These days, anybody with access to a computer and an internet connection can start writing and become published on a whim. Making money writing, however, is still as challenging as it has ever been, though the internet offers unique opportunities. Anyone who has tried out Google's Adsense and pay per click arrangement should understand what I'm talking about.
What alternatives are available? I did some web-surfing and found that compensation arrangements ranged from pay per article to lifetime royalties to pyramid-like referral fees. Below is a list of sites that I found and a general description of what they provide:
1) Demandstudios.com. This site will pay you per article you write and claims that their average writer earns $20 an hour. You need to apply to be a writer for them; the application process includes a submission of writing sample.
2) Suite101.com. This site will pay you lifelong royalties based on the income your articles generate. You are required to apply, which includes submit writing samples. Once approved to be a writer, you need to produce 10 articles every three months to keep your "writer" status.
3) Examiner.com. You receive royalties based on the income your articles generate; you are required to apply for a specific writing topic for your locale; and your application requires samples of your writing.
4) Associatedcontent.com. You can be paid up front writing fees or based on page views; the up front writing fees range from $2-$15 per article, while the page view fees start at $1.50 for every one-thousand page views (the page view fees max out at $2.00 per one-thousand page views.) There is no application process; rather, there is a registration process.
5) Constant-content.com. You name your price on this site; the site works like a consignment shop for writers. You can specify a price for usage rights, unique rights, and/or full rights. Usage rights gives a publisher the right to use an article once (other publishers may buy the article too); unique rights gives a publisher exclusive rights to an article, though original writer needs to be credited; and full rights gives a publisher the right to modify the content and to resell the content under his/her name. Writers register to begin consigning their articles.
6) Xomba.com. Xomba uses Google Adsense revenue sharing with it's writers. Writers receive a 50% split on from Adsense revenue earned on their articles and a 10% revenue share on writers who were referred to Xomba by them. No application is needed; writers sign-up as members of Xomba.
7) Mylot.com. Mylot pays writers per post they create (either as an originator or for making discussion contributions) and also pays writers 25% of what their referrals are paid. Sign-up is required.
8) Peoplestring.com. Peoplestring is a social networking site bragging it gives 70% of its revenues to its members. Free members get paid 5% of their direct referrals earnings and 2% of earnings from referrals levels 2 through 6. Entrepreneur members get paid 20% of their direct referrals earnings and 6% of earnings from referrals levels 2 through 6. Members receive a share of all memberships, ads, search and paid placements. Each members share of revenue is determined based on the number of times they login to Peoplestring. Sign-up is required; membership is free; the Entrepreneur package is $200.
So, if writing is your thing, maybe this information will help you start your own online writing empire.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Memories from a Galaxy Far Far Away...From a Time That Doesn't Seem So Long Ago
Wow, has it really been since November 22nd of last year since I posted on my blog? I just checked my Google analytics account and people still seem to be finding my blog - 58 hits since November; most of the hits were for my blog posts relating to Stephen Hawking and Human Intelligence tasks.
Time to get back on track - here's something I was working on before my hiatus for the holidays and tax season:
The year was 1998. I had a job at BYU Takeout where I eventually worked my way up to the position of supervisor. I lived at Stadium Terrace apartments. My roommates were Buddy (aka Tony), Dalan, Jonathan, Justin, and Rich. I fit sand volleyball in between studying and work whenever I had the chance.
The month was August and on the 23rd I taught Sunday school. As I taught, a lovely young lady in a yellow dress sat in the front row with a distracting ear to ear smile. Whenever I looked in her direction, she had that smile on her face distracting me from my lesson plan. I found out later that she and her friend Zanne were trying to see how many times that they could get me to stop and say "ah, um" and look at my paper.
One week later, that same girl stole my ward questionnaire for the upcoming Fall semester and filled it out for me. On the relationship status line she wrote that I was not only engaged, but that I was engaged to her and that we were getting married someday.
My Family Home Evening group didn't show up on Monday so I tagged along with my "fiancee's" FHE group. While walking back from FHE we went past the apartment pool and I started to coax my "fiancee" towards the pool, but before I could throw my "fiancee" in, Zanne intervened and convinced me to stop.
Later that week, my sister, Goatee, borrowed my car just before I realized my apartment cupboards had no food. Somehow I ended up talking to my "fiancee" by the volleyball courts, mentioned my dilemma, and how it was really too bad I didn't have my car. My "fiancee" agreed and then remembered her that she had a car - no, not "oh, wait a minute I have a car", but "oh, hang on, duh, I have a car" (my "fiancee's" grandfather had dropped it off not more than a week earlier for her). Soon we were on our way to a poor starving college students Mecca - Taco Bell (I am currently being informed that she ordered a lemonade and I bought a chalupa and that we talked about how my "fiancee" had worked at the Taco Bell we were visiting at one point and that I would have frequented it during the time period she worked there - I'm pretty sure right at that moment I heard a choir of angels sing "ah-ah-ahhh".)
