The Grapevine: For Writers

Yesterday was an interesting day for eHow's writers. Their lucrative writing venue literally transformed overnight. We awoke to find a new message in a bright box in the middle of our screen. It shouted that all eHow articles would now be written through Demand Studios. (Demand Studios and eHow are owned by the same company.)

As a new eHow writer, I personally am not affected by the change. I have made exactly $0 in advertising revenue at eHow, although I have made a decent amount of cash at Demand Studios. Frankly, I find Demand Studios to be a nice broker for freelance writers; it creates an easy bridge between writing for enjoyment and writing for pay. They provide the topics, and I write what I like. But that's a story for another time.

Today I wanted to focus on other online writing sites. Writers like to get paid to write. We like to have articles that link to Google AdSense or another form of advertising revenue. We like royalties.

So where do we go?

In addition to Demand Studios, I have had a lot of luck with Suite 101 (www.suite101.com/invite/689124). It pays via advertising revenue, and I get to retain my rights (as outlined in the contract.) I like Suite 101, and highly recommend it to other writers.

So my question to you is this:
WHERE WILL YOU WRITE?

While I still prefer to write with pen and paper, I have found that there is a large online writing market. I've been experimenting with Demand Studios over the past few months, and I must say that it has been rather successful.

Demand Studios pays fairly well, and the work in interesting. The pay rates vary per article; when I began the pay rates were $3 for a short answer, $7.50 for a fact sheet; and $15 for a longer article. There is an application process, and all submissions must go through a copy editor.

In the meantime, I'm flirting with another online magazine, Suite 101. I'll fill you in on this one later. In the meantime, feel free to visit my newest article at Suite 101: http://dessert-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/fruit-cobbler--an-easy-cake-recipe-makes-a-deli.