Freelance Writers Wanted!

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andiwrite

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There are all sorts of jobs on mechanical turk. But the jobs from the company that posted this thread pay rather well.
 

Margarita

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Eleven dollars for a 300 word article and you have to work ten days in a row before getting paid.

Four to five dollars per article.

Someone is making money but that someone is not the writer.
 

andiwrite

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You guys are not understanding. You have to work ten days in a row before you can cash out. You get paid for the jobs you do! Every penny that I made during those ten days is now in my bank account. This is legit.
 

Kylabelle

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Content sites, starting out

Is anyone reading here familiar with a content site called Content Crossroads? Has anyone worked for them?

Their "For Writers" page, here, http://www.contentcrossroads.com/freelance-writers-jobs/ looks interesting but I wonder why I have not seen anything about them here at AW (maybe just have not noticed the right thread - I did search but came up empty).

Also I notice they specify how much work they expect to go into a 300 word article but do not specify anything as to pay rate. And their application process requires a sample submission for a client - for which they pay IF it is accepted.

Should I be wary? Well of course I should but, are there warning signs here the more experienced AW members can point out? Has anyone had either good or bad experiences with this outfit?

I also will add that I am brand new to this and I am attempting to educate myself about the potential of generating income writing for blogs. I ran across this particular site while I was looking for some details about how to write sample articles. So if anyone can point me toward clear instruction/samples of such writing I would be grateful. My thought was to go ahead and generate a group of samples to have ready to send out when I find opportunities that look promising, but I want some guidance about what might work best.

thanks in advance......
 
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Kylabelle

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I have not proceeded with Content Crossroads, but I did apply for something called Write.com, wrote them a short sample piece on a subject of their choosing - well, I selected it from an array of their choosing - and was accepted.

Now I am waiting, after initiating a registration, to be invited to mturk, the Amazon work site. Not sure why that registration is slow but apparently this is standard, that it takes a couple of days.

I thought I would go ahead and post in this thread about my experiences as I proceed, in case it is useful for any other newbies or anyone else. It seems that once I get past this hurdle of getting on board with mturk, I should be able to get to work and get paid fairly quickly, though I have no idea what kind of remuneration there will be.

This is clearly like any other piecework; you get faster with practice.

Write.com does have a helpful attitude and offers lots of instruction in style and grammar so that if one has questions about such things, there is an easy way to check the standards.

The reason for using mechanical turk is apparently to do with having an international crew of writers, although I'm not sure why PayPal won't suffice for that.

I'll just update here if there are developments that might be of interest.
 

Kylabelle

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An update.

As posted, I did get accepted by Write.com. I am now also accepted by Mechanical Turk and I believe I have that all set to go. Now I am waiting for one more step from Write.com and honestly at this moment I forget what exactly they are confirming now! I guess it's my registration with mturk.

Once that all gets squared away, I learned that I must write one piece a day for ten consecutive days before I can get paid. So I hope there will be enough that I can do one a day! Yipes!

Meanwhile, Write.com sent me to a page for their editors and tomorrow when I have more fresh focus I'll look into that. Apparently that pays even better (or pays more for less work, or something.) I do like it that they have easily accessible instructive articles about their style and grammar requirements, and it all looks very clear and crisp and easy to use. So no fumbling with poor recall or any confusion about sentence structure etc., just go look it up.

Gosh, just getting in the dinkin' door is exhausting! but I hope that once I get rolling here it will become easier and faster. That, anyway, is the plan.

As yet I have no idea what the actual assignments are like. The one I wrote which they liked was Suggestions for a Student Care Package. LOL! Easy peasy.

Not sure if this counts as a content site, but I also signed on for Postloop this evening. Made my requisite ten posts in their forums and I am awaiting my evaluation there. Then if all goes well I can go onto other fora that they contract with, make posts, and get paid.

why not?

I'll update when there are developments. That way anyone else as new to this as I am will have some detail. :D
 

Catherine

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Andiwrite, I have a few questions since it seemed to work out for you.

Did you have to write 5 articles a day for 10 days? After completing the 10 days, do you get paid regularly for your work?

Obviously each person writes at their own pace, but about how much time did it take you to write your articles during the 10 days?


Thanks for your insight!
 

Kylabelle

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I will. Glad you're finding it of interest.
 

