Freelance Progress Report: October 2009

As you have probably noticed, I haven't been around much lately. It has been a crazy month with trying to balance everything. However, my class ends this week and I only have a couple weeks of clinicals left. Hopefully after those two things are out of the way I can have a little more time.

On a good note, October has been a month of firsts for me. I sold my first article. I met my income goal halfway through the month. I also hit $10 on Ehow so I can finally get a payout. It has also been my best month to date. I made $497.64. Considering all I have going on right now, I can't believe I did it.

No writing for Associated Content, Ecopywriters or Text Broker this month. Although I did get my PV bonus from AC.

The Breakdown
September PV bonus-$2.06
Total to date-$123.79


Ehow continues to earn for me. I finally made enough this month to reach payout, but still didn't write anything for them.

The Breakdown
October PV earnings-$3.21
Earnings to date-$11.90


NAA continues to be my big earner. I got lucky and participated in a "push" over the first weekend of the month. For those not familiar with NAA, a "push" is where they pay extra on articles for a specified amount of time in order to clear older jobs from the assignment board. I ended up doing 15 articles that paid $1.75 extra each, netting me an additional $26.25. The writing I did during the push as well as through the following week brought me my best week for writing income. $219.72, over half of my monthly goal.

I've also been earning tips this month.

I'm getting more article requests now. It is getting to where requests make up the bulk of my writing for NAA. This month two of my clients' orders somehow ended up with other writers. The two clients were not happy with the result and resubmitted the articles for me to do rather than accept the other writers' work. It's nice to be in demand.

The Breakdown
83 articles-$459.15
tips-$7.22
Total for month-$466.37
Total to date-$1205.37

This was my first month writing for Constant Content and I got off to a good start. My very first article sold exactly two weeks to the day I uploaded it.

The Breakdown
1 article-$40
Commission paid-$14
Total for month-$26

First Article Sold!

I joined Constant Content a while back, but got busy with my other writing sites and never did anything with it. For those who aren't familiar with the site, it's one in which you can upload articles to sell for usage, unique or full rights. You choose your price. You also have the option of entertaining offers.

If it sells, Constant Content takes a commission of 35% of the sale price. Provided you have made at least $5 for the month, you get paid on the following payday, which occurs the first week of every month.

Earlier this month, I finally got around to doing something with the site. I wrote an article in response to a request for content. The request was for a basic overview of tummy tucks, around 400 words. I uploaded my article and priced it at $40 for full rights.

Two weeks to the day it was uploaded, it sold. After Constant Content's commission, I netted $26. While losing 35% to commission smarted a bit, I can't complain too much. Even with paying commission, I still made 6.5 cent per word on the article.

Now that my first article went so well, I'm going to try to keep up the momentum. My goal is to upload an article or two per week, either in response to requests or as something I think might sell well.

*Photo by StockXchange user Rawkus.

The Weekly Resource RoundUp

Things have been so hectic lately that I haven't had a chance to compile the roundup for a couple weeks. Hopefully this week's mega roundup will make up for it.

Obviously none of us got into freelancing to work for free. However, there are some times when working for nothing can be good for your business. In a guest post at The Wealthy Freelancer, Michelle Goodman shares thoughts on when it works in your favor as well as things to watch out for.

Word of mouth is how many of us advertise our services. Check out these 18 essential tools for word of mouth marketing. While the list is geared more towards those with established brands, there are still some great tools for those in the process of building their name.

For many of us, working from home is a dream. There are so many different work at home jobs out there that you are sure to find something. Some jobs may surprise you.

We know about passive income, but what about passive job hunting? Dana Prince offers tips on self-promotion so the clients come to you without you having to hunt them down.
If you are a work at home parent, it can be hectic. The Work at Home Woman offers some great tips to balance life, work and family.

If you are trying to get a book published, be sure to check out the SFWA Thumbs Down Agency List. The literary agents and agencies on the list have had a high number of complaints or have other issues that might make you rethink hiring them.

Chris Brogan shares some great tips on how to blog almost every day. Now I just need to put these tips into practice.