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

Register Blogs on Blog Catalog

Although my Bike Diva blog is 1 1/2 years old, and my Run Diva blog is 8 months old, all my other diva blogs were started just a few months ago. At the end of 2008, I purchased the domain names for Tea Diva, Conspiracy Diva, Backyard Diva, Craft Diva, Cuisine Diva, Horror Diva and Writing Diva.

Blog Directories
Since most of the diva blogs are so new, I was looking for blog directories that would let me list all the blogs for free. I did a search on blog catalogs, and found a site called Blog Catalog.

Blog Catalog has a simple form that you fill out for each blog you want to register. Blog Catalog asks for the following information:

• Blog title
• Blog URL
• Blog country
• Blog language
• Primary category
• Secondary category
• 6 keyword tags
• Blog description

You can add one or two categories for each blog you are registering on Blog Catalog. For instance, my Bike Diva blog categories are Adventure-Outdoor Activity-Biking and Sports-Cycling. Blog Catalog is also a social networking site that lets you interact and follow other bloggers. You can also list all the online communities you belong to, such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Verifying Your Blog
Before Blog Catalog will include your blog on their site, they must verify that your site exists, and you must place a Blog Catalog button or widget on your blog. There are 9 different buttons to choose from and 3 different widget styles. If you are using one of the widgets, you can customize it to match your blog. In lieu of adding a Blog Catalog button or widget to each site you are registering, you can add a meta tag to the home page of your blog.

I'd like to hear from anyone that is using Blog Catalog to list their blogs. The basic listing service on Blog Catalog is free. There is also a premium account option available on the site.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Magazine Writing for Freelancers

Back in the days before I discovered I could be paid to write for online sites, I used to write for a variety of print publications. By print publications I mean magazines, newsletters and books.

Some of the print publications I have had articles published in include Jewelry Crafts, Lapidary Journal, Beadwork, The Herb Quarterly, The Farmer's Almanac and BackHome Magazine.

I've also had a variety of articles published in various Llewellyn Worldwide publications including their yearly Herbal Almanac, Magical Almanac, Witches' Datebook and Witches' Calendar.

In future posts I will detail my experiences writing freelance articles for some of these publications.

In the meantime, check out the Magazine Guidelines Database over on the Freelance Writing website. This database contains writer's guidelines and contact information for over 750 magazines.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Writing Diva's Personal Blog

ABOVE: Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

My Writing Website
I used to have my own domain name setup for my personal webpage. I could never really figure out the ftp file uploading and always struggled to keep the site updated. I decided to setup a free site on Blogger to keep track of all my writing projects.

The site is located at: Freelance Writer Lynn Smythe.

RSS Feeds
I write for quite a few online sites, so I placed RSS feeds of the 5 latest articles for most of the sites on the main page. I still need to setup a page with my resume of print publication articles.

More Links
I don't think I'm going to keep a resume of all my online publications on the site. They currently number in the hundreds - information overload. Guess I should add links for each site I've had articles published on: Suite101, Examiner.com, Charity Mile, Bike Diva and Run Diva are the main ones.

Your Site
Do you have a personal website setup to keep track of all your online and print publications? Please share the link to your site and I'll check it out when I get a chance.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Writing Diva

Blogburst Social Networking Site

BLOG BURST
Anyone that has a blog should consider registering it with the Blog Burst site. It is free to list as many blogs as you would like. Your blog has to be setup for full RSS feeds, not just a summary of each post you make to your blog.

I have my Bike Diva and Run Diva blogs, both are which are setup on Typepad, registered with the Blog Burst site. I have been getting a good amount of traffic to Bike Diva coming through my link with Blog Burst.

Temporary Hold
Blogburst places any blogs submitted to their site on hold for the first three months. There are so many blogs that come and go, that they decided to implement the hold policy. I guess the theory is, if you're blog is still around after 3 months, that you must be serious about blogging. Once the 3 month period has passed, your blog will become active on the Blogburst site.

MEDIA EXPOSURE FOR YOUR BLOG
BlogBurst places blogs on nearly 100 top-tier news and media sites including Reuters, USA Today, Gannett, McGraw-Hill, Fox News and more.

I just checked my Bike Diva stats on the Blog Burst site earlier today. Here are a few of my Bike Diva posts that have been picked up in the last few weeks by other sites:

Reuters - Bike Diva Future
Chicago Sun Times - Bike Diva Biking Articles
Computer Shopper - Go Pro Digital Cameras
Livestrong - Century Ride Tips for New Cyclists

If you have a blog, list at Blog Burst, and see an increase in traffic to your site. It's also cool to brag to your friends that Reuters, and other popular online sites, have picked up your news feed!

Take care,
Lynn AKA the Writing Diva

Twitter Social Networking Site

TWITTER
Is anyone else signed up with Twitter? Twitter is yet another social networking site. I didn't really know too much about Twitter until I started getting emails from a few friends and writing contacts that mentioned they use Twitter all the time.

ANOTHER SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE
Initially I was a bit reluctant to sign up for Twitter. I already belong to a TON of social networking sites and I don't even have enough time to keep up with all of them. So I didn't really see the need to sign up for yet another site that I would hardly ever use.

In addition to being a freelance writer, I am also a cycling nut. The latest company to sponsor me is Freestyle Watches. They said I had to sign up for a Twitter account so we could keep in touch with each other. So I went ahead and signed up for a Twitter account - twitter.com/thebikediva.

LET'S TRADE TWITTER LINKS
If you have a Twitter account, add your link to your Twitter page and I'll check it out. My Twitter page is located at twitter.com/thebikediva.

Multiple Personalities
I originally began with one Twitter account. But now that I have recently started my Horror Diva blog, decided to setup another Twitter account: twitter.com/thehorrordiva. I didn't think the people that were following my Twitter updates, which are mostly about running, cycling and general fitness, would also want to hear about my pagan, horror themed information. I use Hootsuite to manage both my Twitter profiles.

Let the Twittering begin!!!

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