Have you ever written articles for money?

@Sheepie (3112)
United States
March 4, 2010 5:23am CST
I currently have a writing job, and I live in the United States, and I am 16. I get paid via Paypal, by some guy who lives in India. I've had this job for a very long time now, and I get paid about half a cent a word. I've looked at other places online to see how much they paid, and I was surprised that many people did articles for only a dollar for a 500 word article. So I found that weird, how people were getting paid so little when it takes so long to write articles. Have you ever done this?
6 people like this
48 responses
@UmiNoor (4524)
• Malaysia
28 May 10
So Sheepie, you get paid $2.50 for a 500 words article. Am I right? After you sent your article to this guy from India, what happened to the article? Are you still paid for the article? I'm writing for this site which pays me $1.50 for every 400 words article which I submit to the site. And on top of that my article also earns me revenue as long as I'm a member of the site. And the article still belongs to me. So if I want to submit the article to another site, I can do so and I will earn double. It is nice to have someone who regularly pay you for writing articles but the problem with this kind of upfront payment is you only get paid once and if you don't churn out anymore articles, you don't get paid.
• United Arab Emirates
8 Jul 10
UmiNoor, you are doing great for your self, you have a got site on your hands just try and maximize your earning with more writing and the sky will be your limit. I am searching for a good site and I would mind the one you talking about, which provide such opportunity for non u.s writer and still give us the chance to own our articles, please send me a pm if you see this. Will really be glad if you can give me the site. Happy Mylotting
@mswengel (95)
• United States
5 Mar 10
Yes, I have. I have written for: eHow.com (NOT RECOMMENDED!) Bukisa.com (Excellent) AssociatedContent.com (Not bad. They have upfront payment) Xomba.com InfoBarrel.com and my own site: TrueSongMedia.com
• United States
5 Mar 10
Oh, I forgot Triond.com
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
4 Mar 10
It is great that you have found a writing job that pays well. I have not gone deeper into writing and earn something out of it besides here. Good articles entails a lot of thinking and it is really not worth your efforts if you are paid so little.
@jazzsue58 (2666)
4 Mar 10
I write professionally for an online agency, and get a minimum of £3 per 200 - 250 word article. It works out at around 2c a word, if you say one GBP = $1.51. Naturally, it rises as word count does. Best single article was £10 for one on labradors, of 1000 words. Internet writing doesn't pay a great deal, but at least you don't have the task of printing - sending - waiting - rejection. I only work with Western employers, as other countries don't pay enough - here, my wages hardly pay my rent as it is!
@minazd (66)
• India
6 Mar 10
May I know the name of that site please, I would like to try my hands on writing as well, however I need to know which site pays well and I guess the one you have mentioned would be worth joining Thanks :)
@sushie93 (1355)
• France
4 Mar 10
Recently, i started to write some articles and dubmit them to articles directories, results: 0 views, 0$ since 2 weeks. XD
• Philippines
3 Jun 10
I will try log-in again in Bukisa and see mine... my earnings there! I am glad I found people who share the same passion and interests with me, here. Happy MyLotting!
@hanagi (390)
• Philippines
4 Mar 10
Nope. I tried but I failed because I can't make at least 10 articles per day. Yes you are right people were paid so little in article writing maybe because some would buy for a low price and they would sell if for a big price or people would use it for their earnings to grow. Some people are just using those writers.
@jazzsue58 (2666)
4 Mar 10
If you're good enough, and work for the right agency, you don't have to write 10 a day. I did 10 - 12 a day to pay for christmas. We had a good blow-out on it but ooo, my swollen wrist joints! I earn a decent wage doing 6 - 8 a day.
• Philippines
16 Mar 10
Sheepie, first of all you are very lucky to have met a guy from India that pays you right for a certain article. You know you are right about learning that some of us here are paid less by our work, when we knew that doing an article eats all of our time and we only paid a dollar or less of it. I have been writing an article before. It was from one member here in Mylot. I write for her because she gave me tips on how to earn online. Unfortunately, after submitting five articles for her, until now she haven’t paid me. And she still have the face to be here in Mylot and be active. I learned from some Mylot friends that she did scammed them also. I was hurt by that, but I know I learned something from her. I hope she will have a conscience to pay me in the future. But if not I know there is a karma for her. I still want to write articles, but time did not allow me since I am now busy with so many things. I am glad you get paid successfully
@jlamela (4898)
• Philippines
9 Mar 10
Yes, I had written articles before at scriptlance but the competition there is really bloody, because it is through a bidding process you will have to swallow your pride and kept on bidding with a very low amount to get the project, but I left them because I was tired bidding and working on a horrible amount. Now I am looking for a higher pay for writing articles online, can you share some legitimate sites?
