EduBook

Hi Enna,

I've just started writing for Edubook ... just sent in my second batch. I love the fact that I was able to tell them what I like and that's what they let me write on. Makes the writing a lot easier!

Have a great weekend.

Debbie

How many articles constitute a batch?

Enna said:

tranquility- awesome, glad you like it!

DTNg- 4 articles a batch, each around 500 words.

Click to expand...

That's pathetic. Really, you'd be much better off with Demand Studios and I can't stand them.


* Just want to make sure you know that I think /they/ are pathetic, not you! I'm sure you're far too talented to be in the content trap. :-(

I agree with Julie, getting paid $5 an article is horrible no matter how much you like the subject. Hold out for something better. Keep trolling the freelance jobs sites, become an Examiner, etc. All of those are better options.

Hmm, I wrote four articles for Edubook to see if I'd get many more hits on my blog. I've had maybe one or two from thousands of hits to my articles. If there's no side benefit, there's no point for that amount of money.

At the same time, the company seems very professional and fast at paying and sending out new articles to cover. Definitely a positive client experience.

I'd not heard of EduBook. Unfortunately, though, it seems that these pay rates -- $5 a story -- seem to be more and more common these days.

It's all a bit depressing. I've been trying to supplement the income I've lost from print magazine publishers in the last year or so -- so many have gone out of business or shut off their freelance budgets -- with some content writing, but it's really a tough go. There are so many days when I don't want to write about gold Maple Leaf coins or good campfire food.

You know, when I first read about EduBook here, my first thought was, "That isn't too bad." That shows how bad things have gotten in the online world. I mean, we consider Demand Studios to be high-paying because they pay $15 a story!

Just my thoughts,
Dan
My Content Writing Blog
My Mortgage Blog

It all comes down to an individual thing. As a writer if you are happy with 15 dollars an hour or 20 if you are a fast writer, then Edubooks is a great place - they are content articles that take about 1 hour to write 4 of them. I did a few and got 20 bucks for an hour of writing. I didnt have other articles to write at the time and 20 bucks is 20 bucks.

Some people look down at the pay but everyone is different. Everyone is at differnt point in their careers and some people would wipe their butt with 20 dollars others will use it to pay the water bill.

In any case, they are a reliable low paying company that will consistently deliver you work and pay you on time -

Okay, I joined-but how do I apply to be writer with them?

Sorry if I'm not posting this in the right area!

TIA!

caseyquinn said:

It all comes down to an individual thing. As a writer if you are happy with 15 dollars an hour or 20 if you are a fast writer, then Edubooks is a great place - they are content articles that take about 1 hour to write 4 of them. I did a few and got 20 bucks for an hour of writing. I didnt have other articles to write at the time and 20 bucks is 20 bucks.

Some people look down at the pay but everyone is different. Everyone is at differnt point in their careers and some people would wipe their butt with 20 dollars others will use it to pay the water bill.

In any case, they are a reliable low paying company that will consistently deliver you work and pay you on time -

Click to expand...

This isn't about the writer. It's about the mills making it seem 'ok' to work for chump change.

That being said, I have things at AC,eHow, Examiner, and more. I dump stuff there when I have extra time or something a client didn't pay up for. Nothing wrong with content or low pay, if you don't base your entire career on it.

And this myth about different stages of a career? Bogus. Right out of the gates I sold to a print mag, local, but still print and 800 words netted me $100. Not too bad for a brand new writer, huh?

There's jobs out there. There are publications that welcome new writers. I am sick to death of hearing how we who get angry over the low paying gigs look down on others, because that is not true. I don't 'wipe my butt on $20 bills'. That's insulting as hell, because there are others out there with my view that are the same...we've gotten caught in the low pay trap and do our darndest to try to encourage other writers to never get caught in it.

Ever.

Because of falling for that line of thinking, writers find themselves churning out tons of articles. Doesn't matter if they like the content or not, all that time writing batches and batches of articles takes time away from when they actually COULD be advancing their career. Building clips, making contacts, looking for new jobs, writing kick ass queries, and landing acceptances in some great mags or reputable sites.

