On Writing

Since Yahoo!/AC has opted not to renew my Featured Contributor designation, I’ve been thinking about other places to publish.  I’m not going to completely abandon the Yahoo! Contributor Network (Y!CN), just want to build my on-line presence in other areas.  After researching several on-line publishing sites, I’ve decided to give HubPages (HP) a try.

Multimedia support: HubPages supports embedded pictures and video.  Contrast this with Y!CN (previously Associated Content), which allows pictures to be attached to an article, but they are not embedded in surrounding context, and are very low-res.  A.C. experimented with embedded video briefly, but never fully implemented it and does not currently support it.  HP not only lets you embed pictures and video, but also news feeds (rss and headlines), polls, tables, maps, quizzes, and code listings.  Code listings are particularly useful in certain “how-to” type articles.

Revenue Streams: Many sites share advertising revenue with their contributors, but this is usually limited to adsense, or a flat rate based on page views.   HP lets authors share adsense revenue, but also lets them place Amazon and Ebay ads on their hubs, and the authors keep revenue from these sources.  Kontera is also supported but is being phased out.  So income might not be as steady as it is from Y!CN, which is based on a flat-rate model starting at $1.50 per 1000 page views, but could be much more lucrative with the occasional Amazon or Ebay sale.

In addition to direct revenue, HP pays for referrals and links. In other words, if I send traffic to hubs published by other authors, I get a small percentage of their revenue. I can also refer new authors to HubPages, and HP will pay me a small percentage of the revenue they earn there. HubPages pays for these little bonuses, the money doesn’t detract from the other authors’ earnings.

More Control: Hubs can be edited at any time, meaning I can make corrections, make timely updates, or add more revenue cells in the future if they become available.  I can also re-arrange the blocks at will, moving around text, graphics, videos, even the comments section as I see fit.  The downside to this much flexibility is that HubPages does not provide ways for your content to be syndicated the way it can be on Y!CN or E-zine articles.

My First Hub: My first foray into HubPages is a review of our new treadmill.  Please see Gold’s Gym Trainer 480 Product Review, and let me know what you think.

I’ve been a contributor on Associated Content, now Yahoo!’s Contributor Network (since the site was purchased by them), for several years now.  For the last few years I was a “Featured Contributor” in their Technology category, so focused most of my writing on meeting their requirements.

Featured Tutorial
The good news is that for a few weeks now, an article I wrote well over a year ago on using the Pigeon IM client to manage all your messaging connections has been Yahoo’s “Featured Tech Tutorial.”  The up-tick in views (which translates into more money) was significant and appreciated.

Changes to the Featured Contributor Program

Recently, Yahoo! announced that they were dis-continuing their previous Featured Contributor program and implementing a new one.  We were all invited to apply for one or more FC designations, based on category.  Naturally, having nearly 25 years experience in computers, programming, and consumer electronics, I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting re-accepted in the Technology category.  Only one problem.  The old program had a production quota – I was supposed to contribute 3 articles per month for their standard pay for FC articles ($10 each) plus one more article in the Tech category.  With a “day job” keeping me busy 50-80 hours a week, plus the responsibilities of raising a family and working on our farm, I frequently didn’t complete all 4.  The new program has a much more relaxed quota however – only 1 article every 3 months is required.  I could have made that even at the busiest of times.

Unfortunately, my past record of not completing all assignments on time garnered me a rejection this time around.  Go figure.  Guess I’ll concentrate more on my presence at Suite 101.

I don’t plan on jumping away from the Y!CN altogether.  There’s something to be said for having articles on a Yahoo! owned site.  But I’ve noticed that some of my content on other sites is gaining momentum.  For example, TrueKnowledge.com’s Facts About Wyatt Earp has a link to my article  Surprising Facts about the Gunfight at the OK Corral published on Socyberty.com (a Triond site).  This has led to a nice increase in page views there.  If I continue to flush out content on these other platforms and not focus so much on Yahoo!, I should have a nice, diverse base of residual-earning content.

I previously reported that I had become a contributing writer on Suite 101. For my first article, I decided to summarize some of the Best Free Encryption options available for computer users.  I covered the pros and cons of Encrypting File System (EFS), TrueCrypt, and GnuPG.  Here’s the quick rundown:

• EFS: OK for Windows users who aren’t using a home / basic edition of Windows.  Can’t encrypt on removable devices.
• TrueCrypt: Good for encrypting not only sections of the hard drive (or entire partitions), but also removable media like thumb drives, CDs, etc.  Encrypted emails possible, but not ideal.
• GnuPG: Best for end-to-end encryption of data at rest and in transit (via email or IM).  Most complex to set up, but messages can only be decrypted and read by the intended recipient.

For download links and full details, please check out the entire article.

