger motivation killer for a full-time freelance writer who's used to earning more than $50 per hour than being paid $0.10 cents per hour for your work. I'll persevere until I manage to reach that payout mark. At the rate I'm going, plus the boredom factor, plus the fact that I prefer to actually get paid for my time and effort, I find it difficult to find enough motivation to even log into the site. But I'll continue! Just so I can post here whether I actually got paid by this site or not. Then we'll see whether my SEO skills are up par or not.... he he he

Update 3: Did I Get Paid by Bubblews?

So I reached redemption amount and I got paid. Yes, they actually paid me. It took them four days to process the payment request and another three days for the payment to clear. I got paid twice that month.

But, do you know what? For a lousy $25 that took a month of wasted time and effort - I can say that Bubblews is NOT worth the effort. Spend your time and talent elsewhere. Anywhere else. Seriously.

Update 4: Bubblews is for Amateurs

Well, I got my payout without hitch, so the rumors that Bubblews doesn't pay aren't exactly true. I also got a couple of residual payments from them from the lame dribble posts I put up there. I decided to test their resolve and see how much they'll deal with before deleting my account.

My experiment was quite simple. I posted a screenshot of my earnings from ONE day from ONE other freelance writing site, showing that it's very possible and very easy to earn 10 times the amount of money the more prolific people say they're earning from Bubblews. It took 24 hours for that post to be deleted. I ranted, raved and complained in a subsequent post about having my post deleted. That post was also deleted (can't say anything negative about Bubblews, remember? They have no confidence in themselves, so they won't allow it).

So I chose to delete EVERY SINGLE POST I had created on the pathetic amateur pennies-per-hour slave labor site (lucky there were only 59 little 90 word posts there, huh?) Apparently, when you delete your own work, you owe THEM money. HA!! My account went into a massively negative figure. Within 12 hours, my entire account was blocked or banned or deleted or whatever.

I don't care. I don't miss it. The amount I earned from writing this review out-stripped the pathetic amount I received from Bubblews during my research, so I don't see the point of continuing with Bubblews in any form. I don't lament the loss of a mob of newbies who think they're suddenly rich for earning $50 per month, which is something they could easily do by returning bottles and cans to the recycling depot or by cleaning toilets for less than minimum wage in any country on this planet. Ridiculous.

If you're still happy writing for a site like Bubblews, I am truly sorry that you don't value your time or efforts for what they're worth. I have spent years on this blog trying to show writers that they are worth so much more for their time, their talent and their skills, so it pains me to see writers thinking they're getting a "good deal" by being ripped off by this ridiculous amateur site.

Good luck! You'll need it ...

Paid Forum Posting and Paid Blog Commenting on Postloop

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 06:33:00 +0000

Today I received an email from one of my readers about a site called Postloop. Apparently, this site pays writers to post in forums and leave comments on blogs.

So I thought I'd check it out and see what I could learn.

Firstly, they do accept international writers. Payments are made via Paypal for amounts over $5 USD and they'll send your payment out within 24 hours of you asking to be paid.

How Do You Join?

The site is here: Postloop

It takes about a minute to create a new account that you have to activate by clicking a link in an email they send you. Once you're done, take another minute to set up your profile. You're asked to select up to 7 interests if you want to. When you're done, save your profile.

Now, here's the part that the site doesn't make very clear. Just because you've joined up doesn't automatically mean you're going to get paid. You need to pass an approval process first.

Here's the approval process, copied directly from the FAQ page from the Postloop site:

Below is how the application process works. You must follow every step in the exact order listed:

- Join The Postloop Portal

- Subscribe to The Postloop Portal here: http://www.postloop.com/subscriptions/subscribe/369

(this is different from joining!!!)

- Make 10 posts at The Postloop Portal

- Wait up to 24 hours for approval. Postloop staff will review your posts made, and if they are of acceptable quality, your account will be approved to start subscribing to any of the sites at Postloop. You will be notified immediately via email and inside of your Postloop account once your posts have been reviewed.

