Writing Diva

Write for Life123.com

 

I had almost given up on hearing from Life123.com. I contacted them back in August, stating my interest in applying to write for their site. A couple of days ago, I received and email from them saying they were interested in having me apply to write for their site.

Rise Through the Ranks
Anyone can fill out an application to become a Member of the Life123.com site. Once you become a member, you can submit your first article, and if it is approved by the Life123 Editors, you become a Contributor on their site. Contributors can submit a maximum 10 articles per month.

Once you've published 10 articles, and have at least 500 users viewing your articles, you get promoted to being a Writer. Writers can submit a maximum of 40 articles per month. Once you've written at least 25 articles for Life123.com, and have at least 2,500 users viewing your articles, you get promoted to being an Expert. Experts can write a maximum of 150 articles per month.

Life123 Retains Copyright
All articles must be original, and not previously published on the Internet. Life123 retains all online copyrights to your articles. But they have a non-exclusive copyright to other versions of the article. So in theory, you could submit your articles to a print publication, or bundle all your articles together and have them published in a book.

Life123 requires the articles to be between 300 and 1,000 words long. You are not allowed to add pictures or links to the articles.

Earning Money on Life123
I can't get into the details of how writers earn money on Life123, but it is based on unique page views. Each article you submit to Life123, that is approved, can earn a maximum of $20. It's not clear if the writers on Life123 are currently attracting a lot of readers. It is a fairly new site, but they claim to be receiving around 1 million unique visitors per month. Another site I write for gets around 8 to 12 million unique visitors per month, so I'm not sure if Life123 is big enough to attract enough readers to earn it's writers a decent return on their investment.

Testing Out Life123
I submitted an article yesterday afternoon, and received an email this morning stating they have accepted the article, which makes me an official contributor to the site. They don't require pictures or links with the articles you submit. In fact, you are not allowed to submit pictures or links.

The article I wrote for them didn't take very long to write, since I didn't have to take photos, upload photos, find related links to add to the article, etc..., like I have to do for some of the other sites I write for.

The Jury is Still Out
Here's a link to the first article I wrote for Life123, just FYI: Duathlons; Multisport Event for Non-Swimmers.

There is no obligation for me to write a minimum number of articles for them per month. I'll give the site a chance, and see if I make any $$ from it. Otherwise, I'll file the site under, not worth writing for.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Write for Huliq

 I just received an email from someone over at Huliq asking if I'd be interested in posting up a guest blog. I've never heard of them, so I went to their website for further information.

Write for Free?
I personally am not interested in writing for them. You have to post up at least 15 blog posts before they would even consider paying you. Then it's just a share of the advertising revenue they generate on the site that they would share with you. And they might not even accept you into their revenue sharing program after you write the 15 articles. So basically, they just received 15 articles from you for FREE - are you kidding me!?!

Slave Labor
I write for multiple online sites at the moment. It makes more sense to concentrate on the sites I already write for, where I know I'm making $$. I don't need another site with a vague promise of revenue sharing in the future. Even if you are accepted into Huliq's revenue sharing program, they only pay you $1.50 per 1,000 pageviews for each of your articles. That's slave labor if you ask me. And if you are excepted into the revenue sharing program, they want you to write a minimum of 5 articles per week.

I'd love to hear from anyone currently writing for Huliq that is actually making money.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Here's the details of writing for Huliq, for anyone that may be interested:

Publish Your News On HULIQ, Get Paid

Is something important happening in your local community that you think would interest at least few hundred or thousand people?

Did you see a video news in You Tube or other video network that you think is worth to share with HUILQ community and the world?

Did you just take a picture that is worth thousand words?

Did you just read a news story and feel that the story may not be complete, or perhaps you have strong opinion or more to add to that story?

Did you just witness an event that you think needs to be properly reported?

If yes to any of these, would you please consider writing, sharing, uploading or reporting what you think may be helpful for other to know.

Let's share knowledge and information.

It is free.

Please, register here and share your news.

HULIQ Revenue Sharing Program

How Do I participate in the Revenue Sharing Program (RSP)?

