Picking up

I submitted my second marketplace story to Helium.com. It's only one fetching $20 if approved, but if I get it that will be money I didn't have before.

Helium seems to have a bunch of possibilities. I'm part of the news writing community, how-to community and professional journalist community. I am also part of a team accepting/rejecting news stories. I may soon be a copy editor there. And if things go as planned I'll coach writers.

Not sure of money-making potential yet. Still have to see how that goes. But I'll hang it out for awhile and see how it goes. I think there's promise.

I've written one Suite101.com story and have nine more to go in the next two weeks. I'll do some quick ones and get it through then focus on increasing the complexity of my stories during the next 90 days.

Up and going. It's go time. Not going quickly but I'm going.

That's what counts.

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Slow but steady

One thing I've learned about writing for a user-generated site is that it takes patience. As I reach 22 cents in earnings, it's easy to get disappointed considering I've written six stories. My day job would have paid much more than that.

It's a different system. I'm graded on page views or ad clicks. Depending on the site. The key seems to be selecting a topic that's popular, or perhaps creating a niche in a specific topic.

Either way I'm not going to get discouraged. I haven't really hit the Marketplace yet at Helium.com since my first story was rejected. I also haven't tried other sites yet.

Patience. That's the key.

And I guess hard work. So on to work!

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Writing for cash, but why?

So why does a newspaper journalist dip into online user-generated content sites? He gets desparate. That's how.

I am after a new life. A life without so many worries and one in which I can be myself.

To reach this goal takes cash. No matter how I look at it, it takes money.

Money isn't the only motivating factor. I believe that online journalism is part of the trend of the future as newspapers dwindle in their news holes and owners seek to cut costs. This way I'm getting some experience on the front end.

Meanwhile I may learn a few things. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

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