Another One Bites the Dust... well, TWO actually

The online writing business continues to be "not much of anything."

One-time (and short-lived) Bubblews "alternative" CGP Gallery has shut down. Or maybe been shut down by WordPress for deceptive practices. Or maybe they didn't pay their bills... not surprising, either way. The site reeked of "making promises we can't keep," so the demise was almost inevitable.

Meanwhile, one of the "serious" writing sites-- Zujava-- has announced that it will be closing down in July. I always liked Zujava-- it had a nice clean interface, and would only accept "real" writers who put up quality content.

Unfortunately, the wheels sort of fell off when Zujava ran into trouble with Amazon Associates and lost their affiliate account, meaning that contributors were left without one of the primary ways they could earn income from the site. Things never quite recovered, and the flow of new content more or less stopped.

Whereas I never really got very deep into publishing on the site, I was able to "triangulate" from my four published articles that the entire site was barely taking in $200-300 a month in ad revenues... to be divided up among 4000-odd articles. Basically, a handful of change. There's a limit to just how much "serious" writers are willing to create content and get nothing in return.

At this point, I am sort of "soured" on the whole writing online for money experience. I will continue to add some content on HubPages, and I will probably transfer my Zujava content there... but that's about the extent of it. I am somewhat worried that HubPages is now pretty much "the only came in town," and especially as it relates to better quality content. That's a bit scary.

I definitely need to make sure I have backup copies of all my articles there.

Revisiting Zujava

I was visiting Zujava again, this morning.

The thing I like about Zujava is that it genuinely is a "serious" site for writers, even if it is set up with all the same "sales related tools" other revenue sharing sites have. The pre-qualification requirement for new writer-members is such that most of the "Get Rich Quick Morons" have little interest in applying there.

Of course, it is a pretty "tiny" site, with pretty tiny traffic. You have to be willing to bring your own traffic, or at least create some content that is search friendly, or your work will never be seen.

I am still not sure how much effort I am willing to put into Zujava, on account of their no longer having an Amazon Associates connection. Without that, the only compensation I get is ad revenue share, and that is pretty paltry-- so far.

However, the ad revenue payments have been steady and "on time," since I qualified to receive them, during the middle of 2014. Still, $0.22 to $0.28 a month isn't exactly a way to get rich.

More on the Squidoo to HubPages Transition

I am feeling a bit stuck.

I keep going back to have a look at my "new" HubPages account, which holds my articles that formerly were over at soon-to-be-defunct Squidoo. I am watching them slowly starting to get more page views, and I am watching their "Hub Scores" slowly improve. A few days ago, I actually got my first Amazon sales since the switch, and that was kind of exciting.

I also know they are in very "rough format" at the moment, and I will have to go through all of them and substantially rewrite them all, in order for them to not only look good, but to comply with HubPages formatting policies. Because the Squidoo format really didn't translate all that well. But hey, I'm grateful... at least I still have some articles.

There is a LOT of "busy work" associated with writing online, and I find it frustrating. Part of that is my nature... I have never been all that much of a "go-getter." I want to do things, stick them out there, and then "be done" with it all. Period. I was never very good at (or comfortable with) the whole self-promotion thing.

This has led me to consider the whole issue that bugs me about this "industry," namely that SO much writing feels like not "writing" but thinly veiled "sales pitches." My insight being that it may be that the majority of people doing this "gig" are not really "writers," but "sales people" who happen to write a little.

It makes me ponder whether this is a shark tank I even want to swim in... but for now, I shall continue.

Helium, Part 2

There are too many things I really don't like, about Helium.

For one, I don't like that I can't edit my articles. I realize you don't get to edit newspaper or magazine articles either... but it's just annoying.

I don't care for the whole "ratings game," either. In order to earn, you have to rate articles. I can see the point of that-- to a degree-- but it sets up the site to be "internally sourced." What I mean is... where is the traffic from search engines? Besides... the site really doesn't "make sense." I mean, who exactly is going to be interested in reading 43 articles on the same topic? It seems a bit weird, to me.

Then there's the inflexible titles. I can't just write about things I want to write about... on Helium, you have to write to a writing prompt. It feels very "high school," to me.

I just don't think I have it in me to write a bunch of prose about things I am really not that interested in. I've been on Helium since late 2007, and my enthusiasm is definitely waning.

Helium, Part 1

Nothing is "easy."

I now have about 25 articles posted to the Helium site, but I don't really get the impression that anyone ever looks at them... or at least not enough people that it's ever going to turn into a revenue stream of any significance.

I was enthusiastic for a while, somewhat spurred on by posts in the "Success Stories" area of the Helium user forums, where some people were reporting making "quite a bit." But-- in retrospect-- they were relentlessly entering "contests" and some seemed to have over 1000 articles posted. I just don't feel like I have the ability to write that much.

For the most part, I don't even know were they get the time.

As I continue examining my efforts, it seems increasingly evident that I am far more (or perhaps "too" is a better word) concerned with creating really high quality content than most online writers. I struggle with this feeling that these "high volume" writers are producing (what feels to me) like pretty mediocre work, and yet they are considered by many as being "among the BEST."

Of course, I must publicly confess that I have struggled with perfectionism, for about as long as I have lived. I'm almost 40 years into my writing "career" and I have NEVER received a rejection slip on account of my work "not being up to our writing standards." Lots of other reasons, but not that one. And I do know lots of writers who are primarily rejected because their work is crap.

Something to think about.

Is this REALLY possible?

I have been exploring the possibilities offered by a couple of revenue sharing sites, HubPages, and Squidoo.

As is the case with many new things I "have to learn," I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of both sites' writing interfaces. Being a writer with ADD and a tendency towards perfectionism, it can be a real struggle for me to "get started" on anything until I have a full and complete understanding of "how it works."

Part of this stems from growing up in an environment where anything that even remotely resembled "crap" (a.k.a. "less than PERFECT") was deeply frowned upon.

It's problematic for me because I tend to have quick and fleeting ideas about what I want to write about... but it takes me hours to "polish" a thought enough to feel good about releasing it to the public. And by then the idea is half gone, anyway... a bit like the way we wake up with dreams, but have forgotten most of them by the time we get to our first cup of coffee.

Anyway, I have started on HubPages... put up a few initial articles I am not unhappy about.