So our friendship started and soon after I asked her out. Our first date was September 4th; we doubled with my roommates, went to Applebees for dinner, and then went to see the Pink Floyd lightshow in 3D at Hansen Planitarium in SLC. Starring up at a ceiling and watching lights to Pink Floyd made my date nauseous, but she somehow held it together.
Afterwards, as we headed back to Provo, we realized the SLC freeway was closed for construction and ended up having a little more time to talk with each other then originally planned. Eventually, we drove through what seemed to be all of SLC and then back to Provo; I walked my date to her door and continued to speak with her on her doorstep.
For whatever reason, I said something suave like "Hey, I like your socks; do you want to make out?" And I'm sure because she was worn down by being nauseous, trapped in a car with me for hours, and that it was 1am, that she actually kissed me!
(to be continued)
Time to get back on track - here's something I was working on before my hiatus for the holidays and tax season:
The year was 1998. I had a job at BYU Takeout where I eventually worked my way up to the position of supervisor. I lived at Stadium Terrace apartments. My roommates were Buddy (aka Tony), Dalan, Jonathan, Justin, and Rich. I fit sand volleyball in between studying and work whenever I had the chance.
The month was August and on the 23rd I taught Sunday school. As I taught, a lovely young lady in a yellow dress sat in the front row with a distracting ear to ear smile. Whenever I looked in her direction, she had that smile on her face distracting me from my lesson plan. I found out later that she and her friend Zanne were trying to see how many times that they could get me to stop and say "ah, um" and look at my paper.
One week later, that same girl stole my ward questionnaire for the upcoming Fall semester and filled it out for me. On the relationship status line she wrote that I was not only engaged, but that I was engaged to her and that we were getting married someday.
My Family Home Evening group didn't show up on Monday so I tagged along with my "fiancee's" FHE group. While walking back from FHE we went past the apartment pool and I started to coax my "fiancee" towards the pool, but before I could throw my "fiancee" in, Zanne intervened and convinced me to stop.
Later that week, my sister, Goatee, borrowed my car just before I realized my apartment cupboards had no food. Somehow I ended up talking to my "fiancee" by the volleyball courts, mentioned my dilemma, and how it was really too bad I didn't have my car. My "fiancee" agreed and then remembered her that she had a car - no, not "oh, wait a minute I have a car", but "oh, hang on, duh, I have a car" (my "fiancee's" grandfather had dropped it off not more than a week earlier for her). Soon we were on our way to a poor starving college students Mecca - Taco Bell (I am currently being informed that she ordered a lemonade and I bought a chalupa and that we talked about how my "fiancee" had worked at the Taco Bell we were visiting at one point and that I would have frequented it during the time period she worked there - I'm pretty sure right at that moment I heard a choir of angels sing "ah-ah-ahhh".)
So our friendship started and soon after I asked her out. Our first date was September 4th; we doubled with my roommates, went to Applebees for dinner, and then went to see the Pink Floyd lightshow in 3D at Hansen Planitarium in SLC. Starring up at a ceiling and watching lights to Pink Floyd made my date nauseous, but she somehow held it together.
Afterwards, as we headed back to Provo, we realized the SLC freeway was closed for construction and ended up having a little more time to talk with each other then originally planned. Eventually, we drove through what seemed to be all of SLC and then back to Provo; I walked my date to her door and continued to speak with her on her doorstep.
For whatever reason, I said something suave like "Hey, I like your socks; do you want to make out?" And I'm sure because she was worn down by being nauseous, trapped in a car with me for hours, and that it was 1am, that she actually kissed me!
(to be continued)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Our Pup Comes with Family History
Our Pup, whom we'll call "Mellow" for blogging purposes, came with genealogy done for him. That's right, he has Pedigree records showing four generations for his Father and six generations for his Mother.
Mellow's Grandfather on his Mother's side has 52 champions in his blood-line and is also a champion. Meanwhile Mellow's Grandmother on his Mother's side has 11 champions in her blood-line.
Looking at Mellow's family tree on his Father's side, you will find 4 champions in his Grandfather's line and 2 champions in his Grandmother's line.
Now for the interesting part. Dogs' lineages get real peculiar when you look through the trees. For instance, the same Sire (Ken's Pocket Rocket - who is a Kentucky champion, by the way) happens to be Mellow's great, great, great Grandfather twice in his Grandmother's line from his Father's side. Further, Ken's Pocket Rocket is also Mellow's great grandfather in his Grandfather's line from his Father's side.