The Revenue Sharing Program (RSP) is open to all authors who successfully publish 15 news stories with growing pageviews. After you have 15 approved news articles published at www.huliq.com please contact us and let us know so we can initiate the necessary steps for your RSP participation.

Please note: HULIQ team retains sole right on editorial matters of the site.

How much will I be paid?

HULIQ will pay $1.50 for every 1000 pageviews that your stories will generate. We can’t say how much will you be paid, but as your stories grow with the growth of your pageviews your revenue will grow.

How Long Will RSP Continue?

We plan to run this campaign as the driving force behind HULIQ’s growth. We do retain the right to halt the program or make adjustments to it as necessary if it's not working out in it's current form for whatever reason.

RSP Account Termination

We reserve the right to terminate your RSP account if it has been inactive and no article has been published in the past 3 months.

How often should I write news?

We would like our writers to have a compelling experience in our RSP program, therefore, we ask that they make a commitment to journalism and write at least five stories per week. However, the more your write the more you will earn.

Will you provide news sources and training?

Yes, once you contact us after successful publishing of 15 news stories we will review them and if we decide to accept them into the RSP program we will work with you closely to help you with the news sources and how to write news articles that will bring you the maximum amount of pageviews.

How would I receive payments?

We plan to make the payments via PayPal. Checks are possible if you are in USA.

Write for Examiner.com

I'm always looking for freelance writing opportunities. Although I come from a print publication background, for the past two years I've been concentrating on on-line writing.A lot of the writing I do is sports related, so I research various opportunities for writing about cycling, running and multisport events.

I am the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer on Suite101. The writer's forums on Suite101 are always talking about other freelance writing jobs. I saw a link for Examiner.com and went to their website to check it out.

National and Local Examiners
You can write on a variety of local or national topics for Examiner.com. When I applied back in February, only a couple Florida towns were listed, so I applied to be the National Running Fitness Examiner. I got an email asking if I would like to be the Miami Running Fitness Examiner. I live 2 counties to the north of Miami, so I was a bit confused as to why they would want me to cover Miami. But they said that was just a general geographical location, and that they would be adding additional towns in the future.

I posted up my first article to Examiner.com on March 9, 2009. I am supposed to post 2-7 short articles per week. I cover events in the tri-county area; Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. I also occasionally list national running events and add reviews of running related products.

Pay Rate
Right now Examiner.com pays it's writers based on page views, which at the moment is 1 cent per page view. Not a lot, but if you write a lot of articles, and advertise your site, you can end up with pretty decent page views.

Each Examiner is assigned a mentor/editor. My editor sends me emails every week or so with lots of great tips for writing content that will attract readers.

Write for Examiner
If you would like to apply to be an Examiner, you can use me as a referral when filling out the application. At the bottom of the application, where it says I was referred by an Examiner, click the box that says find your Examiner, then fill in ID:5304 : Lynn Smythe : Miami Running Fitness Examiner.

Available Topics
There are a ton of available topics you can apply to write for on Examiner.com. Main topic headings include entertainment, business, family/home, life, news/politics, sports/recreation. Click on any of the main topics, and you will see a plethora of subtopics listed. I am the Miami Running Fitness Examiner, which is a subtopic of sports & recreation. And you can even suggest a topic if you don't see your area of expertise listed.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Work for Suite101

I've been a contributing writer on Suite101 since October 16th, 2007. I was contacted towards the beginning of November, 2007 asking if I would like to become a feature writer, after having 13 articles published.

Page View Payments
Suite101 pays writers based on the number of page views each of their articles receives. Suite earns revenue through Google Adsense and shares a portion of that revenue with their writers. All accepted writers start out as a Contributing Writer. Contributing writers must write a minimum of 10 articles during every three month period in order to keep their accounts active.

You have the option to apply for a Feature Writer position in one of their open topics after you have written a minimum of 10 articles. Feature Writers earn an additional 20% page view bonus. Feature Writers must write a minimum of 1 article and 1 blog on their featured topic each week as well as adding and monitoring discussions and polls on their topic. Featured Writers can continue to write articles on other topics but most of their time should be spent on writing for and promoting their topic.