I’ve been considering joining Suite 101 for a while now, after reading lots of comments on different writers’ forums.  Some found it difficult to join, some found it hard to get articles through the stringent editorial standards, but most agreed that the residual earnings were much better there than on other sites like Associated Content or Helium.

Well, I took the plunge, applied, and was accepted the same day.  I submitted an article the next day.  The second day I received notice that my article was “great” but needed a few revisions.  Namely:

• Break the paragraphs up – ideally close to 75 words
• Add keywords to the subsection headings
• Remove the few occurrences of 2nd person form (“you” and “your”).

Once I made the changes and re-submitted, within one day the article was published.  Now I just have to come up with 9 more articles in the next 3 months, and watch the money start rolling in.  That’s a joke.  But I will report back here whether the articles do indeed earn better on Suite than they do on the other venues where I’m published.

A long time ago I decided to split this blog up into 2 or more. One for the horse stories, and one for technology and writing. Well, I finally got around to doing it. For stories and ongoing commentary about horses and horse people, please visit The Horse Trader’s Son.

Legendary writer and author Jerry Pournelle sent me an email! OK, so I’m a subscriber on his website and he sent it out to everybody, but still, I thought it was cool. The message was a warning about the fact that malicious hackers had compromised the online job boards and were selling their services to spammers and scam artists. Monster.com, hotjobs.com, and other mainstream job boards are affected. You can get the details here.

I became a fan of Jerry’s writing in the ’80s when he was a columnist for BYTE Magazine. This was back when magazines printed a lot of useful technical information, hacks, program listings, and electronics projects. A fellow programmer was a subscriber, and introduced me to the magazine, and particularly “Chaos Manor,” Jerry’s column. When BYTE was sold to another publisher, it’s format turned more to product reviews and coverage of the IT business industry. In other words, it became geared more for managers with IT budgets and less for programmers, hobbyists, and end users. Not long after that the magazine ceased publication altogether.

I missed Jerry’s anecdotal accounts of his struggles with technology. He did product reviews too, but always from the first-person perspective of a non-technical person (an author) actually trying to implement, rather than just cover, the products. His often humorous tales were always informative and entertaining. I was delighted when I discovered a year or so ago that Jerry was still writing his Chaos Manor Reviews, as well as Other Musings. I should have known that his talent and desire (need?) for self-expression would have steered him toward the online publishing world, and was chagrined that I hadn’t thought to search on his name sooner.

I recently started writing articles for a publisher who puts out several newspapers local to our surrounding communities. The Davison Messenger, The Tri-County News, The Burton Banner, etc. Some of them were existing publications which he purchased, some are new startups. All are collectively published under the name of his company, ‘Flint Area Media’ (FAM).
Production problems and slow sales have caused some delays in getting the papers out regularly, but I have hopes that these glitches are temporary. The organization is currently moving into a newer, larger building, and I take that as a good sign.

Of course, I expect to be paid for the articles I write, but I’m also doing it for the excitement of seeing my byline in print. Plus, although FAM eventually expects to make all their articles and stories available on-line, they are not ready yet for that. In the mean-time, Mike (the publisher) has given me permission to post them on the 3 sites I write for (Associated Content, Helium, and Triond). I’ll place links in future postings.

A while back I wrote a story entitled ‘The Great Rodeo Trainers’, which was sold to a Helium Marketplace publisher with exclusive (I thought) rights. Now I see the story has reappeared on Helium’s website, so I’m thinking it was only sold with first publication rights rather than exclusive. I could never find it on-line, so I’m glad it’s back on Helium because it’s one of my favorite stories. Read The Great Rodeo Trainers and let me know what you think.

As reported a few months ago, I wrote a series of articles for an anonymous Helium Marketplace publisher related to PC Optimization. Well, they bought one – an article written ‘on spec’ about the benefits of a paid-for registry optimizer. Since I had an inkling that the publisher is Uniblue software, I made sure to mention their product. I did not mention it in the article, but my choice for free registry optimizers is CCleaner. Aside from that omission, the article has valid information concerning features to look for in a registry cleaner. An excerpt follows. For a limited time, the article can be read in it’s entirety. Once Uniblue publishes it, it will be removed from Helium, since they bought exclusive rights to the content.

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This content was removed per the purchase agreement.  The original article can be read here, with someone else’s byline.  They can do that because they purchased exclusive rights. –Jp

A Helium Marketplace publisher recently asked for an article entitled ‘Quick Tips for Inner Peace’, with a 700 word maximum. I condense religion, psychology, and meditation and attempt to answer the call. Let me know how you think I did.

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Inner peace is a state of mind in which one is free from conflict in mind and spirit. This is not to say that there is no conflict in one’s life, simply that there is harmony between one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Without such harmony, the flow of creativity slows or stops, physical and emotional ailments do not heal as quickly and may worsen, and progress toward ones goals in life is impeded. To remove these blockages one must restore harmony and return to a state of inner peace. Understanding is the first key to unlocking the door.

