My First Internet Brands Writing Assignment - Approved!

I'm all smiles right now. My first article ever was approved! It was only a short 250 - 350 word article. I really too my time in writing it and produced a well crafted and informative piece - if I do say so myself!! I'm a little embarrased because it took me over an hour to do. But I really wanted to take my time and avoid getting a re-write request or rejected!

I've got a really good pattern going now, using the writing tools for freelance writers that I mentioned in my last post. It's been working well to get me organized. I just need to do it all faster!

I've written my two Bright Hub articles. I just like to leave my articles for a day or two, then read them over, checking for mistakes and making other edits. They too took me forever and a day to write. It's ok, I'll pick up speed soon enough.

I've picked up another short assignment from IB which I'll get done by tomorrow. I'll also edit the Bright Hub articles and send them off. There are no more articles available there for this month. Loads at IB though.

I hope my next set of submissions will be sucessful too!!

Helpful Blogs for Online Freelance Writers

This is just a quick one. I wanted to share these two blogs that have been instrumental in starting my online writing journey. They both cover upfront pay gigs and residual income from revenue sharing sites.

• The Freelance Home Writer - Willow does fantastic reviews. I've heavily depended on her review of up front pay sites. It's not updated as often. But when it is updated, it's always abotu something very valuable.
  

• No Job For Mom - Lots of reviews here too. This blog encouraged me look into revenue sharing sites, which I had previously completely blown off. It's a very active blog and seems to have a large following.
  

Happy reading!!

My First Writing Assignments

I finally managed to get those kinks ironed out from yesterday. I've got access to everything on BrightHub now and have completely finished with all the paperwork for Internet Brands. And.... I've got my first assignment from both!!

• 2 articles from BrightHub
• 1 article at the moment from Internet Brands

The list from BrightHub is quite limited, there aren't that many titles. There is a lot more on Internet Brands. I know I can never run out of assignments there. I'm really spoilt for choice.

I haven't started writing yet. I'm just sorting myself out and finding my rhythm. I've been looking at tips from other writers and I've some really awesome writing tools mentioned on the The Renegade Writer blog (especially in the comments!). I've started using some of the recommendations:

• One comment mentioned Google Notebook. I had a look, but it didn't really appeal to me. But it reminded that there was Google Calendar. I use this to schedule my school and writing assignment due dates. Although, I wish there was a version that could work like an add-on on your browser. Well there is, but it's read-only.

• Microsoft Office OneNote. It comes with the Office 2007 package, so I've had it for a few years, but just never took notice of it. I love it. Easy way to brainstorm, plan articles, gather research etc.

I'm not going to rush myself for this first batch. I'm going take my time, get used to writing again. While building my momentum up over the next couple of weeks.

Wish me luck!!

Approved by Internet Brands and Bright Hub!!

I'm so happy right now and can't wait to start!! I got emails from both companies this morning after waiting between 10-14 days. I'd start writing A.S.A.P if I could. At the moment though:

• Internet Brands: I'm still filling out the final batch of paperwork, tax forms, payment details etc. I've just got to wait for them to get back to me regarding the W-9 for they asked me to fill. I'm not a U.S. citizen and the form states I shouldn't be using it if I'm not a 'U.S. person'. So I'm just waiting for clarification.

• Bright Hub: I'm done with the paperwork and got a welcome email from my editor. I'm just having trouble accessing the tutorial material. I'm getting an 'access denied' message. So I've emailed my editor and asked her what I need to do to get access.

I'm really happy right now. I'll keep updating on how I'm going with these two and of course with Hubpages.

Hubpages - My 'Make Money with Hubpages' experiment

I'm still waiting for a response from the 2 companies I applied to for article writing. I'm getting a little antsy now. But yes, patience is a virtue. In the meantime, I've busied myself (when I'm not doing schoolwork) with Hubpages.

Among article writers, the buzz word is residual income. This just means that some writers are finding that it's better to post an article on a site where you continue to earn from it (via revenue sharing - adsense type stuff), than it is to get a one time payment for an article. I totally see the sense in that, and would like to have a few of those streams of constant income... if it's possible.

From reading on forums and blogs, it seems that Hubpages has worked well for some people, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I've done 1 Hub so far. I think it has really good quality content, if I do say so myself : ) Other than publishing it, I haven't done much in the way of promoting it. I just want to see first how long it takes for it to get indexed on it's own. I'll wait a week, then manually submit it to search engines if it hasn't been indexed yet.

I plan on making a few more of these to see if I can actually earn anything. I'll keep making updates about my earnings, traffic and methods I'm using to promote the hubs.

Stay tuned...

Beginning my online writing journey - Join Me!

It's a real jungle out there, in terms of trying to make some extra cash online. But I love the idea of weeding through the large amounts of information, learning as I go. Over the last couple of weeks I've emmersed myself into the world of freelance writing, searching for opportunities. The search, I've found, is more challenging for non-US writers - which I am. There are several high paying companies, who unfortunately do not hire outside the US. But my search has been successful. I have found a handful of reputable companies that will accept international writers.

For the sake of those who are new to the writing world like me, I think I need to preface this by noting exactly how writers earn money online. From what I've read:

• Writing the content for a website
• Writing individual articles
• Starting niche websites and earn through affliate links or Google Adsense
• Submitting articles to revenue sharing sites
  

I think those are the main methods. If I've left out any, please let me know.

1) At the moment I've applied to 2 companies that pay you to write individual articles, and am still waiting for a response. Once I have been accepted, I'll post thorough reviews of my experiences.

2) I have also joined a revenue sharing site and submitted some content. I'll definately be doing a review and let you know how I'm doing.

3) I'm also considering starting a niche website. I've started writing content for it and have about 6 articles done. I'm trying to write an article a day. That hasn't worked out too well as I've been busy with school (excuses! I know). But I'll definitely be keeping on track this week.

Full steam ahead!! I'm excited!

Image credit: Salvatore Vuono