The Benefits of Using Associated Content

Over two years ago, I remember Googling something along the lines of "get paid for your writing." With such keywords, it's obvious what my intentions were; I wanted to jumpstart my writing career. My work had already appeared in many venues, both in print and online by that point (thanks to encouragement from elementary school teachers, I began entering writing competitions at a rather young age), but I wanted to be able to support myself off of my writing. While the occasional prize money, internship check, and freelance project income all helped, I needed another source upon which I could depend. Luckily, I found Associated Content.

I first started submitting my writing to Associated Content (www.associatedcontent.com/christinestoddard) in August 2006, only a few weeks before beginning my senior year at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va. In terms of my writing career, it was definitely one of the best moves I ever made. The site offers upfront payment for articles on a wide range of topics, both high and lowbrow. You can even sell your research papers and class essays. Even though the site doesn't pay for creative writing, poetry or prose, it does allow you to showcase writing of all kinds. In fact, that's one of the biggest benefits of using Associated Content: it provides the opportunity to present your writing to a large and varied audience. Better yet, Associated Content rewards you (translation:

pays you) for page views.

Furthermore, Associated Content is fast, easy, and extremely user-friendly. Once you've copied and pasted your writing from your blog or an MS Word document, you can post it on your AC page in a matter of minutes (sometimes literally a minute, once you've mastered the technique of filling out the form and quickly thinking up relevant tags.) You also have the option of adding links, fun facts, and pictures to each piece you post. If you prefer photography over writing, you can create slideshows, too. You can also post your video and audio files to AC and get paid for the number of page views the content receives.

I soon discovered the benefits of using Associated Content and now boast over 900 pieces of writing on the website. The pieces range from poems to plays to short stories to press releases to essays to research papers to news articles to how-to articles to recycled blog entries to...why, I've just about covered every form and genre there is. I post a new piece almost everyday, certainly every week, and sometimes I post multiple entries in one day, depending on what the rest of my schedule looks like.

While I can't make a living off of using Associated Content alone, the payment I get for my involvement with the site certainly helps me cover some of my everyday expenses. I definitely recognize that there are other print and online venues besides AC---ones that pay better, ones that are more prestigious, ones that are more visually appealing---but I won't deny that Associated Content has bolstered my reputation in the writing world. I've had students, scholars, bloggers, and even newspaper reporters cite my AC writing. An academic book publisher even contacted me through the site to ask permission to print one of my essays in an upcoming academic tome. Apparently, more and more book and magazine publishers are trolling the Internet for new voices and new talent. Actively updating my Associated Content page (in addition to other web pages) only increases the chances that

another one of those publishers will discover me!

To join Associated Content and start publishing your work today, go to: http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=16739.