It all comes down to how much you value yourself as a writer. How much faith you have in those creative fingers and mind you were gifted with. This is what I beg every person I run into now that finds themselves leaning towards the quick pay-

Write at least one great, polished article a month that is meant for submission to a 'real' publication. Then write an amazing query. Put your heart into it, then send it to 1 pub. If you can, increase that to 3 by the 3rd month. That's it.

If magazines aren't your style, apply to at least 1 real blog job a week...by real, I mean private client. These can pay really well.

I'm not saying to quit the low payers, I'm saying to work on gaining better jobs, better clips, and go until you can name your price. When you can...ask for up front deposits from private clients, that fills in the 'empty' spaces.

Honest, I'm not downing anyone, I want to bring you UP.

//That being said, I have things at AC,eHow, Examiner, and more. I dump stuff there when I have extra time or something a client didn't pay up for. Nothing wrong with content or low pay, if you don't base your entire career on it.//

The OP just was mentioning about the venue for extra cash - not saying everyone should base their writing careers around it - as a venue, they are good to make extra cash on the side IMO better then AC or examiner as AC pays less then edubook for roughly the same word count (requires 400 min) and examiner is really struggling with views from my experience.

Open doors close very often in freelance writing and at times many writers including myself have to find a new venue quickly to pay bills. They are not ideal, but money at times is just money that is needed and while not the best paying gig i ever had, it still pays the bills while i look for other stuff to do.

Casey, I know this. Really, I do.

My entire problem with this isn't the writers, it's the places that pay so low. A quick buck is great, but not constantly. You end up caught in the cycle of writing more and more articles just to pay the bills.

I know it because I've lived it and am trying to get out of it right now. It just gets my goat when people say they're not far enough in their career to get more, because this is a myth.

Instead of bitching about it, I'll just compile a list of sites that pay more, then share. I don't want to compound the problem by saying you can do better then not helping to prove it or help anyone get there.

O.K.?

Sounds great

dwrite said:

I'd not heard of EduBook. Unfortunately, though, it seems that these pay rates -- $5 a story -- seem to be more and more common these days.

It's all a bit depressing. I've been trying to supplement the income I've lost from print magazine publishers in the last year or so -- so many have gone out of business or shut off their freelance budgets -- with some content writing, but it's really a tough go. There are so many days when I don't want to write about gold Maple Leaf coins or good campfire food.

You know, when I first read about EduBook here, my first thought was, "That isn't too bad." That shows how bad things have gotten in the online world. I mean, we consider Demand Studios to be high-paying because they pay $15 a story!

Just my thoughts,
Dan
My Content Writing Blog
My Mortgage Blog

Click to expand...

Actually, I think the trend is going up. I see jobs every day paying more than $5, even more than $10 or $20.

I think a lot of writers fall into the low paying or residual content trap because it's so easy and convenient. There's really no rejection because they don't have a strict hiring policy, payment comes quickly via paypal and they're published almost immediately. Compare that to taking time to find decent payers, sending a kick ass cover letter and resume, waiting to see if one is hired and waiting for publication and payment, the quick and easy method is the more attractive method.

Freelancers should work for the rates they feel best suits them and their situation - I'm not going to knock anyone doing what he has to do. However, there ARE higher paying jobs available. They may not be as easy to find or as easy to get but they're out there. I see them every day.

caseyquinn said:

The OP just was mentioning about the venue for extra cash - not saying everyone should base their writing careers around it - as a venue, they are good to make extra cash on the side IMO better then AC or examiner as AC pays less then edubook for roughly the same word count (requires 400 min) and examiner is really struggling with views from my experience.

Click to expand...

Examiner isn't struggling with views. Some Examiners are struggling with them. Where the Examiner falls down is have virtually no real training and no one at HQ that knows how to build a web content portal.

