Enter Pay for Article Sites

I toyed with the idea of using Textbroker or other article writing site to generate content. After all, the articles that I’m looking for aren’t difficult or time consuming. I provide the links and detailed instructions on how I’d like the article written. I’m not looking for the next great novel; I’m pretty much looking for an entertaining narrative describing a local attraction.

After signing up as a Client for Textbroker, I came across a site called Articlez. I opted to use them instead because their instructions were more thorough and I liked their user interface better. Their operation seemed a bit more professional.

I funded my account with $25 and went shopping. For $24 I commissioned 4 articles at $6 each. For the money I received 4 350-word articles. As a freelance writer, I reviewed each article and rewrote sections of each. Although the articles were acceptable, I preferred a different slant.

What Articlez Has to Offer

Articlez offers several formats There are blurbs for 2 credits (a credit is equal to $1) which are 100 words long and involves no research and is written from personal perspective, a minipost which costs 4 credits and consists of 200 words and takes about 5 minutes of research. Lastly, there’s the full article that costs 6 credits and consists of 350 words and requires about 10 to 15 minutes of research.

Clients can also commission custom projects that don’t fall within the above criteria. All the client needs to do is let Articlez know what is needed and they will quote the project and do the work.

Tell Tale Sign of a Newbie Writer

I’m not so sure it’s a pet peeve or just an observation, but I find many newbie writers like to prove themselves as writers by going overboard. The superfluous wording and descriptive overkill is a tell tale sign. While I believe English is the primary language for each of the authors, three of the articles came across as being written by newbies.

This is not a complaint, just an observation. I didn’t expect very much for $6 an article and I got what I paid for. The good thing about it is that each author did the primary work for me. I then took their article, reshaped it, reworded it to my own liking, formatted it and placed it on my site. Could I have written the article from scratch myself? Absolutely! Did I take the time to do it? No!

Freelance Writing Investment

Was the $24 worth it? Only time will tell. So far I’ve only edited, formatted and placed two of the articles on my site (time only allows me to work on one article a week). I’m tracking their progress to see how long it will take to recoup my $24. So far I’ve recouped .34.

I was pretty impressed with the Articlez user interface so I submitted a ticket to find out how one becomes a writer for them. Their email states that their team consists of 150 American writers who have met Articlez’ quality guidelines. The rates of $2, $4 and $6 an article is great for the client but is low for the freelance writer. I believe the writers make more on the special projects.

I’ll post an update when I hear back from them.

In an earlier Textbroker post, many of my readers shared their Textbroker writing experience. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to contribute much to the conversation because I’ve only used Textbroker once to see what it was all about. My experience is minimal and therefore I’m asking those more familiar with them to help this person out.

Here’s the original comment:

“I recently started writing for Textbroker to see if I could earn a few extra dollars from my home. The only experience I’ve had writing came from college research papers and that was many years ago. I was accepted at level three and have written ten articles so far. This has been a good refresher course for me because I was downgraded to level two because of some spelling errors, the original sin of composition!

So far, all of my articles have been accepted but the biggest hurdle I have to overcome is figuring out exactly what a client expects. Creative writing has always been fun but informational content requires a lot of research time.

If anyone has any advice for a novice it would be greatly appreciated.”

Thanks in advance for helping Ben out.

I know first hand that the lack of communication between Demand Studios and their writers gets a bit frustrating. By joining their Yahoo group, you’ll still be frustrated by the lack of communication between Demand Studios and the writers, but at least you’ll be able to share your thoughts and findings on the Yahoo Group with other Demand Studio writers.

In addition to communicating with your fellow writers, you can read and find out about new writing opportunities for sites other than Demand Studios. For instance, by reading the Yahoo Groups I found out about Textbroker.com. They are another site looking for writers to write content. I’ve got to warn you, the pay is low. I would only use them if all of my writing gigs dried up and I was looking to make a few dollars. After all, something is better than nothing.

Sign up to become a member of the Design Studios Yahoo Group. It’s worth it.