Lisa

As for me, I’ve never done much writing for content sites. It just happens that I’ve mostly written for magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs and non-profits (for newsletters, e-newsletters and for their websites). Does that mean I’d never write for a content site? Never say never, right?

Exactly. Nor do they care to take the time to find out. Decrying what others are doing and whining about how it will affect them is apparently much easier.

I like the Bobby Flay quote too. When I was thinking about this debate last week, I was thinking in similar lines of a high-powered corporate attorney making $500/hr. and worrying about the independent ambulance chaser ruining it for all lawyers. Or perhaps taking a day off of work and cursing at his TV when all the daytime ads for personal injury lawyers came on. I’m guessing that doesn’t happen too often.

Not everyone in the same profession needs to focus on the same market; in fact, that fact should be beneficial to others, not detrimental. What is it that makes writers so quick to be defensive over what others are doing to make a living? If the market’s there and the individual can make it work why do others need to question or insult it?

For example…my expertise niche is in home improvement, specifically as it relates to ceramic tile and natural stone installations, manufacturing, design, businesses, and anything and everything related to the business based upon 3 generations of family and 15 years of personal experience in the field. I simply hop on and plug in keywords related to the topic. A good example would be to use the keywords “ceramic, slate, granite, marble, tile, design” and I generally pull up 40+ pages. I then refine it even further based upon if I’m in the mood for How To, About, Strategy, or so on and so forth.

I think your difficulty lies in simply finding keywords that relate to what you want to write about. It took me a few hours of refining before I figured out which keywords and categories suited me best, so my only real suggestion is just to play around with the keyword and category search option until you can get what you want to pop up.

Here’s the thing: many people question why I don’t use DS regularly since I could make double what I normally make in other places. I’m in a unique position in the sense that I’m not required to make more than 10k a year to cover our basic living expenses, so I get to pursue the projects I really, really want to work on relating to travel, health, and focusing on my fiction. In any case…I get a real kick out of people whining about content sites because 100% of the time those writers have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

I know a LOT about “soft” topics like… homeschooling, fundraising, hands-on science education, green home topics, religion, crafts, general science (the difference between a star and planet type stuff). How do I find those topics??

THANKS!!

Lisa

I’m reminded of Sir Laurence Olivier who absolutely abhorred doing movies…yet he went on to win multiple Oscars and other awards in his career, despite his main passion being theater. In his own words theater paid squat, and movies paid millions, so he did one for the money and another for the passion of the art.

Most short stories sell for 100-200 dollars, if they are a 4000-6000 word short story…IF you assume a “reasonable” name in the industry. Big-name ‘zines will pay 400-500 dollars IF you are a big name. The average joe webzine or mag pays under 100 dollars per short story, so unless you are cranking out 30-40 of those suckers a month and selling them with regularity you can’t gonna be paying the bills with fiction.

First time writers are lucky to get a 3-4 thousand dollar advance and 2-3% of the profit on royalties. Average first run for a newbie author is 6,000 books, give or take a k. Hardcovers sell for, what, 20 bucks these days? That means that if you sell every single copy and make a few % profit you are going to make a few grand at most. That’s why so many trade paperback authors push out 3-4 novels a year….it takes a few years to build up a fan base, but even then you need to sell an arseload of copies per year to really make a living out of it. That’s why most fiction writers spend 10 years or so working another job while they write fiction for fun, because it doesn’t pay squat.

Anyone who claims that Demand Studios is low paying has absolutely no clue what they are talking about. Obviously it’s not going to pay a lot if you go into it with absolutely no idea of a given topic, but the beauty of the DS is that it allows you to skim for cream-of-the-crop content regarding your special little niche. That means no pitching, no negotiating, no wasted time. Instead you can go in, pick a few articles, bang them out, and move on. Every single solitary time I’ve used Demand Studios I’ve made over 60 dollars an hour. I don’t care who you are, 60 dollars an hour is FAR from entry level or “amateur” rates.

To put it into perspective…if one were to write 40 hours a week @ 60 dollars an hour they would make 115,200 USD in one year, assuming 40 hour work weeks. I continually boggle at people who can claim that 115 grand a year is “entry level” pay or “for amateurs”. I’d love to live in your world where 115k a year is considered entry level, because it sure as shiznizzle ain’t the real world that the rest of us writers live in, where the average median wage is 40ishk a year.

(Granted, the above example assumes you were able to write in your niche 100% of the time, but I can tell you this…every single time I’ve ever gone to Demand Studios I’ve been able to find 45-50 pages worth of articles in my particular niche that I could work on if I chose to, which basically boils down to limitless potential, and the site is only getting bigger and better as time goes on)

As a self-employed person, you are empowered to choose how to present yourself, and how to live. If you’re living a $100,000 lifestyle, then Demand Studios is unlikely to support that on its own. You’ll need to find other/additional income sources.