Positive Feedback
Suite is one of the few onlines sites that actually gives you feedback. During the first few weeks of writing for Suite I was contacted a number of times by the Associate Editor and Food & Drink Editor on how to improve my article keywords, article titles and properly format my articles according to Suite standards etc. After my 13th article was published I received a 3 page in-depth email from the Associate Editor saying that after implementing various suggestions as outlined in the email that I could apply to be a feature writer.

Feature Writer
The Associate Editor mentioned that Suite101 was revamping some of their topics and said that they would be adding a Herbs & Spices topic to the Food & Drink section (I mostly write about herbs). But the editor also said she would consider me for Organic Gardening or Vegetable Gardening, both of which were open topics under the Home & Garden section. On November 28th I made my formal request to be promoted to the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer and the very next day I received an email approving my application.

Of the articles I had published prior to becoming a feature writer they were in all different categories. But many of them were cooking related so the Food & Drink editor emailed to say she would support my feature writer application if I ever decided to apply for any of the open Food & Drink topics.

Although Suite101 doesn't offer upfront payments for articles I am getting much higher page views over there than on any of my other online sites. And I'm hoping being able to add Suite101 Herbs & Spices Feature Writer to my resume will help me land future writing gigs with other sites/publications.

I'm not making tons of money yet but my PV's keep increasing. I posted up my 100th article on April 20, 2009. Feature writer's receive an additional 10% bonus after they reach 100 articles. So now I'm getting a 30% bonus on top of my regular share of ad revenue.

When I first started writing for Suite101, I was only making a dollar or two per month. Now I am making between $50 and $75 per month. I will continue to make money with Suite101 even if I don't publish any additional articles on the site. But the more articles you publish, the higher your page views and the higher your revenue.

Promoting Your Articles
In order to receive a high number of page views and thus earn more money you must spend quite a bit of time linking your articles to other sites and adding keywords for maximum SEO (search engine optimization). Being fairly new to online writing this took a bit of time for me to learn. But now adding appropriate keywords and linking my articles to various social bookmarking sites is pretty easy.

I mostly use Facebook and Twitter to promote my Suite101 articles. I also post a link to my articles on my personal blog: lynnsmythe.blogspot.com.

For additional information on writing for Suite101 visit their Writer’s Guidelines page. Suite101 currently receives between 8 and 12 million unique visitors every month.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Write for Know More Media

Here's a business based website that is looking for more writers to write for their blog network.

Write for Know More Media
Know More Media invites you to become a contributing author to our blog network specializing in business information and news. We seek topical experts who are also savvy at blogging and building online readership; you must be committed to growing the blog's traffic and understand how to network online. We want people who can write with a clear, strong, competent, and honest voice. If you have a passion, knowledge, or expertise in a certain business topic or industry, you may be an ideal candidate to become a Know More Media Author.

Get paid to write from anywhere you can find an Internet connection. Authors typically earn from $150 - $1000 per month, receiving a combined compensation for each article/blog post, blog traffic, and other earnings opportunities. All authors are expected to publish at least one post a day, 5 days a week, as well as perform the blog promotion and networking necessary for blog traffic growth and the success of online media.

Why become a Know More Media Author?
Make money writing!
Get instantly published.
Work from home or any location where you can connect to the Internet.
Establish your reputation as an expert in a field.
Expand your expertise on a topic.
Write what you want without supervisory editing
Increase promotion for your personal business endeavors
Hone and improve your writing and research skills through daily usage.
Take part in the future of online publishing and media—blogging.
Join a leading network of business experts.

What We Look for in an Author
Passion. You must love the topic—possess a passion for it. You must have a passion to succeed and grow your blog's readership and traffic. You’ll be writing on it extensively; if you don’t have a love for it, you will never endure. Plus, this passion will shine through in your writing; it will be infectious.

Business Expertise
You must be a personal expert in your topic or field. Know More Media is a place where information seekers come to find new information, new advice, and original opinions. If you can only re-hash what everyone else is saying on the topic, sorry, but you’re not a fit for us. We want expertise from its source—you.