• India
9 Mar 10
I am a good writer and I have made money by writing articles. But, as a matter of fact, I do NOT want money by writing articles. I would rather get money from my Consultation. The satisfaction that I see on a client's face is not reflected when I receive money for writing articles.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
26 May 10
I am getting ready to start writing articles to get paid for them. The reason that I haven't been able to do it yet is because I've been busy with other things in my life. I think that writing for money can vary highly on what you are paid. Heck, there are some places that you aren't even paid for originally writing the article but you get residual income based on the views for your article. In addition to that, I wouldn't mind to get paid very little for an article if I was writing about something that I already knew and something that I enjoyed writing.
• Bangladesh
31 Mar 10
Hey Sweet Sixteen, Thank you very much for starting this precious discussion. I'm familiar with some freelancing outsourced works online where there are two sides, 1) Buyer and 2) Coder. The buyer offers a price for his/her work done and the coders places various bidding prices of their own choices. When the two sides agree the work is accepted and completed. There are a number of such sites namely rentacoder, getacoder, getafreelancer, odesk, joomjancers etc. where more than thousands of such works are available online. There are a lot of different types of works from writing articles to graphic design, animation, programming and what not. As I'm not an expert in highly qualified works, I thought that I'd be able to earn money by writing articles. But, what a shame! You're right. They pay so low which is unbelievable. That's why I'm off these jobs. Comparing to them, writing on myLot is more profitable. Whatever you write, more of less are of the same value. Even if you don't write, just post the myLot codes, that's enough for you. Have a nice day.
• India
9 Mar 10
Hello, Well I have written a few articles in myLot. Writing articles take time only if you have to do extensive research for it. I only write articles where I have expertise on the subject matters. So I practically find it difficult to limit myself within 300-400 words boundary. I want to write more. Once I am into it, I can't get out easily. Writing is intoxicating. I am from India too. Take care
• United States
14 Mar 10
I've done jobs like this on both Elance and oDesk. While some of these jobs may be for companies, most commonly they are for Internet Marketers who do not have the time needed to write all the articles they need to promote a specific item. There are better paying jobs out there, but you need the experience in order to get them. Common ones are writing articles for magazines, etc but in this case you need to do the research and find the right topic, write the article and then sell it to a corresponding magazine who may keep you on for future jobs. Freelance writing is tough, but its fun at the same time because you get to learn about new topics you wouldn't commonly research on your own.
@juicekodai (1121)
• Philippines
28 May 10
wow.. how did you apply for that job?...
@GardenGerty (160056)
• United States
7 Mar 10
For us in the US the money that you are earning, or that I am earning (at the same rate) is not really good, and there are those who make less. The only drawback I see for what people are recommending to you is your age. Some sites will not pay you until you are 18. Writing articles probably sharpens your skills for school.People in poorer countries find that the low rates are good enough that they can supplement their income with it.
@verabear (796)
• Philippines
6 Mar 10
I agree it's tough writing articles and to get paid with just a few cents. I'd like to try writing gigs but when I think about how just inserting one link in my blog post earns me 5 dollars and comparing it to the number of words they require for just one, i don't do it... it would be interesting where you get work...
• China
6 Mar 10
i havent. until now, i seldom write to earn online, except one on the bukisa, but long time i'm not online there. in fact, i do feel it's difficult to earn online, but writing articles maybe the best one, while it needs good ability of writing.
@bystander (2292)
• Philippines
6 Mar 10
that's what i do for a living, sheepie. but it's not online writing or those sites in the internet, i write for mainstream publications like newspapers and magazines. i also write and edit books. i tried some online sites, but what i make from a single article would take me a lifetime to earn from these sites. if there is one like what you are writing for, i may probably try.
@bystander (2292)
• Philippines
6 Mar 10
writing is what i do for a living, sheepie. but don't get me wrong, don't write for online writing jobs. i write for mainstream publications like newspapers and magazines. also, for a select number of clients. online, i find the pay quite dismal and the work very hard. what i can make writing about two hundred to 500 words would take me a lifetime to earn from online writing sites. if there is one that pays at least just like what you say you are getting paid for, i may probably give that a try. the fee is fair...
• Indonesia
8 Mar 10
Does anyone here who have some recomendations about those writting for pay sites? I would like to start joining that programs, seems very interesting. thanks..