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About.com: Get Paid to Write $500 a Month to Start

One of the prime places to write is about.com This site is owned by The New York Times Company.  They promise that if you create a site, and the page views grow, you’ll never make less than $750 a month.  This is not bad for a minimum 4 articles a month.  About.com was voted one of the top 15 websites on the net, and the largest producer of original content on the net.

They offer training and resources. There are guides and tutorials. Everything you need to succeed. That said, this is one of the hardest gigs to win.

First, there is the application process. This in itself is extensive and can be quite demanding. If that phase is won, you’ll find out in a few months whether you can make a sample site. If you are serious, don’t wait until you are contacted before starting your sample articles. 

Don’t give them ever green. I’ve found they lean more toward news and recent events, especially in their blog.  I’ve tried twice and never won. I have a friend who tried and was told she had a good voice, but she never won.

The writers who did win were not as knowledgeable on the topics I applied, and their sites are fairly useless to everyone but the newest beginner.  Lesson taken, next time I think I’ll try to dumb down what I am writing.

You’ll have three days to complete section two. You can’t complete the site well unless you’ve started ahead of time.

The first thing you want to do is create a TOC, or list of topics.  Keep this handy and ‘hone’ it while you’re waiting for your application to be accepted.  Also, you’ll want to write a few good articles.  Keep reading the articles on the site and tweaking your writing until it fits.

You might even want to see what the current topic guide is writing on your topic before their site goes down. 

They want credentials. They want professionals. If you want the topic, start a blog …or two…and start writing on the topic so that you are all over the web by the time your application is reviewed.

You will get a link to a mentor to help you complete the 3 day first trail. If you pass this, then you’ll be asked to do a part two, which lasts another 4 – 5 days.

I’ve only known one person to actually make it through and become a topic editor. They worked for 4 or 5 months and poured all their efforts into the site, only to have it taken down without any explanation, and their contract cancelled.

However, that said, if you go to the site and look around you’ll notice that some guides have been around for a while. So, why do it? Three reasons:

$750 a month to start

The bragging rights to say that you worked for a New York Times Company as a writer

The exposure you’ll get from a website that receives 53 million hits a year.

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