Can Online Article Writers Earn a Living Wage?

You Call This Living?

For the first few years that article collection and distribution sites, otherwise known as article mills were paying writers for knowledge based articles, many writers were finding that they could, indeed, make over $500 a week writing constantly, as long as they were writing quality content. If you could post 2 articles an hour, and receive $15 per article plus revenue share (RS), and that RS then earning you another $10 to $25 per article per month, after having a few thousand articles in your portfolio you could start making really good money. Problem was that the word got out (the sites advertised).

Steadily, his bank account rose by pennies a day.

Thousands upon thousands of new “writers” join up. Content gets crappier. More good writers leave in disgust. Shareholders shiver in sheer fear. New owners get confused, decide to offer $1 upfront payment for some articles, half of what used to be offered. But with a major decline in monthly revenue share income, the beginning of the end for good writers supplying writing sites with quality content is at hand.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Hold on, I’m getting there.

Why did these article mills have to go and advertise that if you could write, you could earn a great, sustainable income? All of a sudden the ranks of writers swelled, and the quality of content tanked. Writers who were making a few hundred a month were now making a few bucks a month, and the exodus began. Now, most of these sites are filled with sup-par writers, and the few writers who need the money so bad that they just hang in there, taking whatever they can get.

But, on the flip-side of this coin, there are writers at Helium who earn over $50,000 a year! Gads, wish I were one of them!

Is it just the plummeting revenues that causes many writers to leave these article mills, or are there other reasons? There are many people on social networking sites that have nothing but bad things to say about these sites and the writers, newbies and hobbyists who submit content to said sites. With over 300,000 writers at Helium.com alone, there is obviously a place for these sites on the internet and in society. Instead of bad mouthing the sites and contributors endlessly, why these people don’t just move on and get on with their sorry little lives is beyond this contributor.

Live and let live, write and let write.

But, with the quality of the content on these writing sites tanking, mostly due to the influx of people looking for ways to supplement their sub-living wage incomes, the better writers are now in position to earn more money on these sites. When publishers look for filler material for the magazines, e-books, websites and whatnot, and they find a few good writers who can write what they require, those writers are gobbled up by the publishers to submit content on a regular basis to them directly.

Can a writer earn a living wage doing this? Most definitely. But, be aware that only those writers who can submit quality content on a regular basis are earning more than a few pennies a day, on a portfolio of over 1,000 articles.

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Just what does the 10th Doctor Say…???

9 out of 10 doctors agree that Celebrex lessens the effects of arthritis on the human body.

9 out of 10 doctors agree that Lotomax is the best choice for lessening the effects of runny bowels in every day life.

9 out of 10 dentists agree that Crest is the best toothpaste for daily use.

9 out of 10 dentists agree that Colgate is the best toothpaste for daily use.

9 out of 10 dentists agree that Arm & Hammer is the best toothpaste for daily use.

All of these “studies” are true 19 times out of 20. What happens in that 20th poll is what I would like to see: it makes me wonder if that 20th poll had 10 doctors or dentists proclaiming that their patients should never use the medication, as it causes more problems than what it is supposed to cure or alleviate does.

Okay, I’m starting to see a pattern here – there’s a lot of doctors and dentists out there that are sell outs – they are making a lot of money, free golf clubs, memberships and trips from the pharmaceutical companies, toothpaste and oral hygiene companies and manufacturers. Name an ailment, a requirement or a medication and the consumer lobby will find 9 out of 10 doctors, dentists or pharmacists (professional may be portrayed by an amateur actor. 5% less anal leakage is only an approximation and is not a guarantee).

What exactly is it that that 10th doctor, dentist and pharmacist refuses to sell out over? It can’t be because there is only 3% less anal leakage with the new, improved prescription medications and not a full 5%, nor can it be that the 10th dentist doesn’t think that Crest is a good toothpaste for daily use. So, why the hold-outs becomes my first question, and question it I do. I question why they have to pay actors to represent doctors who only represent 90% of their profession, 19 times out of 20.

