Writing for Suite101.com and About.com: Is It Worth It?
By Nicholas | Permalink |
8 comments | June 4th, 2008 | Trackback
Again and again I get questions about whether it is worth it to write for websites such as Suite101.com or About.com, so I thought I would breakdown my experience with Suite101 and what I have heard about About.com.
Suite101
I began writing for Suite101 about two years ago when very few people had heard about it. I actually learned about it from reading Jen Leo writing about it here. At the time I was looking for whatever outlet for my writing I could find. The South America Travel section was looking for a writer (this was at a time when there were only feature writers and no contributing writers); I applied and after a short hiring process got the job. Now I think you have to write a certain number of articles before taking over a feature sections that pay more.
As a feature writer I write 4 articles and 4 blog posts a month. They don’t take me long. Maybe an hour or two each for the articles, less for the blogs. Many of the articles are very general, they are on a topic I know so well that it doesn’t require much brainwork, and are not something I would have written about elsewhere. Right now I have about 150 or so articles up that get between 15,000-20,000 page views a month from readers that come from mostly Google searches. I make about $1 per article per month. You do the math. Some sections make more than others from what I hear someone makes more than $1000 per month there. It’s not a living wage by any means. Just a side gig. Will I write for them forever? Not likely.
There are both ups and downs to writing at Suite. First, the negatives. For the first year or so I really didn’t make squat, but that is mostly because they previously paid only by page views (now it is a percentage of adsense revenues). When I started it was just me writing about South America Travel, now anyone can contribute articles and many of the contributing writers don’t bother to check to see if an article has already been written about and they cover the exact same topics that I have already written about. Lastly, if I have my own website doing the exact same thing I would make significantly more.
The positives: I’ve got to network with a few of the other writers at the site. My editor is great and pretty much lets me do what I want. I have gotten a few assignments from publications because the editors found me through Suite101. Writing for Suite101 has helped me learn quite a bit about the overall web building process, about SEO, adsense revenue, etc. It doesn’t seem like much, but that revenue keeps coming for as long as the articles are posted. So, long term it seems like a decent gig. Another plus is that after one year I can use the content elsewhere, such as my own website.
About.com
I don’t know as much about About.com and I don’t write for them, but I have met several who have or have applied. It is owned by the New York Times. Here is what I gather from the site (though please correct me if I am wrong):
To begin writing for About.com there is a very long, detailed, and exhausting hiring process that includes making many sample pages. You apply for a topic with multiple applicants; therefore you may do all the work and not get the job or paid for it.
The amount of work is substantial, though, again, I don’t know the specifics. The rumor mill says that writing for About.com is a real part time job taking around 15-20 hours per week. There are blogs, forums, reviews, FAQs, tuturoials, etc. It is, by comparison, much more involved than Suite101. They guarantee $725 a month to write for them. Again, some topics make more than others.
Both About.com and Suite101.com are currently looking for writers, including travel topics.
Comments
What about Written Road. Is it paid better than Suite101 or About ?
Anna, I think they wouldn’t be able to get a writer to join if Suite101 was that up front. Every new writer I speak with seems to get discouraged about not making any money and quit. The only people I hear really doing well are the ones that write 50 or 100 articles right away and keep up a steady pace. I think the only way to make writing for suite101 worth your time is by thinking long term. By the way what is B5? I never heard of it.
Merril, Written Road is paid only in self satisfaction. In that regard, it pays quite a bit more.
I’d like to take a moment and clarify a few things about how About.com’s hiring process and compensation plans work:
Hiring:
About.com writers (aka Guides) have a lot of freedom to create content that works for their topic, but with great freedom comes great responsiblity. 
We start by looking for writers with the expererience and/or credentials that matter for a given topic. Applicants submit writing samples to help us determine if they’re a fit for About.com; we then select up to five applicants to compete for each open site. During our three week training program, which we call Prep, Guide candidates learn our writing style and formatting standards while creating a sample site. Creating this site includes writing several articles and blog posts, all focused on the one particular topic they applied for before starting Prep. During that time the candidates work with an editor to ensure the clarity and accuracy of their published work. At the end of that three weeks we choose the candidate who will go live and become the About.com Guide to the topic.
Compensation:
As you noted, we recommend that a hired About.com Guide work 15 to 20 hours a week on their site . But we’ve found that the more quality content a Guide produces, the closer they come to hitting the critical mass necessary to generate a real income. We have a page view-based payment plan that rewards year-over-year growth with an incentive payment above a standard rate per 1,000 page views. To supplement that amount and encourage growth, we pay new Guides a monthly stipend of $725 (in addition to any money they receive from site growth) for their first 2 years. We’ve found that the average About.com Guide makes $1,000 a month by the end of their second year. I hope this helps clear things up. We look forward to seeing you in Prep!
Eric Hanson
Editor, Recruitment & Training
About.com
Hi Nick!
b5 (www.b5media.com) has an excellent travel channel and they always look for new, interesting additions. I like quite a few of their travel blogs, and yes, you get paid for writing for them. It’s not much (about $75 the first month), but they’re very upfront about it, the editor of the travel channel is a doll, and if I had more time on my hands, I’d join them just for the heck of it.
Have you guys ever seen America’s Got Talent? You should check it out Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC. How can you resist David Hasselhoff!???
http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/video/index.shtml#mea=262134
I have a blog that you can post on here, it is about travel to Australia. You are more than welcome to check it out on my site.
Suite101 is definitely a long-term planning sort of thing. I had to take a break writing there last year, but I’m still paid every month on the articles I already wrote. If you look at how much you make on an article in a month or two, it’s not much, but when you look at how much you make over a year or two it starts to add up. There are better paying gigs out there, but it’s nice to be able to write whatever you want, whenever you want.
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The problem with Suite 101 is that instead explaining their compensation scheme using numbers with dollar signs in front of them, they give you writer testimonials. Nifty trick, but it does nothing to tell you exactly how much you can expect to make as a new writer with them.
(b5 is much more transparent and honest about their payments. I’m saying this and I don’t even work for them!)