I joined Associated Content back the end of October. I used to write for Epinions, but had a difference of opinion with the Powers that Be there so I began moving my reviews a few at a time over to AC. WOW. i could not believe the pay difference between Epinions and AC. I began with my travel reviews dating back a few years. I had made a total of $40 on them at Eps in that time. I sold those, along with a few new ones on Australia, for a total of over $400.
How AC works is you submit an article for pay. You can offer to sell it to them exclusively, or non-exclusively. I have noticed no difference in pay between the two so now I only sell them non-exclusive. You need to put your review/article/story through Word or a similar program. They will not buy anything that is full of errors... they may take one or two typos, but they will dock the offer for it.
Within about a week of your submission, they will make you an offer for the article. You can then accept it or not. If you accept it, they pay rapidly. They pay only via Paypal, but they do so 3 times per week so there is no pacing while you wait for month's end to cash out, then more pacing for 4 weeks awaiting a check. It is really very fast and painlesss.
Once you accept their offer, though, you cannot edit anything. It is theirs to do with as they see fit. You can, however, add comments to the article if you wish to add anything.
The other thing I like about AC is that they will send out an email about every 2 weeks telling you special topics they are looking for, and how much they will pay for those. For instance, during November they offered $10 per article on which restaurants to go to for holiday meals.
One tip is to always attatch a picture to your article. That will raise the offer by about a buck. Not much individually, but it adds up fast.
Your first offers are going to be low. Expect about $3-5 each at first. The more hits your articles get, though, the higher the subsequent offers will be for your work. I'm getting $5 - 8 now, and expect it to go up when I begin submitting again after the holidays are over.
For travel reviews, AC beats the hell out of Epinions. Restaurants too. I haven't submitted any movie or book reviews to AC yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
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Comments: 46
Hopefully, this is at least readable. HA!
You might want to include your id or a link to an article and explain the referral - or is that just until the end of this year?
Where do you find the photos to add to your articles? That is where I would have nothing to offer, can they be personal - of my kids if I am writing about them or autism in general?
The articles I have read thus far on the subject of autism is basically from professionals and nothing adding any personal flair, do they prefer that?
Also do you get a form having to declare the money when you hit $600 in a calendar year like Eps? Do they mail you forms showing you how much money you have made so there is a record of it somewhere?
I joined there in July of 2005 and have not done anything yet. What is your clout and have you added many names to your buddy list?
Thanks for sharing your experiences, the money would be great but also have to report to SSI and then have changes each month in our checks and me having to go downtown, pay parking and bring copies of paystubs or something. I am doomed in finding ways to make extra money and will have to stick with amazon associates and get more reviews on my BellaOnline sites as Amazon is now going to be paying monthly instead of quarterly to their affiliates starting in 2007.
I'll have to check it out one day.
Thanks for the info
Trish - feel free to post a link to an article or your id so we can read you there as well.
S.R.... Honestly, I haven't wandered around all that much. I found one writer I enjoy a great deal writing about really cool places in Germany, and one idiot American who wrote an article on how to 'fix' Sweden. I blasted him to kingdom cum, naturally.
Barb... when you are feeling better, I think AC could be a nice bit of extra income for you.
Sandy... yeah, it is mostly review kinda stuff, political essays, and advice pieces. I haven't noticed any short stories yet.
Trish, like Bonnie said, give us a link to you there. Future offers are based on prior hits. I would be happy to visit your articles.
Charles... ohj ohj ohj. That, my friend, is the stuff of a future novel.
Vicky... they love reviews ;)
Fran, Nancy, Joan... be sure to give us links to your page when you get set up.
Bonnie... DAMN! Let me gather my thoughts here and answer all your questions in another comment.
As far as I know, the $3 per referal ends Dec 31... but they keep extending it. Originally it was just for Nov, so I am hoping they keep it going. The referal has to have an article posted before they count as a paid referal, and those are paid once per month... although to be honest they are waaaay behind on paying for those. Still, I am confident they will come across with it soon.
Where do you find the photos to add to your articles?
Mostly I have my own... but when I do not, I search the web for free stock pics. AC even gives you a few URLs to find pics that might go well with your articles. Since I have mostly been doing travel articles, it has been easy to go to the website of the attraction/hotel/whatever and grab one of theirs.
The articles I have read thus far on the subject of autism is basically from professionals and nothing adding any personal flair, do they prefer that?
I think they would prefer articles from every perspective. It sounds like they are lacking what you can offer. Go for it.
Also do you get a form having to declare the money when you hit $600 in a calendar year like Eps? Do they mail you forms showing you how much money you have made so there is a record of it somewhere?
I assume they do. They pretty much have to if you hit the magic 600 in one year. That is US tax law. I came in just under, and am waiting until next week to start flooding them again. Next year I will be a Swedish citizen soooo... heh. On you 'My Content' page you can see everything they have bought from you, when you submitted it, when they published it, and the date they paid you along with how much. They used to have a total at the bottom but their latest upgrade lost that bit. I have let them know that I want that bit back ;)
What is your clout and have you added many names to your buddy list?
Clout is how many hits your articles have generated. They have not updated this in months and months. There is a big push to get it done soon though. The Editors who make the offers on your articles CAN see the true number though annd take it into consideration when making you offers. You can email one of them and ask them nicely for a run-down and they will supply it happily.
As far as the buddy list goes, I have Candice, my daughter, annd this Carol person who likes to write about Germany. I haven't really been cruising the site all that much yet.
Kryal Castle
I need to study it my damn self to figure out what I did different there... I assume it had the best keyword penetration.
So basically you just write some articles there and don't really participate in the community aspect of it or not yet?
You can comment on people's articles, but it is not like Epinions or Gather, where a comment starts a conversation.
Ok, just one question. Mainly, I need clarification of what exclusive, and non-exclusive means when I tick one of those boxes.
That was my thought exactly when I encountered that moron. I had the strongest urge to fly to the US and bitch-slap him.
Ok, just one question. Mainly, I need clarification of what exclusive, and non-exclusive means when I tick one of those boxes.
If you click exclusive, that means you have never published the article anywhere else, nor will you ever. AC owns all rights. Non-exclusive means it has appeared elswhere, and you retain the rights to it.
knotheadusc
I cannot bombard them with 30-50 articles per issue. I can do that with AC... how is it any different than posting to Gather?
twyla
tchoate
I am always happy to read other's work!
My main problem is how tight they have gotten on pictures. Some CM keeps stripping my images from my articles - I know they are erring on the side of caution due to a lot of stolen images by some people... but damn is it ever irritating!
Still... once life settles down a bit more I'll be back to writing a lot for them again ;)