How many times have you been in to see your doctor or dentist and there was a pharmaceutical sales representative, with their big old box of drugs, standing with the receptionists making small talk? I’m guessing at least 9 out of 10 times, 19 times out of 20. My doctor has a storage closet where they store the freebies, the new and/or improved drugs that they want doctors to prescribe. So, please don’t complain when you take your prescription for Celebrex to the pharmacy, get home and then bury your head in the oven with the gas on. It says right on the commercial that suicide tendencies and increased thoughts of suicide are common side effects of the drug. What’s Celebrex prescribed for? If you guessed depression, give yourself a gold star! I’m guessing that 10th doctor just didn’t want to be part of that big multinational lawsuit from the families of the victims, i mean, patients that took the drug.

Funny thing, I’ve never heard of someone smoking a joint of pot and committing suicide (well, maybe not funny ha ha), and since pot is the best anti-depressant going around, I may just have a suggestion for people who may want to try Celebrex.

Go smoke a big fattie and chillax, dude!Skip out on the pharmaceuticals and step up to the new wave of people using naturally growing plants, weeds and shrubberies. Oh, and nuts. Gotta have (or,m be) nuts!

Why People Misunderstand You

Aside

What? Wait, no – I didn’t mean it that way!

It seems that no matter what you say, there will always be someone who takes offense. If you say “Merry Christmas” in a school or mall, you may be perceived to be a Holly Christian Terrorist, bent on destroying the fabric of the one-state, to want to destroy what so many have fought to make banal. Case in point: You walk into a store and the greeter says “Happy Holidays!”. You proceed to strangle the octogenarian to death, screaming and foaming at the mouth. That poor greeter, though, was just saying what the store told them to say or face being fired. The miscommunication here is when they are begging you to stop killing them, and you take offense, thinking that they were laughing at you because they think something you said was funny. You know, stop it, you’re killing me!

Is There Anyone Born Without Foot-In-Mouth Disease?

Dogs and other animals are born lacking a certain human defect. They can’t lie. They don’t mind if you bring another dog home with you, and they love it when you have other dog’s smells on you when you get home late at night.

But when what you say is meant as a compliment, and someone takes offense, what can you do? You can crawl under the nearest rock and hide, bury your head in the sand, much like my beloved Golden Retriever used to love to do quite frequently (and literally!). You can try to explain yourself to the person who took offense, but in doing so you may come off as begging, again, much like my beloved Golden Retriever used to do quite frequently. You need to find some common ground, and have people who know you well to tell the offended people “No, they’re not like that at all! They may be a little on the nutty side, but they mean well and would never insult someone they look up to.” – the sort of person I, myself, needed this morning. But you should never need someone to back you up when dealing with people you know, the real problem is when you say something to someone you respect, adore or just look up to who is a “friend” on a social networking site – someone you’ve never spoken to in person, and who has never had the luxury of getting to know you as you really are.

What Did I Say Wrong?

When someone takes what you said the wrong way, you can sound awfully whiny when you ask them what you said wrong. Now, this should never happen with people you know, love and have grown up with, but even the ones you love will take something you’ve said and turn it around on you. Whose fault is it?  It is usually nobody’s fault, unless one of the two involved have a persisting problem with the other, in which case anything said could be turned around and made into something it wasn’t, and was never meant to be.

What Should I Do?

Get your head out of the sand~

Get your head out of the sand, come up for air and fight for your right to be right, You can either claim that you had no intention on hurting the other`s feelings and then turn the tables on them and make it seem like they are at fault, or you can man up and take responsibility, offering apologies and saying how you never meant it to be taken that way.

When you have found out that someone has taken something you’ve said the wrong way, you should never air it out in public, as that gives others a reason to join one bandwagon or the other. Talk, email or chat online, but do it privately, with nobody else involved. Make sure to tell the person what you said, how it was meant  and who it was meant for. Don’t lie, don’t pull any punches. You remember the truths that you have said, you don’t remember the lies.

Just make sure that the person who you may have unknowingly and unwittingly insulted knows that you were really upset by the misunderstanding, and that you would never put them down like that, especially if it was done in public, or God forbid, on a public social networking site.

The Meaning of Life?

No, not really… just the meaning of this post. You have to be careful when typing responses on social networking sites, because once it is there for all to see, all might actually see it. A simple typo or a bad case of auto-correct gone bad and you have a new enema (there’s that danged auto-correct again! It should have been “enemy”…).