Writing Ability
Superior blogging is both what you say and how you say it. Great writing is the ability to transform your thoughts, feelings, and knowledge into the written word in a lucid, concise, and entertaining manner. Can you edit out your own typos? Do you use proper grammar? Can you express yourself clearly? We don’t edit your content for you—you must be able to do it yourself.

A Voice
As we like to say, “It’s all about the voice.” Plain, boring, dry toast, just-tell-the-facts writing is not what we want. We want personality; we want uniqueness; we want you to have a singular, identifiable voice that people want to listen to.

Further Information
Visit the writer's guidelines page on the Know More Media website to find out more information including the blogging topics that are currently available.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Always Looking for Freelance Opportunities

I have become a total gear head and have been spending all my time cycling, running, training, racing and writing about running, cycling, nutrition and fitness issues.

Freelance Opportunities Everywhere
This post is not about a specific freelance writing opportunity, rather a possible way to find freelance writing opportunities. I belong to many cycling, running and fitness sites. I'm always searching for new sites. If it's a site I really like, I'll blog about it, on one of the many websites I write for, and I'll probably also join the site to become a member of their online community.

Charity Mile
Many websites are continually looking for new writers, so I always look to see if the websites are currently accepting resumes. Back in August I became a member of the Charity Mile site. They also have a companion blog for the site - the Charity Mile Blog. I saw that they were looking to hire a few bloggers for their blog, so I sent in my application.

Approximately 3 weeks after I sent in my application I received an email saying they were interested in hiring me to be the cycling blogger for the Charity Mile Blog. On September 9th I submitted my first official blog post to the Charity Mile blog.

Although I can't discuss the specific details of my writing contract, I am expected to blog a minimum of 2-3 times per week, with a maximum of 20 blog posts per month. I keep a file of future topics to blog about, so hopefully I will never run out of ideas.

The next time you are visiting your favorite website, do a little research, and find out if they are looking to hire writers. You never know where you will find your next freelance writing opportunity.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Mother Earth News Looking for Writers

Mother Earth News is the guide to self-reliant living, covering sustainable homesteading, organic gardening, real food, country skills, alternative energy, green transportation, natural health, environmental consciousness, farming and livestock.

The print magazine, launched in 1970, is a bimonthly with a circulation of 1 million. The magazine is supplemented by an interactive website offering daily updated news, blogs on topics including energy, gardening, how-to, food, cooking and the latest issues, as well as an e-newsletter, online communities and video and e-book projects.

FREELANCE SUBMISSIONS
Submissions are welcome for two departments: "Country Lore" and "Firsthand Reports from the Field." "Country Lore" presents handy how-to tips of 100 to 300 words. "Firsthand Reports from the Field" are first-person stories (1,500 to 2,000 words) about sustainable lifestyles of all sorts. The editors encourage potential contributors to read several back issues of the magazine first.

To learn more about their guidelines, go to: http://www.motherearthnews.com/writers-guidelines.aspx.

Submissions should be sent via e-mail to letters@MotherEarthNews.com. To submit by U.S. mail, send materials to the address below.

Mother Earth News
1503 SW 42nd St.
Topeka, KS 66609-1265
Website: www.MotherEarthNews.com
Phone: 785-274-4300
Email: letters@MotherEarthNews.com

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Write for Suite101

I've been writing for Suite101 since October 2007. In November, 2007 I was promoted from being a Contributing Writer to being the Feature Writer for the newly created Herbs & Spices section. Herbs & Spices is a subtopic of the Food & Drink category.

Although I am required to post a certain number of articles per month, to the Herbs & Spices section, I can still write articles on any topic that I want.

Suite101 claims to receive between 8 and 12 million unique visitors per month. Suite101 pays their writers based on ad clicks generated from people reading your articles. Writers are paid once per month through PayPal.

Suite101 is currently looking for additional freelance writers. Website: http://www.suite101.com.

Description:
At Suite101, our principle focus is our commitment to supporting freelance writers. Whether your goal is to publish articles, earn more income, hone your writing skills or create new career opportunities, Suite101 is here to assist you… every step of the way.

