Writing Articles - Making Money

In January, 2010, I started to enhance my portfolio by writing for Seed.com, a new company by AOL.  My previous evaluation of writing for Seed.com has not changed a whole lot.  However, the biggest change since then is that I have had a few pieces of writing accepted by Seed!  One of the tricks that I try to use when writing for Seed is to pick a topic that has a deadline that is coming up soon.  Of course, not every topic can be written this way, but there are a lot of assignments that do not take a lot of time.  The downfall to this is that the writers do not know how many people they are submitting writing against, maybe one or 100. 

There was one pro that I listed in my first evaluation of writing for Seed.  This was that they had fast editor turnaround.  Actually, it isn't that Seed has a fast turnaround on accepting or denying assignments, but rather that it is more accurately based on when the writing assignment was turned in relative to their deadline.

Some simple guidelines for writing for Seed:

• Write succinct.  Extra verbiage is not necessary.  Follow the word count rules.  
• Remember that you are writing against others whenever you submit writing to Seed.
• Seed has a very limited number of assignments available.  They have both writing and photography assignments, but still both lists of assignments are short.
• Try writing one of the tips for travel for Gadling.  Make sure to read the expectations and check the site for its current information.
• Use rejected articles on other sites like Info Barrel.  

Writing for Seed is not a full time option for me.  I don't know how many people actively write for Seed, but there are just not enough assignments for me.  The lack of assignments plus the long waits for acceptance make Seed low on my list.  I do like the upfront payment.   Seed is a great place to sign up for and check once per week for new writing assignments.

When I started this residual income writing blog, I decided that I would do a short little survey because I could.  One of the things I am interested in most is where people write at and how successful they are writing there.   In hindsight, I would have included many more writing sites.  This is one of the things that I learned from doing the survey although even before this I knew there are many more places to write than just the few that I threw up there. 

Here are the results.  In one month 35 people responded.  Also, I let people choose more than one answer because I think that provides better results.  Surprisingly, not one person said that I am crazy!

Do you write online content or articles?

Yes'm, I'm at eHow.com  --  16 (45%)

Yes, I write at Associated Content -- 20 (57%)

Yep, Helium -- 6 (17%)

Yes, I write at Associated Content -- 5 (14%)

Yes. It's not listed. -- 14 (40%)

You're crazy, there is no money in writing. -- 0

No, I'm deciding if it's worth my time. -- 2 (5%)

I stopped. It's ridiculous. --  4 (11%)

What I did find to be a little bit frustrating is that there are four people who have stopped writing altogether because they think it is ridiculous.  This can mean any number of things, of course, but I think it is too bad that people are stopping.  I would like to know if you are one of the people who has stopped writing online content, why did you stop writing?  I know personally that the past several months have been frustrating with all of the things going on at eHow and just the effort that it takes to build new libraries at new writing places.  Also, if you don't write, I am very interested to know whether or not you blog instead or what you do with your writing.  Looks like it's time for another survey!  But, I think this one will focus on what people really want to know...how much do you make...

Leave a comment.  Let me and others know the places you write that are not listed and what else you do.  I'd like for this to end up being a place of resources and information.  Thanks for your help.

After another long day of searching for new ways to reinvent myself and my writing, I end frustrated.  I tried a new website for freelance writers, Seed.com.  I find the work at home forum to be really helpful and I found some articles about Seed.  What Seed does not mention specifically is that you might be one of one hundred people (made up number) submitting on the same topic.  I grabbed a title then wrote a good article.  It did have a due date that I slid right in under.  I thought I might have missed it.  The message I received from their editors said that they appreciated my content, but it just wasn't a good fit and I should try again.

After the rejection I started to wonder just how their system works.  After a little bit of investigating I found that several others had been frustrated as well.  I have not heard of anyone that has been successful at getting published there, but that doesn't mean people aren't out there. I did only just hear about it.  I admit I am not a fan of AOL.  When they were my internet service provider I felt like I had a virus on my computer because I could never get rid of it all the way.  Regardless, I don't know if I will spend my time writing for Seed. One thing I did not like is that once I accepted the title I could not see the instructions again and had to go by memory on the keywords and topic.  This was very frustrating and may have led to me not writing the article to specs.  I suppose the best game plan is to write one or two more articles for them. After all, I do write articles for eHow and wait for residual income to trickle.  I also write for Info Barrel and have not seen a whole lot of success there yet, but I believe the potential is great. 

Pros of Seed

• fast turnaround by editors
  
• upfront pay if accepted
• clean user interface
• options to submit articles or photos

Cons of Seed

• unclear payment structure
• feeling of being solo without a lot of guidance
• no specifics when articles are not accepted
  

However, I just read a post on the WAHM forum that says that Seed is relatively new and they are, oh dare I say, "fleshing" out their site.  I think signing up and throwing a few more articles their way is in the future for the following week.  I'll keep you posted.

I would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience writing for this site.

EDIT ON February 21 - I submitted another article to Seed.com.  It was rejected.  I think that I have figured out when they approve their articles.  Both of the articles that I submitted were due that day, so I got prompt rejection.  I am impatient, so even though my articles are not getting accepted at least I know they are not taking them.  I emailed them asking for further information about their licensing policy, but never heard back from anyone.  Since they did not accept the articles, I will publish them elsewhere.  I am not going to waste a perfectly good mismatched article. 

The letter that they send is a form letter.  I am going to give writing for Seed one more try with an assignment I accepted last night.  If you don't want to wait around for a long reply I suggest looking for fast expiring writing assignments.