Independent Publishing Closing Its Doors

I received this email a few days ago. Sad news, really, but I knew it was coming. The sudden drop in titles was the beginning of the demise of Independent Publishing. I want to thank IP, too for the site was a good source of alternative income.

"After the execution of current orders, we will shut down the author platform and thus the business of Independent Publishing by the end of this month. This decision has been made on short notice and is now definite. The reason for the close-down is that the business model – despite rising sales figures since the beginning of the year – does not pay off for us any longer. Also the decreasing market prices conduce to the lack of success.

We would like to take this opportunity and thank you for your loyalty, your commitment, and your great texts in the last months and years. Furthermore, we would like to ask you to complete all texts still in process as usual. Naturally, your work will be paid as always. The last payment will be made on April 30th 2014, provided that credit is still open.

Nevertheless: All the best for you and your families – have relaxing holidays!

Your team of Independent Publishing"

I hope there will be another Independent Publishing, soon.

Review: Independent Publishing.com

I started writing for Independent Publishing in 2012. The sign-up process is fairly easy. You fill in your personal details and write a sample text. You can choose from any of their 3 topics such as writing about your hometown city, how to open a bank account or child- friendly activities for the weekend. The text should be from 100 to 150 words which was really easy. It did not take me long to write a short sample. If I remember well, I wrote something about Brussels. I did not really think about it for a few weeks and then one day, I received an email stating that I was accepted to write for them along with my login details. During the first month after being accepted, I could not really find anything to write. The queue was empty. And then, there were several clients that placed large orders. Sometimes, there were at least 800 articles in the pool. I could claim 10 articles in one go. Deadlines for these varied anywhere from a day to three days. At one point, Independent was paying €3,50 for an easy, 250-word article which was not bad. To date, I have written nearly 400 articles for the site. IP has different levels of writing such as Silver, Bronze and Gold. You get rated for every piece you submit on quality of content & performance, spelling & grammar, clarity & style, and availability & timeliness. I have moved up since then to the highest tier which is Gold, but frankly I don't see any improvements in the amount of pay per article. If anything, IP lowered their rate on a bulk order to be competitive with other sites. I know this because I was also checking other sites. However, since they paid the most, I stuck with them because of the pay rate.

Does Independent Publishing pay?

IP pays twice a month, on the 15th and 30th or 31st of each month for as long as payday is a working day. Otherwise, you get your pay the following day. I have a European bank account so my money goes straight to my savings account. A credit note is generated so you can use this when it's time to submit your income tax declaration.

How are non-Europeans paid?

The good news is, if you are outside of the UK or the EU, Independent can still pay you through PayPal.

Verdict

At the moment, there is not much going on at IP. The pool is nearly empty although I get the occasional email stating there are articles ready to be written. I check from time to time, but the number of articles is not as large as it used to be in the past. I believe there are many authors working for the site as well since articles disappear really fast. For me, Independent Publishing can be a useful backup when things are slow in other sites. In addition, you can also apply to become a copy editor. I have not done this yet, but will probably try my luck in that area one of these days.

CloudCrowd Bonus Payments

CloudCrowd is giving bonuses and I just want to share an email I received this week. I checked the site and there are plenty of writing tasks at the moment. I might try a few to see how things have improved over there. "Who says CloudCrowd never gives you anything? This holiday season, we have gifts for you—about 130,000 of them! That’s how many product descriptions are coming down the pipeline to keep you busy and make you a lot of cash … right when you need it. And to show our appreciation for your work, we’re offering premium pay for them too! For a limited time on Overstock.com product description tasks, writers will make $0.034 per word (a 13 percent increase) and Editors will make $0.008 per word (a 33 percent increase). Additionally, all Marketing Writers and Editors will receive a similar pay increase. Marketing Writers will make $0.04 per word (a 33 percent increase) and Editors will make $0.01 per word (a 66 percent increase). These increased rates will last until Nov. 17 at the latest, so start writing or editing early to maximize your earnings. If you’d like to participate in this special offer but don’t have your Marketing Credential, it’s not too late. Please submit an application. While you are at it, apply for your Editor Credential too. Spread the word! Do you know great writers and editors who want some extra cash this holiday season? Add them to your Personal Crowd and encourage them to apply for credentials. Every time they complete a task, you get a percentage of what they get paid. As always, thank you for all of the great work you do. CloudCrowd continues to get bigger and better thanks to people like you. Warm regards, The CloudCrowd Team"

iWriter Review

I started writing for iWriter late December 2011 just to form my own opinion of the site without being influenced by reviews I've been reading. I actually signed up on the site a few months back but couldn't bring myself to write for that little money.

Here is what I found so far:

Advantages

1. Free sign up

Anyone can sign up to write for iWriter. It is free and all you need is an email address and a Paypal account.