Let Go of the Past
Often attaining inner peace is not so much acquiring something as it is letting things go. The past is immutable, so holding on to regrets is counter-productive. Understand that mistakes are part of our humanity, and that sometimes it is the lessons learned the hard way that enable us to mature and progress. Realizing that just as much of our wisdom comes from error as from trial, one begins to accept that our mistakes play an indispensable role in our development.

Guilt is a large source of internal conflict, and must be expunged. The quickest way to reduce guilt is to apologize to those whom you’ve wronged. It is not essential that they actually forgive you, but it is essential that your apology is sincere. You have to actually mean it when you express your remorse. In this way, guilt fades to regret, which can then be dealt with accordingly. Examine the bad decisions and lapses in judgment, figure out where you went wrong and how you could have handled the situations differently, then move on.

Read the Rest of the Article >>

A fellow writer on Associated Content by the name of Jennifer Eblin recently published a story entitled Staley Road: A Local Haunting. It has the makings of a great ghost story: a bleeding barn, satanic cults, lights and electrical systems malfunctioning – you know, things that make local legends like this one fun.

Jennifer is careful to point out that the legends surrounding the supposedly haunted area have little basis in history. The farmer and miller who legend says killed his family, did not. She also cautions readers that the property owner is not happy about the tresspassers who park on his property and make nuisances of themselves, particularly in the middle of the night. He has gone so far as to file a lawsuit against a publisher for including his barn in a collection of wierd places in Ohio.

Well, he’s at it again, only this time the subject of the lawsuit is Jennifer herself. Even though she clearly informs readers that the legends are false, and that the property owner has little patience with ghost hunters, the law firm representing him has written her twice, notifying Jennifer that she is being named in a new suit, and demanding that she “take down” the website where her article is published.

The demands are absurd. For one thing, Associated Content owns the site, not Jennifer, who has no authority to remove the article, much less take down the site. For another, I find it very difficult to believe that her article has led to any measurable increase in property damage. Incidentally, the man lost the previous suit.

Judge for yourself. Read the article, and leave your thoughts either there (AC allows anonymous comments), or here if you prefer.

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online — Education-Portal.com

Found this list today on the Educational Portal blog. It’s a great list of free courses for writers. I’m definitely going to be taking some of these college-level writing courses, especially the ones on creative writing, short fiction, and writing for the web.

Helium has a great feature for writers wanting to compete for some extra money. It’s called their Marketplace. Outside publishers ask for specific articles, and offer specific amounts of money for each one. Anyone can write and submit their best article for each requested title. Once the deadline has passed, the publisher will review all the submissions and choose one or more of the best ones for publication on their own website, or even in print. Each selected article will earn the author the amount specified in the original Marketplace request. Most of the publishers utilizing Helium’s Marketplace to solicit articles operate under a pseudonym for various reasons.

As a recent example, a publisher recently requested 4 titles, all related to PC optimization. Each article will pay the selected author $75.00. You can see my submissions, as well as those of the other writers competing for these titles, by following these links:

• How to accelerate the speed of your PC
• How to prevent your PC from being infected with spyware
• How to find out what’s running on your PC (and why this is important)
• Computer performance: Why a paid-for registry cleaner is better than a free one

Recommended: to keep your PC running like it did when it was new, try Diskeeper 10.

On Helium, all articles of a given title are ranked by the other members. This ranking is a bit flawed, because complete novice writers with little command of vocabulary, spelling, and grammar carry as much weight in rating as do those with more season, skill, and talent. Nevertheless, your articles will always appear with the other articles of the same title, ordered by rank. Fortunately, the Marketplace publishers do not select based on rank, but rather based on the articles that came closest to meeting their requirements and specifications.

The deadline for these four titles is Friday, the 25th. It sometimes takes several weeks before the selected articles are announced, but when they are, I’ll report my success (or lack thereof).

One of my best stories, “The Great Rodeo Trainers” was published on Helium, and sold on the Marketplace there. The publisher (who wishes to remain anonymous) purchased the story with exclusive rights, which means it can’t appear on any other web-sites for a while. Once they expire, it will return to Helium, and I’ll probably publish it here on the blog as well under the ‘Memoirs of a Horse Trader’s Son’ category.

Another story – one I had submitted to Maissonneuve 3 months ago but never heard back from, I’ll probably submit somewhere else. Its a humorous account of a group of ponies roaming loose, and the havoc they wreak on an upscale golf course. After 2 months I sent a follow up inquiry Maissonneuve, but still nothing. I don’t know if I should try another in-print publication or just break down and put it on-line, either Triond or Associated Content. The Wild Horse Race Story is doing pretty well there.

Finally, another story is nearing completion. I’m not sure of the title yet. It will probably either be “To Mourne a Horse”, or “Here Lies Good Ol’ Mopsie-Flopsie”, depending on the mood that the final draft instills.