To Encourage the Contribution of Writers

There was a time that there were so many different writing sites that one could  spend hours a day contributing.

There were sites that demanded 2.5k words, sites which demanded all sorts of references, sites which demanded nothing more than 500 words.

All the sites paid in their fashion.

Today, the number of writing sites which pay has dwindled, and although new sites seem to pop up, (or older sites gain recognition) the writing public is a bit wary.

There are those that were ripped off by Factoidz.  Those which watched Postanyarticle go down without a word, followed by the older Triond.

Those who logged on to Bubblews found there was no Bubblews.

Persons who wrote for Blogjob learn it no longer pays.

So writers are hesitant.

Some will put forward a reworked old shoe as a test.  Others will submit with trepidation.

What turns people off and has them hesitant and not contributing as often as they could is based on a few factors.

First is the previously mentioned Payment.  A site doesn’t pay, walk away.

Second is the caution one now possesses when a new site pops up.  Wait and See has become the standard.  If you are paid three times, on time, I might join.

Thirdly is the treatment the writer gets.

There are sites which are fussy about ‘images’ as if a perfect image will make up for crappy writing or excellent writing can not be published without a crappy image.

As a Writer; meaning Words, not a Photographer, meaning Image, why should the burden of image be so heavy, so precise and annoying that my writing is secondary to that mere frill?

There are sites where the Mods will attempt to rewrite the item; not correcting a misspelling, adding a comma, but rewriting.

There are sites where moderation takes Days.  Post on Monday and maybe late Wednesday your item will be visible.

These actions by the site, from image to editing to slow moderation, chase writers almost at the same pace as sites that do not pay.

To encourage writers, a site must be clear about how much it pays, what it pays for, and when it pays.

A site must not become fascinated by some decorative image as if that is the key point of an article.

A site which delays moderation will find that soon the writer will publish it else where so that many items which were fresh on Monday and not published, will be published elsewhere on Tuesday, so that on Wednesday the original post is not ‘plagiarism’.

Writers get discouraged when a site puts up too many hurdles.  When redemption is very far from first post. When items are delayed so as to keep the revenue earned by the writer low.

Discouraged writers will write less, if at all.  Will write less vibrant items, if they aren’t rewriting an old piece.  Discouraged writers will find other places to write.