Comments on: Freelance Writers: A Real Look at Residual Income

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:23:24 +0000

What those “exceptions” often fail to mention is how much time and effort really has to go into earning that amount — talking thousands of articles and active promotion. $1000 per month is pretty meaningless when you look at all the facts in some of these cases — woohoo, a whole $1 per article per month. You’d be better off focusing on something like $50 per article projects (still pretty low pay even for quick Web content), write 20 pieces per month at that rate, and have more time for yourself and your own projects (the better way to earn decent residual income). Just in that example you’d only write 240 articles per year to earn the same amount the 1000 articles were earning residually. That’s money up front — money that can go into savings and investments to make even more money or put towards interest-charging debts that cost you too much. There’s no excuse for anyone to wait years for full payment on articles written, especially given that there’s no guarantee Web content today will still be all that relevant a year from now. That’s not a writing career — it’s a gamble.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:23:44 +0000

Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the blog post. I got suckered in to the whole residual income thing with Ehow. I thought it possible to earn decent money from home, but had my doubts at the same time. I wrote & polished 16 articles as a test and so far have earned a whopping $6.83 for my troubles. While I’m sure there are those, like the much touted WriterGig, who earn good money on residual income, they are the exceptions. Think about it logically – can that many people really be earning $1000/month in residual income? I don’t think so; the web sites would go broke. Thanks for confirming what I already suspected. I will read through you other recommendations to finding real writing gigs!

By: Prerna

Prerna — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:53:18 +0000

Hi Jenn,
Thanks for sharing this. While I do write for several residual income sites, I also have a few good private clients as well as other writing gigs to take care of the bills. My reasons for writing for residual sites are a lil different – I enjoy the networking, learning and sharing that most of the sites allow. Since am from India, clients automaticaly assume I’ll charge peanuts and that puts me at a slight disadvantge and residual sites help me to make up for that. I like the fact that income builds up (hopefully!) and also, I like to have different eggs in the writing basket.
But yes, my eventual plan is to freelance and only freelance. So, let’s see when and how that happens!
Thanks for sharing this and I know its an old post but had to comment:-)

By: Associated Content–Residual Thousandths of Cents | All Freelance Writing

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:51:16 +0000

[...] spoken out about residual earnings and how they affect the time value of money before, as has Jenn. Essentially, earning residual income from other outlets (rather than your own blogs, e-books and [...]

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:28:54 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Vincent. There is no “where.” There’s no place to start a career that I can direct you to. It varies quite a lot from one writer to the next. What doesn’t vary as much is the general process — choose a specialty, build a platform, and build a network with the right target market in mind.

If you don’t already have a professional site, I would suggest that as a possible starting place (especially if you plan to write for the Web or do any kind of business writing / commercial writing). If you want to learn more about writer platforms, I have a separate blog devoted to that – where you can find a list of 30 things you can do to start building your writer platform (I believe it’s in the “build a platform” category — one of the original posts).

By: Vincent

Vincent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:22:48 +0000

Thanks Jennifer,I am glad I found your blog.
I will try and read up each post of yours.

You have very well explained that article sites are not a good place even for beginners and they stall one’s progress.
Please tell me where and how to start then ?

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:07:45 +0000

While I’m happy it’s worked out for you I do want to note something and ask a few questions for the benefit of those who hear these stories and feel tempted to simply jump into these kinds of sites:

1. It’s important to note that $1000 per article via a content mill is the exception and very far from the rule.

2. There’s still a big difference between having that $100-1000 up front or on publication than in small amounts over several months or even years (as noted in the article, then you’re able to save or invest it rather than seeing the small trickle of income).

3. You mention that you have 42 articles that have made $100 or more. Just for curiosity’s sake, how long does it take for most to reach that level and how many articles have you written in total, including the ones that didn’t earn to that level?

By: Maria (WriterGig)

Maria (WriterGig) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:54:24 +0000

While writing my own niche sites, ebooks and print books is my current focus, one residual income site has stood head and shoulders above the rest and provided an excellent platform for me to contribute content and earn very well — eHow. Three of my eHow articles have earned over $1,000 each to date. They took me 30 minutes to an hour to write. The site has such excellent page rank that I have not needed to promote the articles.

Forty-two articles so far have made more than $100 apiece. Keep in mind that total time invested in these 300-500 word content articles ranged from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours. The hourly rate so far is excellent, and it improves as they earn more money month after month.

Residual income is my business model; using a content site as one piece of that pie works very, very well for me.

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:38:26 +0000

Go for it Angela. You don’t need my permission to link to my posts. And I’m glad you enjoyed it. :)

By: Angela West

Angela West — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:33:36 +0000

Hi Jennifer:

Great article, and if you don’t mind I’m going to post a link on my site as well on Monday. You absolutely nailed revenue sharing to the wall and I couldn’t agree more.