WRITING

How To Make $1,000 From Your Existing Articles

For just 10 hours work in 2 weeks

A few months ago, I discovered News Break, a new writing platform. Having researched feedback about this new entrant online I decided to apply to become a creator, a writer, back in November 2020.

News Break had just launched their Creator Program, so I thought I’d give it a try by reconstituting some of my old articles. I had nothing to lose, and took confidence knowing that dozens of writers in our community had decided to give it a bash too, so why not me.

The potential deal on the table was to publish a minimum of 3 articles a week (12 a month) in return for $1,000 a month, regardless of performance.

My initial experience wasn’t plain sailing though. The truth is that my first application was rejected.

Needless to say I was disappointed, but by no means discouraged.

This article is dedicated to Kathryn, a fellow writer who reached out to me last week, inspiring me to share my recent experience.

Resilience

Anyway, a few weeks after my rejection email, I reapplied.

I knew I had the back catalogue to justify my persistence, and hopefully my eventual approval as a News Break Creator.

So I submitted my second application on the 12th of December 2020 and parked it to the back of my mind, entrusting the universe to deliver. Following that, I simply enjoyed the Christmas holidays with family and friends.

Then in mid-January, I stumbled across an email from News Break in a mailbox folder that landed the day before Christmas Eve, on December 23rd, 2020. The headline caught my attention:

Paul, your creator application has been approved.

Wow. I was ecstatic, at least initially. Soon I began to rationalize the likelihood of $1,000 landing in my business account in February.

While I had no reason to doubt News Break, I needed to be convinced.

Anyway, soon after my welcome into the News Break Creator family, I set about publishing articles. By the end of January 2021, all 12 pieces that I submitted were approved and published.

I delivered on my side of the deal.

Would News Break reciprocate?

Yes, they did!

It took me less than an hour apiece to flesh out some underperforming articles to meet the minimum 1,000-word criteria, and add new images for a fresh audience appeal of course.

In just over 2 weeks, I made $1,000 for simply copying, pasting and editing my old articles.

Reflection

Looking back, I felt exactly like other writers that Sinem Günel and Philip described in a recent email sent to their tribe:

“A bunch of people who’ve been rather sceptical and unsure whether they should join. A lot of them thought that it’s a scam and didn’t believe they’d get paid.”

In my estimation I invested about 10 hours to pimp … I mean republish my original content.

To borrow Sinem’s words:

“Not a bad hourly rate.”

Yep, not bad at all Sinem.

Earnings​

Here is my first-months earnings report on News Break:

Needless to say, I’m now convinced.

The deal​

The agreement that I signed up to meant that I would receive a $1,000 a month minimum payment if:

1. I had 500+ followers at the end of the month;
2. Published at least 3 qualified articles a week; and
3. Achieved average page views for each article of more than 500 a month

Sounds simple enough, right? But 1 and 3 are challenging.

Onboarding

There’s more. My sign-on teaser, for the first 3 months anyway, guaranteed a $1,000 monthly payment without 500 followers or an average of 500 page views per article.

During your first 3 months on our platform, if you publish 3 qualified articles per week in a calendar month, we will pay you $1,000.

It was a no brainer. I had an opportunity to test a new platform for 90 days and get paid for my efforts.

Variation​

The agreement that I signed up to changed of late, making it easier for writers to earn in the absence of the conditions mentioned above.

• Revenue share — For each qualified article, you get paid a minimum rate of $4 per 1000 page views, with the opportunity to receive a higher rate depending on article quality.
• Sign-on Pay: During the first 3 months every qualifying article will earn a minimum of $25 base pay, increasing to $60 per article depending on the quality of your piece.

So throughput is now rewarded.

Quality score

Also, News Break introduced a scoring system called Content Value Score (CV), where each article is rated on a scale from 1–10.

The better the quality, the higher the CV score, measured using the following criteria:

1. Is the content unique?
2. Does it address an underrepresented topic or region?
3. Does it include high-quality information and/or facts?
4. Does it provide the reader with enough understanding of the topic?
5. Do the article’s elements and formatting contribute to the reading experience?
6. Does it feature interesting multimedia (images, graphs, videos, etc)?
7. Are the title and image relevant (not misleading or deceptive) to the content?

So far I’ve achieved two 5-stars, several 4-stars and a mix of 1–3.

• 5-star CV Score — 2 articles (10%)
• 4-star CV Score — 7 articles (33 %)
• 3-star (or less) CV Score — 14 articles (57%)

Articles with a 5-star CV score have the potential to earn $60, minimum.

Top 3 Articles​

Allow me to list my top 3 articles for you:

Article №1 — Swimming

This is by far my best performing piece on New Break.

‘A Day in The Life Of a Swimmer’ is the watermark for any articles going forward.

To put it into perspective, consider the data:

• First release — 93 reads
• Second release — 5,134 reads

The engagement on News Break is 55 times higher so far.

Article №2 — Art

The article entitled ‘The Link Between Michaelangelo And Entrepreneurs’ didn't perform well last year, but I knew there was an audience for it.

By comparing audience appeal, the piece performed a lot better on News Break in a few days, as you can see from the stats.

To compare, here’s what the stats show:

• First release — 25 reads
• Second release — 358 reads

News Break readership is 14 times higher.

Article №3 — Mental Health

The jury is still out on the piece I wrote about ‘Visualisation’.

Early metrics do indicate that the article appeals more to the News Break audience, but let’s see how this unfolds.

The data insights for this piece shows:

• First release — 31 reads
• Second release — 46 reads

A 48% uplift is nothing to shout about, but News Break readership.

Motivation​

My motive in life is to become financially independent. Why not? Writing is part of my overall strategy to achieve this in 2021.

Let me show you what this looks like:

• Writing — $1,000 to $2,000 a month
• Property — $1,000 a month
• Consultancy — $2,000+ a month
• eCommerce — $1,000+ a month
• Lecturing — $1,000 to $2,000 a month

Somewhere in the region of $6,000 to $8,000 a month total, from multiple sources, is possible for anyone to achieve.

Scholarship

As I said, I’m not driven by money. Not at all. My motivation derives from my goal to provide sufficient resources to feed my family, pay the bills and unlock my time to collaborate and grow together.

To prove this I’m thinking of creating a ‘Scholarship’, whereby:

• A new publication is launched.
• I share 50% of my writing income every month to a writer with the best article posted on this new publication.
• The remaining 50% of all income generated will be reinvested into the publication to expand audience appeal.

What do you think?

“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” — George Lorimer

Final thoughts​

To conclude, I’m not going to sell you tips or takeaways. No. Rather I have a proposition for you to consider, so read on.

In my opinion, a $100, $200 or a $500 monthly gift, scholarship rather (income dependant), awarded to an existing or an emerging writer for a single article would go along way.

To make this “revenue-sharing” model work, my initial suggestions and commitment include:

1. Income transparency — all channels
2. Clear metrics and criteria for everything, including the publication
3. Governed by a board of 3 or more people/editors
4. Independent account or escrow fund management
5. Reciprocal support to enhance the scholarship fund

So what do you think Kathryn, Sinem, George, Dr Mehmet, Desiree, Aurora, August, Dew, Bill, Michael, Michele, Britni, Lanu, Sumera, Joe, Suzanne, Genius, Geetika, Terry, Dr Jeff, Dr John, Liam, Danny, Sean, Brian, Matt and Sira M.?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas folks.

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” — Ayn Rand