Or you can work strictly for Demand, etc. and cut costs.

You can market yourself as you see fit.

You’re not stuck.

That’s the beauty of freelancing: you can reinvent yourself every few days. I’ve got three or four different resumes, and a fairly complex website, because I “am” many different types of writer, depending upon the client’s needs.

Lisa

In those cases and similar, it was (and I think still is) all about legitimacy and cache – and NOT about income.

In fact, I never hear people complaining about the price they’re paid for short stories (you get copies of the publication, if you’re lucky!) or for poetry (published poetry?!). And fiction? Don’t get me started. If you’re not Stephen King, you pay THEM (because 99 out of 100 times, you’re self-publishing). Academic publishers pay in copies for heavily researched 300 page tomes.

Writers are like actors, dancers, and fine artists.
We’ll do the bottom-feeder work if we need to to make a living… and we’ll work for free if it means a chance at the big time. This isn’t accounting or plumbing, this is an art form: and a great many of us are ego- and spirit-driven, not money driven (except when we have to be just to pay the rent).

Lisa

Median wage is the average job as defined by the average citizen with a college degree and a few years of experience. The average wage is not determined by entry-level wages; rather, it is determined by the average of jobs across the board. Entry level positions pay is around 15-18 USD per hour, while non-skilled positions pay minimum wage up to 10-15 USD an hour.

Just because it doesn’t work for you (generalized “you”) does not mean it doesn’t work for other people. I can list half a dozen people right off the top of my head (myself included) who work primarily for content sites around the globe who are making over 50k a year, which is far from “entry level” in any sense of the word.

Content sites are part of the new generation of writing. Print magazines were the thing of the 20th century….content sites are the 21st century. With new technology comes new ways to use it.

Imagine, if you would, an individual who refuses to use a modern-day printer because (in his mind) the old-fashioned printing press is the “only” way to be authentic. He goes down into his basement every weekend and uses his hundreds-of-years-old antique to print up a handful of copies of a newsletter each weekend. Meanwhile, his neighbor down the street is pushing out that same newsletter…only he’s pushing out 50 copies a day because he’s using a modern-day printer. The guy in the basement firmly believes that someone who uses one of those “newfangled contraptions” is a farce because he is stuck in the past century. Meanwhile the neighbor is making boatloads of cash using the new technology and moving ahead into the new century.

People who judge a person without ever actually reading their work are ignorant, plain and simple. It’s like the guy in his basement, refusing to acknowledge that the world has moved on with him. There are those out there who believe that content sites are “evil” because they are still stuck in the mentality that the print market is the only market that matters. It’s not. The print market started going out of style around a decade ago, and with the new push for greener alternatives, Kindles, iPhones, Blackberries, and other hand-held devices, the need for a clunky, heavy, wasteful magazine that takes up a ton of space once it’s been acquired are a thing of the past. That’s not to say that print magazines don’t exist, or that they don’t still provide a lucrative market for certain individuals. It’s simply that most modern-day thinkers have moved away from the old-fashioned way of doing things and are moving into the future.

If someone wants to sneer down their noses at content sites, I say let them. My bank account and my reputation directly contradict their assumption that I cannot write quality content for any form, be it digital or print.

Once you’ve got a few credits you can pick and choose which ones to show on your website – you do have your own website don’t you.

I’ve been utterly astounded at the anger that has been displayed over on my blog about Demand Studios… and on other sites about other low-pay article sites… it seems some would rather be angry than do what it takes to get higher paying gigs, or maybe being angry is how they feel alive.

Love “I can’t imagine Bobby Flay worrying about the fact that some guy is applying at Denny’s right now.”

A

In fact, since my higher-paying clients tend to be older people who don’t quite know what a blog IS, I suspect they’d be impressed just to hear that I’m writing for a blog at ALL! (they think it requires high end programming skills and specialized equipment…)

Of course, I’m one of those strange people who doesn’t understand why people get all wound up about who loves whom…

Lisa

This is officially my favorite comment quote of all time. I plan on using it. A lot. But don’t worry, I always give credit where it’s due.

I do often wonder why those who opt to exclusively pursue higher-paying jobs would give a crap what others were doing (or vice versa). I can’t imagine Bobby Flay worrying about the fact that some guy is applying at Denny’s right now.

That said, I agree with Jeanne. At the end of the day, I have to do what works best for me and my situation. I respect every writer’s choice to do the same.

I write for several high paying magazines and journals; I am an editor and contributing writer to a large and popular content site, as well as a client’s website; I write a weekly organic gardening column; and I write for three revenue sharing sites.

And that’s work what works for ME.

Everyone must find the right balance for his or her own needs!