Confused? Well, I've kept it simple so far, I haven't added in the connections from Mellow's Mother's line. You see, Ken's Pocket Rocket also shows up as Mellow's great, great, great Grandfather on his Mother's Father's side as well as his great, great, great Grandfather on his Mother's Mother's side. Add a couple more greats and you'll find Ken's Pocket Rocket as Mellow's Grandfather again - once on his Mother's Father's side and twice on his Mother's Mother's side.
Now that's something only someone born in Arkansas or Indiana can appreciate.
There are, of course, other situations like this that crop up in Mellow's tree, but I won't bore you with those details.
I will, however, point out some of the more interesting names in Mellows ancestry. For instance, there's Ken's Giggles Galore (I'm thinking Ken was a fan of James Bond); Simba Mufasa May (sounds like someone was watching a little too much Lion King); Cathey's Lil Spankey Man (no comment); San-Lee's Wild Cherry (poor dog probably grew up to be a stripper); and Shari's Blame it on Mexico (parents, don't ever do this to your kids, no one wants to know where they were conceived; imagine the number of shrinks this puppy had to visit!).
So what are the names of Mellow's parents? Wooden Nickel and Sinder Ella. As my children love Princesses, it's only fitting Mellow's Mom is one too.
Mellow's Grandfather on his Mother's side has 52 champions in his blood-line and is also a champion. Meanwhile Mellow's Grandmother on his Mother's side has 11 champions in her blood-line.
Looking at Mellow's family tree on his Father's side, you will find 4 champions in his Grandfather's line and 2 champions in his Grandmother's line.
Now for the interesting part. Dogs' lineages get real peculiar when you look through the trees. For instance, the same Sire (Ken's Pocket Rocket - who is a Kentucky champion, by the way) happens to be Mellow's great, great, great Grandfather twice in his Grandmother's line from his Father's side. Further, Ken's Pocket Rocket is also Mellow's great grandfather in his Grandfather's line from his Father's side.
Confused? Well, I've kept it simple so far, I haven't added in the connections from Mellow's Mother's line. You see, Ken's Pocket Rocket also shows up as Mellow's great, great, great Grandfather on his Mother's Father's side as well as his great, great, great Grandfather on his Mother's Mother's side. Add a couple more greats and you'll find Ken's Pocket Rocket as Mellow's Grandfather again - once on his Mother's Father's side and twice on his Mother's Mother's side.
Now that's something only someone born in Arkansas or Indiana can appreciate.
There are, of course, other situations like this that crop up in Mellow's tree, but I won't bore you with those details.
I will, however, point out some of the more interesting names in Mellows ancestry. For instance, there's Ken's Giggles Galore (I'm thinking Ken was a fan of James Bond); Simba Mufasa May (sounds like someone was watching a little too much Lion King); Cathey's Lil Spankey Man (no comment); San-Lee's Wild Cherry (poor dog probably grew up to be a stripper); and Shari's Blame it on Mexico (parents, don't ever do this to your kids, no one wants to know where they were conceived; imagine the number of shrinks this puppy had to visit!).
So what are the names of Mellow's parents? Wooden Nickel and Sinder Ella. As my children love Princesses, it's only fitting Mellow's Mom is one too.
Monday, November 9, 2009
"It's Time for Weed", "My Wife the Srtripper" and Other Amusing Search Keywords
What do the internet keyword searches "it's time for weed" and "my wife the srtripper" (yes stripper is spelled incorrectly) have in common? If you Google either search term, my blog will show up in the search results (when I checked my blog was ranked #1 for "it's time for weed" and #9 for "my wife the srtripper").
I don't recommend Googling either term, but I found it highly amusing that people who typed in these search terms ended up on my blog.
How did this happen? Well if you follow the link for "it's time for weed" you will go to my blog post titled "It's time to weed" and if you follow the link for "my wife the srtripper" you will be directed to my blog post titled "My wife's stripper friend called me at work" (that's my June 9, 2009 blog post for anyone curious).
To date, people have used exactly 19 different keyword phrases to find my blog; some amusing, some ordinary, and others down right scary (I may have to be more selective in the phrases I place on my blog, though I'm sure this post won't help.)
I use Google Analytics to track this information. So without further adieu, here are the 19 keyword phrases and the ranking my blog has on Google for each as of 11/9/09:
1. human intelligence tasks (#8)
2. 13 wasted years conservative rule? (#1)
3. government socialism liberal conservative capitalism (#1)
4. how much do you get paid for human intelligence tasks (#1)
5. ideas of how to get my wifes friend to sleep with us (#9)
6. it's time for weed (#1)
7. liberal conservative progressive libertarian (#1)
8. misconceptions about peta (I couldn't find a link to my blog in the first 10 pages of results)
9. my wife is a striper (I couldn't find a link to my blog in the first 10 pages of results)
10. my wife the stripper (#48)
11. paid human intelligence tasks (#3)
12. progressive ideology wikipedia (#11)
13. stephen hawking predictions (#4)
14. stephen hawkings sleep (#2)
15. stripper friend (#20)
16. third political parties effective (#9)
17. was lyndon johnson a conservative, liberal, or socialist? (#3)
18. what impact can third parties have on major parties (I couldn't find a link to my blog in the first 10 pages of results)
19. wifestripper (#8)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Potty Mouth
Earlier this evening, Scoonie and I were watching the fifth season of Quantum Leap (disc two) for our date night when we heard Jr's voice requesting my presence. Although it was date night and the kids were supposed to be sleeping, I got up to see what Jr wanted.