If you post and then subscribe, your posts will not count. Only posts that you make after you subscribe will count.

Before you start complaining about making 10 posts and being ripped off by working for nothing, take a moment to think about it. The site owners need to ensure that their paid writers are willing to follow the rules. That's why they put rules here.

If you CAN follow the rules and your forum posts or blog comments are considered good quality, you're all set to start earning money. Head over to the Postloop Portal and start posting!

If you CAN'T follow the rules, your posts won't be accepted and your Postloop account will be closed.

How Much Does Postloop Pay?

The FAQ section on the Postloop website says they pay writers an average of $0.07 cents per post, depending on a range of factors. Those factors include your writer Rating and whether you're eligible to earn bonus points or not to boost your income. If you can't manage to earn any bonus points, you're paid around $0.05 cents per post.

What's the Rating System About?

Apparently, every time you submit a post it will be Rated. Your own Postloop dashboard will show what your Rating is.

If you have a Rating that is higher than 4, you become eligible to earn bonus points, which can be a great way to increase how much you earn from this site. You're able to convert those bonus points to cash and redeem them through Paypal. Your points are worth $0.05 cents per point and you need a minimum of 100 points to withdraw them.

When Do You Get Paid?

If your account balance is higher than $5, you can request Postloop to pay the amount you're owed into your Paypal account.

So there you have it. If you're looking for a way to earn a few extra bucks in your spare time, go ahead and join up with Postloop. If you've already joined up and earning money with them, please leave a comment and let others know what you think!

:)

Increasing Your Freelance Income with Constant Content

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 04:09:00 +0000

I know I've sung the praises of Constant Content on my blog before (back on this post http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/making-money-with-constant-content.html from a few years ago), but I think this needs to be written for those of you who haven't tried the site for yourselves yet.

Basically, Constant Content is a marketplace site that lets you submit any article you want onto their site. You can write about absolutely anything at all! When you're done, you submit the article and you get to name your own price for your work. Buyers come and check out what's available and they buy the articles they like.

It sounds really easy, huh?

Unfortunately, I still get emails from freelance writers who simply can't get an article accepted. I also get emails asking for help from writers who submit articles and can't make a sale. Sadly, I also get emails from people who signed up for the site, but never got around to submitting anything. You can't sell anything if you don't submit something first!

So I figured I'd write this post to give you a bit of an idea how I manage to make so many regular sales on Constant Content every single DAY!

Requested Content

One of the easier ways to increase your chances of making more sales is to check out the 'Requested Content' section. You'll see three tabs across the top here. These are for Public Requests, Private Requests and Standing Orders. The Public Requests section shows you specific articles that customers want to buy. They tell you what topics they want and how much they're willing to pay. Write for these if you find topics that interest you.

Standing Orders

Sometimes the Standing Orders are great value. These are orders placed by the admin team at Constant Content for specific content that always sells well, but that they need more articles for. This is sometimes also because they expect large orders from certain clients. I tend to submit multiple articles to these regularly and they always sell very well at between $40 and $50 per 500 word article! Too easy!

Quality Counts

The editors at Constant Content are quite strict. They expect your articles to have completely correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Even the smallest mistake will get your article rejected. Be ultra-careful with your wording and ensure your syntax is correct or they'll pick up on these things too. So be sure to edit everything before you submit. Of course, as professional freelance writers you already do this before you submit any work to anyone, right?

Formatting

They want you to format your articles to their exact specifications before they'll even read them. This means you need to set your font to Times New Roman or Arial and it needs to be 12 point. If you're going to create a "Top 10" list, don't just start your article with the numbers. Actually include a short introductory paragraph, otherwise it will get rejected.

Writing Ideas

In the navigation bar on the left hand side of your Constant Content account is a link for 'Writing Ideas'. Visit this section often, as it shows you what articles have sold recently and how much a customer paid for them. This is a great way to see what topics are selling and what's popular right now.

Build Your Portfolio

One of the biggest factors to how many sales you'll make on Constant Content is building up a portfolio of work. The more articles you have available for sale, the more likely it is that someone will buy something from you. As I tend to make regular sales, my portfolio keeps shrinking. Those sold articles become unavailable once someone buys them, leaving fewer and fewer available articles for customers to buy. This means I need to find a bit of time at the end of each working day to write one more article to submit to the marketplace to keep my portfolio growing. I made a commitment to myself that once my work was done for paying clients each day I would write just one more article to add to the marketplace to keep that portfolio growing. The bigger your portfolio is, the more sales you'll make in the end.

Patience

Yes, it's true. I have some articles sitting in the marketplace that have been there for a few months. Some sell within hours of being approved. The key with this particular market is patience. It DOES take several days to get articles approved by the editors (unless you're submitting an article for a request - then it can take 24 hours or so). It DOES sometimes take a bit of time to find the right buyer for your work. But if you're diligent about submitting more articles to the marketplace regularly, you'll find that something is always selling and you get paid regularly as a result. Besides, those pieces that end up sitting there for months will eventually sell too, so you still get paid in the end.

Be Diverse

When I first starting submitting articles to this site, I stuck to the topics I really love to write about. This meant most of my portfolio was in the same one or two categories. One day I was writing about a brand new topic for one of my clients and I found it enjoyable. When the order was finished, I wrote two more articles on the same topic to submit to Constant Content. Both of those sold within hours of being accepted. This taught me that it's always a good idea to spread your articles across a broad range of different categories and topics. You also want to be sure you have a variety of prices on your work too. I have some quick, short pieces sitting at $25 per article and I have more highly focused pieces sitting at $150 per article, with others priced somewhere in between. This attracts the more focused buyers at the more expensive end, but it also increases your chances of quick, easy sales at the cheaper end. You appeal to more buyers that way, which means more profit for you in the end!

Seasonal Topics

It's surprisingly easy to sell lots of articles around holiday themes, but so many writers overlook this avenue completely. Halloween articles, Christmas articles, Thanksgiving articles, Easter articles - these things sell like crazy. Admittedly you need to keep your prices competitive in these types of seasonal niches, but you'll make plenty of sales very quickly so it all adds up in your favor.

Writer Pools

Constant Content does have a private order section that is reserved for writers who ALWAYS submit high quality content for requested orders. After you've had 10 articles accepted, you may be eligible for the private writer pools. I earn more money from direct orders in the writer pools than I do from random sales you see in the requested content section. These orders tend to pay higher than regular orders and they're almost always accepted without the strict editorial rules of general articles. Keep your quality high and respond to requested content orders. Before long, you'll be invited to the writer pools that are seriously so profitable you'll wonder what you did before!!

Pricing

It's important to work out your pricing points carefully on this site. There are some highly focused niche topics that will easily fetch $150 or $200 per article. However, there are also topics where the buyers won't pay any more than $10 or $20 per article. Work out what you want to be paid for the word count you submit and check out other articles in your categories. You can see their word counts and pricings very clearly by doing a simple search on the site.

Remember, Constant Content takes a whopping 35% fee off the price you charge for your articles. So if you charge $100 for your work, they're going to take a $35 fee out of your sale price. This will leave $65 in your account. Always take this fee into account when you're setting up your prices.

Payment

Constant Content pays twice a month in US Dollars through Paypal - but ONLY if you set your account correctly. The default setting in your account is set at monthly payments. You need to click the link on the left hand side of your account page that says 'Edit My Account'. On this page is an option to change your payment frequency to bi-monthly instead. Remember, you must have made more than $5 in sales to reach pay-out minimums.

There you have it. Those are my tips for making more freelance writing income through Constant Content. While it might not make you a full-time income, it's certainly an easy way to get your income up every month without much effort - and that's always a good thing.

Have fun :)

More Passive Income from Freelance Writing on HubPages?

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:34:00 +0000

If you've been reading my blog, you might already be aware that I'm not a fan of revenue sharing sites.

But I had a client ask me if I knew how to make hubs on Hubpages. I had no idea. So I asked him to give me a couple of days to see how it all worked before I submitted a pricing quote for him.

The point of Hubpages is to write an article on absolutely anything you want. Upload it to the site and select some related Amazon products to promote. There will be Google Adsense ads displayed on your completed page as well. You can even sign up to receive commissions on eBay sales made on your hubs if you wish.

Essentially, you get paid 60% of any revenue your pages generate. The people who own Hubpages keep the other 40%. That's the crux of revenue share sites, folks.

So I thought I'd see how difficult it was to get started. It took me about five minutes to create my account and then another 90 minutes to write and upload a total of four articles. Not too bad, really.

What I learned is that you don't just paste your written article into your hub. Instead, you can break down your paragraphs and put them into different sections. You can break them up with interesting images or or graphics or ad blocks. The point is to keep the reader engaged long enough to leave a comment at the end.

Now that I've set up a couple of hubs on Hubpages, I can't say that it's done anything amazing for my income. I've earned $1.22 in the past two weeks from those ads. Woo hoo.

But the point is that I also upload multiple articles for my client in his account each week. He's earning PLENTY from his account (I probably shouldn't be peeking in his account earnings while I'm supposed to be uploading new articles, but he lets me log into the account, so... what would you do?)

Maybe this is where I need to think about submitting a few more and making them a little more active to see if that boosts my passive income at all? It's worth a thought, anyway.

Has anyone out there had any success with Hubpages so far? I'd love to read your comments about what you did to make it work for you.

When You Are Your Own Freelance Writing Competition....

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:07:00 +0000

My friend and mentor, Lee, just gave me a HUGE giggle!

You see, she's a full time freelance writer with a team of writers working with her. She writes web content for various companies around the world. She ghost-writes ebooks for various Internet marketers who call themselves "gurus" in their industries.

She also writes her own ebooks and novels and has a consistent column in a couple of different print magazines as well.

Yesterday she told me that one of her clients was consistently late with all payments for work completed and has been for more than 2 years. She chases payments every month from this client and has done for two years.

Now, for a professional writer with such an impressive publishing history - this surprised me!

But she said that she kept accepting the work to ensure her little team of writers was always busy. She doesn't touch any of that work herself.

Over a cup of coffee yesterday, she admitted that her constantly late paying client had been contacting her alter-ego for about six months. Yes, that's right. My mentor has a pen name that she operates as a completely separate business entity. That pen name is also responsible for several series of best-selling ebooks on Amazon, along with a variety of globally-based clients.

And now that consistently late paying client is delaying payments to the pen name as well.

Her solution?

Easy. She increased her writing rates in her real business name and emailed him with new payment terms. He still hasn't responded to her.

Instead, he emailed her alter-ego pen name asking for an urgent order to be completed in the next two days. Her alter-ego responded with a polite and professional request to please pay the unpaid outstanding invoice for work already completed last week before any further work will commence.

And so it begins.

The client hasn't paid EITHER of her writing businesses and is still demanding work to be completed.

Solution?

She increased her rates even further under the name of the alter-ego and amended her payment terms to "payment up front only". She also included mention that any work completed and not paid for would have the copyright ownership reverted to her and would be sold to other clients to recoup costs. If that client was found to be using copyrighted material without paying for it, it's lawsuit time!

This all sounds like a lot of grief for one client who can't be bothered to treat writers like professionals that his business relies on. I know I wouldn't bother!!

But my friend said to stop and think about it for a moment. So I did...

It occurred to me after a while that when he was dissatisfied with her own services, he went searching for the competition instead - and found her alter ego. That means she set up her business so that she's her OWN competition.

That's genius! Seriously! If clients don't like quotes they get from her, they go to the competition and get another quote - which is still her! Fortunately, she's really good with SEO (search engine optimization) so that both of her businesses show up first in any search for that particular industry, so clients always end up contacting her one way or the other.

Personally, I'm impressed. This is why she's my mentor. Just awesome :)

Interruptions to Regular Freelance Writing Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:30:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but I have a pre-determined writing schedule that I need to follow every week just to keep up with everything. I allocate blocks of time and whole days to get orders completed on time.

I have some clients with regular standing orders each month, so these get entered into the writing schedule at the beginning of each month. That blocks out multiple days every month before I even start.

I also have some clients who are regular enough with their orders that I know I should keep some time aside for their orders too.

Some of my clients are so hectic that they constantly add new orders into shared spreadsheets at regular intervals throughout every month.

These are the clients I love. I work hard to keep them pleased and I strive to meet deadlines whenever I can. They pay me regularly and on time, and they're very clear about their job specifications without being ridiculously paranoid about sending multi-page "style guides" just in case I don't know how to do my job. Being concise helps my productivity levels enormously, as I'm able to get the project right first time without fuss or rewrites.

And then there are those fabulously inconsiderate clients who place an order with a 24 hour deadline on it - on a SUNDAY - then demand it gets done on time, and then demand multiple edits that take days out of my time that were never part of the original job outline.

Keep in mind that the same clients sent me an 1100 word "style guide" they wanted followed to the letter - for a 350 word article. LOL!! Really?? Paranoid much? Afraid that another writer can't do the job as well as you might? Perhaps outsourcing isn't your thing, dear paranoid client.

These types of clients have no regard for the fact that I had other important clients already waiting patiently for orders to be completed. They just want what they want. And they want it now. Silly me agreed to the stupidly short deadline, because I was a little afraid to lose a client if I offended them.

I'm not afraid any more. I have good clients. I'll bend over backwards and write all night without sleep and without coffee to please good clients.

However, these are the types of unrealistic clients I'm seriously considering sending to other writers.

Seriously.

You're welcome to keep those types of clients for yourself. I'll even happily hand them to you, if you want them. I'm WAY too busy to deal with clients who take advantage of my time and effort and just don't care what else they might be interrupting.

The way I see it - if a client expects that I've really got nothing else on my plate at any time and I can drop everything - on a SUNDAY - and complete an unexpected order for them within a few hours, then that client obviously is used to dealing with writers who aren't good enough to stay busy on a full time basis and who do have that kind of spare time.

I'm not one of them.

When Inspiration Won't Strike

noreply@blogger.com (Bianca Raven) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 04:39:00 +0000

Do you ever have those days where your mind just won't co-operate with what needs to be written? I'm having an extraordinarily busy November, with so many orders and assignments that I should be insanely happy. I should be writing merrily all day, every day, getting through them all.

But today my mind won't co-operate.

Inspiration for ideas on those assignments and orders just isn't there. I've been staring at the keywords and job specifications, knowing what needs to be done and it's just....

Not happening.

In more than six years of doing this freelancing thing full time, I've never had a day like this before. Sure, I've taken days off where I just need a break. I've taken time off to recharge batteries.

But I've never seen a day where my mind refuses to come up with any logical sentence order to get even a part of an assignment started. Until now.

Have I burned out on writing about random topics and obscure niches that only my clients seem to find? Have I written one too many SEO articles about the same topic over and over and over until it feels like Groundhog Day?
Have I just hit a wall today and need to go do something else?

Those are probably all good questions - and I really did ask myself all of them this morning - until I actually figured out what the problem is.

You see, I really love my job. I love being a freelance writer and I love being self-employed. I love the freedom it gives me and I love earning money by doing what I love.

What I DON'T like is writing about things that don't inspire me. It's a grind and it's a chore. Sure, it pays the bills and it's what freelance writers do. I have no problem with that, but when it gets to the point that I'm writing nothing else except the things clients want done, it becomes tedious and boring.

This is my own fault.

I've said it before on this blog that freelance writers all have the freedom to create and shape their businesses however they want. It's my own fault that I let paid freelance work get in the way of my own creative writing pursuits and fun writing endeavors.

So...

Today I'm going to take my daughter to the beach. I'm not going to sit at the computer another minute longer while inspiration has deserted me anyway. When we get back from our adventures at the beach, I will work on something creative (maybe even get that pesky novel finished, edited and submitted - finally).

The assignments can wait until tomorrow.

:)