2. Site is easy to use

No fumbling around the site. You write articles by hitting the write article button. Select from the available topics to you and start writing. Requesters do the same by requesting  (get) an article to be written.

3.  Pays on time

iWriter pays on the dot. You choose when you get paid, every week (Tuesdays), every 2 weeks or once a month. I chose weekly payments and the first thing I see Tuesday morning is a payment from iWriter. I can't complain on this front. Payment comes from Bryxen Software.

4.  Lots of available titles

I see enough titles to claim unlike Clickworker, Textbroker UK or even Populis. I am not particularly fast, so perhaps this is an advantage. Others who can churn 2 articles in an hour will find it a lucrative site. I make enough and I am satisfied with my earnings without putting too much stress on myself and the quality of articles I write.

Disadvantages

Now, these are the things I don't like about the site.

1.  Starting pay is ridiculously low

You do have to work your way to earn better rates on the site. When I first started, I just wanted to hit 30 articles to get the required number of ratings. Newbies get the following rates:

300 words - $1.82
500 words - $2.83
700 words - $4.05

iWriter takes 19% as commission and Copyscape fees. The trick is to find as many short articles as you can, do them well, and get your rating to at least 4.6 stars to qualify as an elite writer. I chose 150-word articles that paid a measly $1.05 each and after 2 days, I joined the 'elite writers'. So, it doesn't take that long to write for better rates. I also only wrote for requesters who have high acceptance rates and reasonable reviews. Selecting a topic which you are familiar with also helps.

Once you are an elite writer, you can see both elite and premium articles. The rates are the following and the rates vary with each requester:

Premium articles

300 words - $3.24
500 words - $4.05
700 words - $5.26
1000 words - $7.69

Elite articles

100 words - $3.44
300 words - $5.67
500 words - $8.10
700 words - $10.12
1000 words - $14.98

So you see, it gets interesting when you get bumped as an elite writer. I picked up articles that paid as much as $18 for 1000 words and $9 for 300 words. If you get tips, these also increase your earnings. The tips I received ranged from $1 to $10. Sometimes, the tips are bigger than the price of the article. True, high paying ones are not there all the time, but they exist.

2.  Unreasonable requesters

Funnily, requesters paying basic rates for articles were pickier than those paying for premium or elite articles. There are also those who expect stellar and flawless articles for $2. I've had my share of rejections, too and it's not common to see comments such as I expect more from an elite writer, poor grammar, doesn't read well, duplicate content, spun content, I don't like it, and so on. In effect, authors are at the mercy of requesters since they can reject articles without reason.  If that happens, I publish the article immediately on my blog or a revenue-earning site. When I say immediately, right after it is rejected to give no chance to the requester to use my content.

However, there are also conscientious ones who are aware that rejecting an article brings the writer's rating down. I believe that there are also very bad writers on the site, so why pay for content which you can't use anyway?

What I find disgusting as well are writers who even apologize to the requesters for not meeting up to their standards. I accept rejections, but not when someone insults me. Keep your precious $8, I often say to myself. I use the 'rate the requester feature' very well, thanking good raters profusely, and asking where I went wrong to those who rejected my articles. There are simply requesters who do not give constructive feedback and instead, write insults. I am never writing for any of those. I keep a blacklist, too of requesters in the same way that they can 'favorite' authors.

3.  Copyscape warnings

Once you submit an article, it is supposed to be run through Copyscape to make sure that it is not copied and is unique. I got cited for the most ridiculous words such as 'will be going to', 'are going to', and NY Times. Reference links also get flagged making me wonder if the article is really Copyscaped. In addition, I have to pay additional $0.05 for each Copyscape run. Huh? I thought this was included in their commission. I just release the article and pick it up again. When I do this, it passes through Copyscape without a problem.

My thoughts

iWriter is a decent outlet for writing articles. You get paid quickly and if you are lucky, you get special requests that pay more. I wrote for several requesters and they are quite reasonable, not to mention generous. Compared to writing for Constant-Content which is sooo stressful (3-strike rule hanging on my neck every time I submit an article), iWriter is a relaxed place. I write whenever I like a topic and I am willing to do researches on subjects I am not familiar with. At the end of the day, I learn something new and I get paid. If you think this is a good fit for you, sign up here.

Scribie Updates

Got this email today from Scribie and thought I might pass it on.

This is the full copy of the email which some of you might find useful.

We recently released a number of new features and updates on Scribie.com. Here's a short summary.

Profiles:
All transcribers on Scribie.com have a profile page on Scribie.com now. Please login to your account and visit the following link to check yours.

https://scribie.com/profile/

The profile page is public by default and can be shared with others. You can use it as a reference for the transcription work done, if required. Our customers can also now check who worked on their files and how much effort was spent on them. They can also pay a bonus if they want to. If that happens, your share will be credited immediately to your account. You can also hide your profile from the settings page.