With a Suite101 writing job, you’ll enjoy the freedom to “write what you want, when you want” and generate revenue over the lifetime of your career. We provide professional resources and tools to make publishing remarkably easy and convenient; simply login to Suite101 and you’re ready to go! As a Suite101 writer, you will interact with a team of editorial professionals dedicated to helping you maximize the searchability of your articles online too. With millions of monthly readers, Suite101 writers enjoy a huge – and growing - audience.

* Writing for Suite101 provides you with the opportunity to: Receive lifelong royalties generated by your articles
* Extend the reach of your work by introducing it to millions of monthly readers
* Build your writing portfolio and enhance your profile, reputation online
* Interact with an established network of professional editors and writers

About Suite101:
Suite101 has been helping writers build profile and get exposed to readers since 1996. Based in Vancouver, Canada, and Berlin, Germany, Suite101 boasts over 2,000 talented writers and 150,000 informative articles.

Visit the Suite101 website for further information: http://www.suite101.com/writing_jobs/.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Orato.com Hiring Journalists

Orato Media Corp.
525 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC
V6B 3H7, Canada
Phone: +1-604.331.7468
Fax: +1-604.689.3009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Orato.com Hiring and Training Journalists in Wake of Media Layoffs

May 25, 2009 Vancouver’s Orato.com, a forward-thinking online magazine with the tagline “speak from experience” written by both professional and amateur “Correspondents,” officially re-launched its press and recruitment ad campaign today with an eye to attracting both novice (students and recent graduates) and veteran journalists looking to expand their employment options in the current economic environment.

According to Paper Cuts, nearly 25,000 jobs have been lost in the print sector since 2008, leaving a considerable number of talented and trained personnel looking to extend reporting skills to cyberspace for pay. While newspapers and magazines consider survival strategies in the wake of media attrition, Orato’s owner Sam Yehia says, “We are positioning ourselves as a competitive and attractive client for reporters who want to add Search Engine Optimization and Web writing to their arsenal of skills as freelancers looking for income online.”

The site has been online since June 2006, but with a new management team as of January it completely re-imagined its editorial vision, design and business model. The new iteration puts journalists first and offers a potent combination of features its competition does not:

• All articles are thoroughly edited by Orato’s professional staff within 24 hours of posting.
• There is no application system – a journalist’s first article speaks for itself.  Content goes live and earns immediately.
• Editors do not impose a monthly or quarterly quota or deadline.
• Orato does not demand exclusive rights. Copyright is retained by the journalist who can repurpose work if he/she owns electronic rights.
• Journalists are automatically promoted after 25 articles (if 3 are Editor’s Choice) and receive an extra 10% of ad revenue.
• Writers receive 20-30% of all ad revenue on their work forever (including video), paid out monthly by PayPal.
• Reporters can upload a professional profile page with a full resume, links to other work and recommendations from staff.
• The site offers a design layout tastefully balancing ads and text rather than a “link farm” on which content is buried or interrupted.
• Journalists work from a  virtual office and telecommute, posting their work from anywhere in the field.

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Joy Gugeler says, “Orato today launched an aggressive Google Adwords campaign to build upong its existing roster of 750 writers. We will grow content and traffic to reward Correspondents with both pay and profile. They post video, audio, photos and articles live; our editors review the material in 24 hours; readers learn at a glance, and our writers earn from the first ad click. We hope those in search of a value-added training will consider us a vital new client in the freelance marketplace.” For a glance at Orato’s FAQ or Content Guidelines, visit the site.

About Orato.com

Orato means “I speak” in Latin, a moniker that aptly describes how Correspondents tell audiences about newsworthy experiences and offer trustworthy information and verifiable sources for those in search of reliable reporting. Orato is hiring writers who are participating in, as well as observing, the activities they cover, making them genuine experts with knowledge to share. The Vancouver-based magazine has been online since June 2006 and is privately owned by Sam Yehia. Staff profiles are available online.

Contact Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Joy Gugeler, at editor@orato.com or 604.608.1070 for more information.

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Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva