Get Paid To Blog

Yes, you really can get paid to blog!

In an earlier post I mentioned that my freelance writing business is not my only income. I learned from a freelancing friend how to boost my business - she suggested aiming at more than one income into my business. So I decided to try and get as many streams of income into my business as possible so that I'm not always relying on just one check coming in.

Because I love to write it's only natural that I would choose to get paid to keep writing. That's when a friend got me onto PayPerPost

These guys are amazing! You really do get paid to blog about the things you love. It's all so easy! Every day there are hundreds of people willing to pay others to blog. You can pick and choose your own choice of work, which means you can do as much or as little as you like. It also means you only have to write about the bits you want to write about!

PayPerPost have a really easy to follow website, so just join up, tell them the name of your blog and start getting paid for what you're already doing!

You get to choose what subject you want to blog about, and the PayPerPost opportunities page is always packed with new blogging jobs just waiting for you to pick them up and get paid for them.

After all, if you're going to write in your blog anyway, you might as well get paid for it!

If you're looking to increase your writing income, then don't go past PayPerPost and get paid to blog!

Re-Writing: A New Bane for Freelance Writers

Re-Writing: A New Bane for Freelance Writers
by Bianca Raven

Recently, a writing friend invited me to proofread a few of the articles she'd written for a new 'freelance writing assignment' she'd landed. She was very proud to have received a paying writing job and wanted my opinion before submitting them to the publisher.

The job description as told by her was quite simple - take 20 article topics dictated by the publisher and create 20 new articles.

It sounded good so far.

I was happy to take a look over her articles for her. Each was no longer than 500 words, and each written on a topic chosen for her by the editor. I was very impressed by the level of research my friend had put into each article - especially since they varied across some broadly different niches. 20 researched articles in under a week! The girl mustn' have slept at all.

So I asked her how she squeezed so much research into such a short time. Her answer shocked and surprised me.

Basically put - she did NO research at all.

That doesn't mean she made up the information. Far from it. A few of the topics spanned my own personal niche and they were factually correct, however brief. But the information was stolen and then copied from the hard-work of another writer and 're-written' so it could pass a Copyscape.com detection.

I left that thought hanging for a moment and wondered then how much my friend was being offered for writing 20 articles on topics she knew little about in under a week.

Rather than tell me, she proudly showed me the actual listing to which she'd responded, calling for writers.

I've listed it below:

I need a writer who can rewrite articles in his/her own words while retaining the meanings of the original articles. I will provide 20 articles (containing 500-600 words each) for you to rewrite and I should retain all rights to the articles written.

In rewriting articles you will
- Provide re-written versions that must be 100% original and unique while retaining the keywords. No sentences or paragraphs in your rewritten version can be uniquely identifiable from the original version (I will check through copyscape to detect any sign of duplication for each article. Each one will pass Copyscape and DupeFree for uniqueness of 95% minimum.)

- Provide re-written articles that have 500 words or more BUT If the original article provided by me contain 600 words or more you need to rewrite to minimum 600 words.

- Re-write each article (INCLUDING article titles) in a way that its meaning is retained.

- Provide re-written versions that are grammatically correct and in standard American English and should make sense to the reader

- Article must be in Word 2000 format

- Must save the documents accordingly and DO NOTE RENAME THE FILES so I can cross reference with the original article files

Your rewritten version of articles are not allowed to be rewritten in the following manner
- changing only a word or two (e.g., substituting synonyms) and leaving the sentences still intact and recognizable from the original text;

- simply transposing whole sentences within a paragraph (e.g., putting the last sentence somewhere in the middle of the paragraph).

- using any software ( I want all of my articles to be manually rewritten)
NOTE:I'll be having more rewrites coming up. As such the maximum bid of this project is US$30

I honestly thought I'd misunderstood the listing at first. Sadly, I hadn't.

Now, I'm a big fan of Copyscape.com. You type in the URL of your own article and it searches the net for any piece of work with similar content. Over the years it's been a great way to see who is listing my work rightfully and who isn't.

Now these sharks have found a new way to get out of paying writers the professional rates required for highly researched niche topics - AND avoid the plagiarism search engines at the same time!

I promptly jumped onto the site where she'd found this listing originally and not only did I find the above listing, but I found many more just like it.

Take this gem from a completely different 'editor' for instance:

Rewrite 20 articles
What I need:
An excellent writer who is willing to rewrite 20 articles (350-400 words) that has no errors and will pass copyscape. Two days is the timeframe (10 articles submitted for checking every 24 hours).
Take note: no payment for: 1. substandard work 2. work fails to pass copyscape 3. fails to meet deadline. Budget is 30$.
I will acquire perpetual, unconditional ownership once payment is made.

Seriously? I mean you've got to be kidding me!

Or how about this little diamond:

Urgent - rewrites
I need 7 short pieces rewritten urgently. They MUST be done by a person - not rewriting software. They need to be returned within the next 12 hours. I am posting this job for a longer period, but I will award it as soon as I have a good candidate.If your first language is not English then do not bid unless you have an extremely high level of written English. My first language is English so I will know if you aren't up to the standard I ask.
I am willing to pay no more than $20 for all 7 rewrites

It's bad enough that people are asking writers to work for this kind of disgusting payment for low-down dirty work - but it's even worse that new writers all over the world are jumping at the pitiful pay-rates just to make a buck. Yes, each of these "job" listings had multiple writers bidding to gain the work.

They may call it "re-writing", but let's be honest: it's the lowest form of theft dressed up and resold to the lowest bidder. It's outright plagiarism to steal another writer's work. What hope is there for professional freelance writers around the world when this kind of activity is not only rampant, it's growing at an alarming rate!

Let's get the word out to serious writers everywhere to help newer writers avoid "opportunities" like this like the plague.

How I've Set Up My Writing Business

I've been making a good income by writing online for a few years now, so I thought I'd get this blog going so I could show others what I've been doing to pay the bills instead of going to work at a regular job.

Most of the things I do online are things most people do every day. I surf around on the net, I check my emails. I visit forums and I chat to friends. I write what I feel like writing - stories, articles, recipes, blogs, jokes - whatever I feel like and whenever I'm in the mood.

The difference is, I get paid to do these things. I sit at home every day and surf the net. If I can't sleep at night, I'll get out my laptop and write something. When I'm bored, I'll go to the beach or walk my dog or watch TV for a while. What a difficult day, huh?

Don't think I do nothing though! Far from it.

My little home-enterprise is actually my business and I treat it just like I would treat any other business. I'm good to my clients, I get my work done on time and I keep the books neat and balanced every month. I promote my services and I actively seek out new clients who will pay me to write more.

The main thing I learned about running a home-business over the years is that it's really important never to put all your eggs into one basket (this is called "broadening your debtor base"). In basic terms, it means trying to get as many streams of income into the business as possible so that if something goes wrong with one stream, you always have some cash coming into your little business from one of the other streams you've set up along the way.

I'll keep updating my blog with each of the things I'm doing to earn my income online and keep increasing it. I hope you can find some things that interest you too so that you can work on your writing career from home as well.

Remember - what suits one person won't always suit another, so keep in mind that these are just the things I've been doing. You might not like all the options I've chosen and that's fine. You're free to pick and choose what bits you like and what bits you don't.

What's most important to remember is that I don't go to WORK every day in an office for someone else! I'm enjoying being my own boss at home while I earn a comfortable living from my own sofa.

What are you doing? ;)

Raven's Freelance Writing Life

Well I did it! I've gone and created a blog and now I have no idea what to say. I mean seriously - I'm a writer and it's my job to express feelings and thoughts into words, but I'm truly speechless right now.

What does one say to a blog with no visitors yet?

Anyway - I'm Raven. I'm a writer. I've been writing for a long time now and it's how I make my income. Of course, I'd love a pay-rise so I'm working hard on writing more and selling more of my words to various places.

I've put a few of my favorite writing links (in alphabetical order) in the links section on this page. Some writing sites are filled with so much great information - and others... well they're just crap. Either they're trying to sell me something or they're telling me nothing that isn't directly copied from the good sites.

I guess as I learn to increase my writing income and finally get my pay-rise, I'll keep you all updated. I'd love it if you came to visit me on my journey and offer me some encouragement!

Thanks for reading!