Upon arrival, I found that Jr had done something that annoyed Fred. In retaliation, Fred had blurted "I hate you!" to Jr.
In our household, the phrase "I hate you" is not tolerated and Fred knows that; normally, soap and a mouth washing follows closely after uttering those words, but today I looked up at Fred (as she was on the top bunk) and said, "You don't hate your sister, you may dislike some of the things she does, but you don't hate her."
"Yes I do, I hate her."
"You don't hate her, you just dislike some of the things she does." (I'm a firm believer that repetition is the Mother of all learning.)
"But Dad she..." Fred continued on with her story and then uttered a four letter "D" word I've never heard come from her sweet little mouth (which is probably why I don't remember what her complaints about Jr were.)
"What did you say?" I queried with my stern voice, "What DID you say? You are not allowed to say that! That is not a word you should be saying!"
Fred froze and stammered, "What did I say?"
I spelled the word out for her. Fred tried to ameliorate the situation by saying she had not said that; I assured her she had and reiterated that she should not use such words.
At this point, Fred pulled her silk sheet over her head, assumed the fetal position, sobbed and then blurted, "But Mommy says it all the time...I didn't know it was a bad word!"
This was news to me. Yes, Mommy had her male stripper friend call me at work once, but I've never thought of her as a person with a sailor's mouth.
"What?" Yes, I had a real hard time keeping a straight face.
"Mommy says it all the time." Fred reiterated, "You hate me." More sobs.
"I don't hate you. I'm correcting you because I love you; if I didn't love you, I'd let you do whatever you wanted."
I continued to calm Fred down, then gave both Fred and Jr their second set of good night kisses, checked on George to make sure she had her blankets on, and then reported back to Scoonie and asked, "Did you know that you're the bad language influence for our kid?"
We both had a good laugh; but Scoonie is going to make sure she sits down with Fred and see if she can't figure out why Fred thinks this in the morning.
*Scoonie* Now if she had said @-$-$ I'd have to own up to the mouth washing but I DON'T say the other - I SWEAR! Oh wait, that's what started this whole problem ...
Upon arrival, I found that Jr had done something that annoyed Fred. In retaliation, Fred had blurted "I hate you!" to Jr.
In our household, the phrase "I hate you" is not tolerated and Fred knows that; normally, soap and a mouth washing follows closely after uttering those words, but today I looked up at Fred (as she was on the top bunk) and said, "You don't hate your sister, you may dislike some of the things she does, but you don't hate her."
"Yes I do, I hate her."
"You don't hate her, you just dislike some of the things she does." (I'm a firm believer that repetition is the Mother of all learning.)
"But Dad she..." Fred continued on with her story and then uttered a four letter "D" word I've never heard come from her sweet little mouth (which is probably why I don't remember what her complaints about Jr were.)
"What did you say?" I queried with my stern voice, "What DID you say? You are not allowed to say that! That is not a word you should be saying!"
Fred froze and stammered, "What did I say?"
I spelled the word out for her. Fred tried to ameliorate the situation by saying she had not said that; I assured her she had and reiterated that she should not use such words.
At this point, Fred pulled her silk sheet over her head, assumed the fetal position, sobbed and then blurted, "But Mommy says it all the time...I didn't know it was a bad word!"
This was news to me. Yes, Mommy had her male stripper friend call me at work once, but I've never thought of her as a person with a sailor's mouth.
"What?" Yes, I had a real hard time keeping a straight face.
"Mommy says it all the time." Fred reiterated, "You hate me." More sobs.
"I don't hate you. I'm correcting you because I love you; if I didn't love you, I'd let you do whatever you wanted."
I continued to calm Fred down, then gave both Fred and Jr their second set of good night kisses, checked on George to make sure she had her blankets on, and then reported back to Scoonie and asked, "Did you know that you're the bad language influence for our kid?"
We both had a good laugh; but Scoonie is going to make sure she sits down with Fred and see if she can't figure out why Fred thinks this in the morning.
*Scoonie* Now if she had said @-$-$ I'd have to own up to the mouth washing but I DON'T say the other - I SWEAR! Oh wait, that's what started this whole problem ...
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