Catherine

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I appreciate the updates too. Yesterday I applied to write.com and have been checking out mturk. It looks like you are supposed to use your amazon account, but I am still waiting for verification on both. There was another poster in a different thread that said they got paid from write. com.

I checked out the Content crossroads site too, but did not apply. I'm really just looking to get my feet wet while avoiding a scam.
 

Kylabelle

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Hi Catherine,

Yes on the Amazon account, you should use the one you have. I tried setting up a separate one from the one I use to buy things and Amazon apparently does not permit that. Once I got that clue I just changed the account over to my "writing and work" email address and all proceeded smoothly.
 

Kylabelle

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Okay, now I am feeling frustrated.

Apparently Amazon requires five tasks completed per day for ten days, not just one. Or, Write.com does. Amazon's email said only one, but Write.com says five.

Also, I went and looked and found I did complete the registration and all was verified, so while I was awaiting a final email, in fact my account was functioning. So now I am seeing the CrowdSource hits.

But. When I look at the hits, they say things like "copy and paste the most relevant Google hits for these keywords" and then a list. But nowhere does anything tell me where to copy and paste my list. Or how to submit it.

The one article request I saw listed gave me no clue as to where or how to submit my finished article. Do they use an email form? Do they want me to send an attached document to an email address? Is this something I am already supposed to know? I do not find these answers anywhere on the relevant websites.

*sigh*

So I sent yet another email with questions off into the ethers. I hope they don't weary of my beginner questions before I actually manage to do some work. Right now it feels like I can't get there from here.

If anyone reading this has experience with Mechanical Turk and can clue in this clueless newbie I would really appreciate it!

:Shrug:
 

Catherine

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I am not positive, but it looks like on the mturk site, there is a box under the assignment where you can enter your work after you accept the HIT. Since I am not approved yet, I can't even look at some of the HITs, but I hope that helps.
 

Kylabelle

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Thanks. I hope it's that simple! I sure didn't see anything like that but I will look again.
 

Catherine

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Well, my mturk account was approved. I was trying to accept some of the lower paying HITs, just to see how to do it. My account was halted for 5 minutes for "unusual activity"! You would think I could figure this out; instead I'm getting locked out and rejected.
 

Kylabelle

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Hmm. Well, some of this may be computer issues, browser issues, server issues, internet issues, and what have you!

But I also feel frustrated, and that I "should" be able to figure this out and can't very easily do so!

I did email Write.com with some questions and hope I am not trying their patience too badly. They do say they will help people learn to use their system!

And, it IS Sunday, so maybe time to take a break for a bit. I am not going to try to take it any further til tomorrow, myself.

Catherine, hope your blocked account gets reopened. I think some of these sites that are all security focused are sensitive to the kind of fumbling around I at least tend to do when I am trying to learn something!
 

Catherine

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Yes, it was the fumbling, and they did reopen it.
 

Kylabelle

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Oh good. Maybe you can help update this info next, because you are now further along than I am in this process. :)
 

andiwrite

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You don't have to write five articles, you just have to complete 5 tasks every day for 10 days. Some of the tasks can be 3 minute surveys or a number of other small things that are listed on the M-turk boards. It doesn't have to be articles for this particular company that posted this thread (although it can be, and they pay the best).

After completing the 10 days, everything is unlocked and you can write whenever you want, as much as you want.

I never wrote any articles during my 10 days. I unlocked everything by doing surveys. Since then, I've written a few articles for this company here and there. But it isn't my main job so I just do it when I have time.
 

Kylabelle

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Update:

I got an email this afternoon from my official contact at Write.com officially officially opening the doors and also explaining more of the process. I also got an email from mturk with some bit of furtherance or other. I may actually have all the pieces I need now.

There is still this requirement to complete five tasks a day for ten consecutive days that I find daunting. However it seems there's no way around it so I will just have to see. It may be easier than I fear to meet that minimum; I hope so!

Today, though, I am slacking off and taking a break. :crazy:
 

Kylabelle

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Thanks, Melina! I'm glad to see these other posts.
 

Catherine

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Andiwrite: Thanks for answering my question about the 5 tasks. It will be a lot easier to do that than write 5 articles.

I got my approval today from write.com. I set up the mturk account a few days ago and have been testing out the HITs. Write.com just needs to verify my account and I will be good to start doing their articles instead of busy work on mturk.
 
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