Certificate Widget:
The profile pages also contain a certificate which can be embedded in your blog/website. The certificate accredits you as a transcriber on Scribie.com and links to the profile page. The profile page also has your referral/affiliate code embedded in them. If we acquire a customer or a new transcriber through your profile page then you will automatically receive affiliate/referral commissions.

Affiliate/Referral Widget:
We have also updated the referral/affiliate widgets and published new codes for them. Please get the new code from your account, if you are using them.

Extensions:
We have now added the ability to extend the timeout for assignments. Once the initial 2 hour time period elapses, you can extend it by 1 hour more from your account. The extension is permitted only once. Additionally you can also reassign the file to yourself if the file times out and is still available. The link for that is in the history tab.

Notes:
You can also now add notes along with your submission, if you want to point out something relevant to the assignment. Please keep in mind that the transcript is supposed to contain only the transcribed audio and nothing else.

Guideline Changes:
We have also updated the transcription guidelines. Please check the resources section of the transcription page for the updated version. The notable change is that we have removed the guideline about slang terms. They should now be transcribed as spoken.

We have many more updates planned and are working relentlessly to make Scribie.com the best place to find transcription work. Please let us know if you have any suggestions in mind.

Wishing you and your family a happy new year and very prosperous 2012.

With Warm Regards,
Scribie.com Team.


My take: I haven't done any transcription since months but I like to know what's happening over there.

Level 3 Titles on Textbroker UK

There are more than 30 titles for level 3 writers on TB UK. I have not picked any but I might do a few to see how the approval/rejection process goes.

If you have are looking for writing assignments, pop over there now. All levels (except 2) have titles to claim.

Appiration Closing by the End of the Year

Got this email from Appiration that the site will be closing by the end of the year. Users who still have funds in their account should withdraw them. Appiration will be replaced by WorkHub allowing you to continue earning money from your iPad, iPhone, and even computer.

There are more diverse 'micro-tasks' offered such as surveys, translating texts and image tagging.

Interested? Follow this link

Textbroker UK Now Accepting Author Applications

Textbroker UK is live since December 1. It is open to writers from English-speaking countries. Now, authors outside the US can write for TB.

How to apply

You register on the UK website and wait for a confirmation email. You are then asked to submit a writing sample between 120-220 words (not sure of the figures now) on a topic of your choice. Actually, there are 3 topics given and you select one. Make sure that you send original content. Your sample will be rated from 2 stars to 5 stars.

Payment: Euros through PayPal or a European bank account (you need your IBAN/SWIFT codes)

Minimum amount for cash out: €10

Frequency: once a month

Rates: based on star rating

2 stars - €3.50 per 500 words
3 stars - €4.50 per 500 words
4 stars - €6.00 per 500 words
5 stars - €20.00 per 500 words

My experience

I applied a few days after the site was open. It took 4 days for TB to review and rate my sample (chose one on travel). Got my acceptance last week and I'm rated 3 stars.

However, TB just opened its site to clients today. As of this time, there are no writing assignments for my level. I do hope there will be some soon.

I suppose I also need to complete my writing profile and read all the FAQs to make sure that I understand everything. I don't want to make silly mistakes when I claim an open order.

If you are looking for another site where you can make money from writing, take a look at Textbroker UK. Based on feedback from US writers, it's a legitimate and reliable company. Good luck!

Update: There are already assignments on TB but mostly for level 4 writers. 2 titles are for 5 star writers. I only saw 2 for level 3 but they were not worth writing for me. I hope more assignments pop up soon for my level. Otherwise, there's no chance to move up to the next level unless titles are available to claim.

Populis Create Payment

To date, Populis Create has always paid on time, 10:00 a.m. CET, Tuesdays. I don't understand why other freelancers still on the site complain all the time about the punctuality of PC yet continue to write articles for them?

Thank you for the payment, PC.

Scribie Files Up

I got at least 4 notifications today that there are new files added for transcription. It has been a long time since I transcribed files for them but I might just do that now. If anyone is interested, there are 44 files for transcription and 33 files for review at the moment.

Other experiences that I have learned while working for Scribie:

Is it possible to change your PayPal address?

I submitted this query to Support and indeed, it is possible to modify your Paypal address that is on file. You can also give an alternate or secondary email address. Just go to the settings page and update your PP account. However, when I tried to withdraw funds to my new PP address, they were returned. Charges were also applied so be very careful when changing your payment options. Each dollar that is declined will cost you $.02 That left me puzzled and I will contact Support again to check this issue.

Are Scribie email notifications working?

Definitely. I get emails from them all the time for available files and when I check, there is always work.