That said, if you know the basic rules of SEO and have a topic that lends itself to evergreen topic, you can easily make more than $5 an article.

One of the things that people don't understand about the Examiner is that it is a long term gig, not a short term gig. It's much like About.com -- the real money is made after you've been there for a few years and those articles you wrote in your first months are still paying you money. There are people at About.com making 50k+ a year for a job they can do in 4 hours or less a day if they wish.

As for people that think About.com is a much higher paying job than the Examiner, I've been at About.com for two years and Examiner.com for about 10 months. I took on a second topic at Examiner.com about 3 weeks ago and this month my Examiner.com pay will be higher than my About.com pay.

You can make money at it. You just need to know the basics of SEO so that people can actually find your stuff. Same as any revenue-sharing content company.

There's no way I'd write for $5 or $10 an article because it simply has no long-term potential. In five years, I'd be making the same chump change, where I could be making serious cash with an Examiner, About or Suite 101.

Think on this: If I didn't write a single article for the Examiner in July I'd still make several hundred dollars.

By the way, let me add that I have nothing against writing for a site that pays an upfront fee rather than based on page view rate -- though I'd avoid EduBook simply because the fee is so dirt-cheap and people writing there could probably be writing for some place that pays better.

But I do think people should realize that places like Examiner, About, etc. can pay pretty good money. Writing for the web is a skill and you need to study how to write for the web beyond just putting words together, but it can be a pretty good gig financially.

Of course, not every pay-by-pageview place is good. I think AssociatedContent is down at the low end of the barrel and blog places like Today.com should be avoided as well. But it isn't difficult to get started with one of the better places.

SouthernFriedJulie said:

Instead of bitching about it, I'll just compile a list of sites that pay more, then share. I don't want to compound the problem by saying you can do better then not helping to prove it or help anyone get there.

O.K.?

Click to expand...

I'd be really interested to see that list too. It's frustrating to look around and see so many places that think $5 is a good fee for 500 words. Bleh. Plus, I just got laid off from my full-time farm job (thank you SO much, "swine" flu) and have been reduced to churning out articles for DS because there are NO jobs around my area and $15 a pop is better than nothing.

Bleh.

That turned into more of a rant than I intended. Sorry. I will say that, desperate as my situation is at the moment, I will not work for $5 for 500 words and I am trying to come up with query ideas for regular magazine submissions.

Angie said:

I'd be really interested to see that list too. It's frustrating to look around and see so many places that think $5 is a good fee for 500 words. Bleh. Plus, I just got laid off from my full-time farm job (thank you SO much, "swine" flu) and have been reduced to churning out articles for DS because there are NO jobs around my area and $15 a pop is better than nothing.

Bleh.

That turned into more of a rant than I intended. Sorry. I will say that, desperate as my situation is at the moment, I will not work for $5 for 500 words and I am trying to come up with query ideas for regular magazine submissions.

Click to expand...

Rant away , I did.

I have a few things to finish tonight, then I think I'll delve into my emails and begin putting together a list. Catmuse had suggested I put together a guide to some paying market info I've got. Might just do that soon and make a lil ol' ebook.

You can check FreeLanceWritingGigs on a regular basis:

http://freelancewritinggigs.com/webandprint/

I liked it a little better back before it expanded, and the formatting is whacked out if you use Chrome, but its still one of my daily stops to check for new gigs.

And if you do find some regular work from it, be sure to leave them a few bucks as a tip. Would hate to see the place disappear.

SouthernFriedJulie said:

Rant away , I did.

I have a few things to finish tonight, then I think I'll delve into my emails and begin putting together a list. Catmuse had suggested I put together a guide to some paying market info I've got. Might just do that soon and make a lil ol' ebook.

Click to expand...

I definitely think you should write an ebook. Could make a few bucks off your info then.

Hang in there Enna, you'll work your way up. If you have written good articles for them, why not start sending out queries--or are you already? It would be nice to see you get paid more for all your work...