My Experience Writing at Associated Content Pt II

It has been almost a year since I started submitting articles to Associated Content. I have enjoyed the freedom to write what I like, and to challenge myself as an editor, since the AC team does not edit content producer's articles.

The downside to my experience is the money. We as content producers do not get paid by word, but on a scale, which ranges, in my instance from 4 to ten dollars. Considering we only have to write 400 words, (I usually write more) and that it takes me only about ten to twenty minutes to whip out a good article, its like minimum wage, if you want to look at it this way. I have heard of some content producers making upwards of twenty to fifty for specialty articles, but that may be rare instances. Performance payments work well for niche articles, and bonus payments only for articles that may be on a broad subject matter. I find that most of my articles have been paid offers, but the few I have submitted for bonus points only I submitted as exclusive. As for my current opinion, I think AC might be better for the SEO writers, or the people that know how to write for the web, adding keywords in the bulk of their article to be picked up by the search engines.

As a professional freelance writer, I still enjoy submitting, and I like AC. The bonus point program is very enticing, for the more you submit, the more bonus points you can make, and they do seem to add up quickly, though I suspect one has to write hundreds of popular interest articles for bonus points to be beneficial.

Some articles sell better than others, that is a common fact. Technical articles are big. But if you want to get fast exposure, establish yourself, or show the world your expertise, you can't beat the AC system, and it is easy to use. If you want to retain the rights to your articles as well, you can select non-exclusive, this way you can publish the same article somewhere else, even your own website or MySpace page. I think I may have to do non-exclusive for non-paying articles from now on. This way I retain my rights for something that belongs to me, obviously, since it wasn't bought outright.

Last, but not least, we as writers have to respect ourselves and our abilities. Some of us are excellent writers. Some are having a better experience than others, some bad writers make more money than the good. I don't have the interest in trying to figure it all out, and I will never post any truly glorious works on the internet in general anyway.

But one thing I have found when submitting to AC is that when your articles pop up all over the web, and sometimes on their partner sites, as mine have, your name is still present. My articles have not been tampered with or changed, and its great to see all the exposure I'm getting.

I have had some articles (not from AC) copied and pasted and changed around, due to a celebrity that I wrote about. Some people didn't like the celebrity, hence my experience with Internet stalkers. If someone tries to copy and paste an AC article, they post it in full form, usually. Since AC is still pretty new, they have room to grow, and maybe I'll be around for a while, depending on where my career takes me. Regardless, I have enjoyed submitting, and will keep on riding the journalistic wave of online freedom of speech and total creative control.