I’ve been working as an online writer for a year and a half, and I’ve had over a hundred articles published online. In that time, I’ve started to notice a dramatic shift in my thinking about my work as a freelance writer. In my early days writing online, I was just so happy to have an article published that I jumped for joy when a few pennies went into my account as payment for my efforts.

But as I swing into year number two as an online writer, I find myself bristling at the idea of writing for pennies, and feeling sometimes like I practically give away my work by publishing on some websites that pay next to nothing for my articles. At first I was alarmed by this recent shift in my thinking. After all, as a creative writer, shouldn’t artistic expression and having a place to publish my work and get my stories in front of the public be my main objective for writing articles? Is it wrong to also want to be paid a fair income for my ideas and all the time and effort I’ve put into my stories?

Recently, I was reading a book about how to break into magazine writing, and it urged writers not to give away their work or settle for low wages. The whole tone of the book encouraged writers to pursue financial as well as creative success as a freelance writer for magazines and websites. Reading this book and others like it that talk about writing as an art and a business, I realized that I’m not off base to want to make a decent living while being creatively fulfilled as a full time freelance writer.

One thing I’ve noticed about writing for sites that pay revenues for page views on articles and photos: the author’s share of money for page views is usually quite low. That fact has started to bother me more and more as I’ve continued my work as an online writer. Unless a writer generates huge traffic to their work through social bookmarking and other means of article promotion, or publishes a lot of content, or can manage to produce popular content that hooks a ton of readers, earnings can be dismally small.

Revenues at sites like this can be so inadequate that writers are often frustrated and they consider abandoning their writing dreams. I see this time and time again, as fellow writers leave comments on my articles about writing. I receive emails saying they’ve done everything they can to raise their writing revenues, and they’re very disheartened and thinking about giving up on trying to achieve their heart’s desire of becoming a freelance writer.

I always encourage people to keep going, keep writing, even if revenues are small, as my thinking is that it takes a long time to build an income as an online writer, and success writing online is not just achieved in dollars and cents. Although my revenues at certain sites I write for has dipped a bit lately, I still feel like a success as an online writer. I strive to write quality articles, my articles are of interest to my readers, and I always try to do my best with each story. My name has popped up as one of the most popular writers on Writinghood.com and Telewatcher.com, and I’ve hit the Hot Content list on Triond. On top of all that, I’m part of a warm, wonderful community on Triond and have made many friends on the site.

It makes me feel successful when other writers tell me my articles about how to write content and find freelance writing jobs have been helpful for them. I always feel that one of the goals of a creative artist in any medium is to uplift, entertain, inform and inspire other people, and other artists. So if I have achieved that, if my work has in any way been inspirational, entertaining, or has added value to the world, I feel like I’ve been successful as a writer.

Writing as an Art and a Business

I feel successful in my work writing online, but I still have this nagging feeling lately that my share of revenues earned from sites that pay for page views is too low, and if I focus my time on them exclusively, I’ll never achieve my goal of becoming a self supporting freelance writer. This was really a hard, sad realization for me, because I love the work I do on these sites, and I enjoy spending time at these writing communities.

For writers who have full time day jobs that support them and are publishing articles online without much thought to their earnings as an online writer, discussions of low pay for articles published online might seem vulgar or offensive, implying that commercialism is more important than artistic expression. I notice that writers who are content in their full time professions and just seek a place to publish their writing are sometimes not that concerned about the often discouraging rates of pay for online writers.

But what about the rest of us who are trying to bring together writing as an art and a business? I think there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an artist who is running a small business, receiving fair compensation for their work. If you’re out of work and would rather write all day than sit in a cubicle or go out each morning to a dead-end job that doesn’t let you express yourself creatively, I believe it’s perfectly alright to shoot for the dream of earning enough money to support yourself through freelance writing.

When I had been writing online for about six months, I learned about bidding sites that let writers compete with other writers for online writing jobs. At first it sounded like a great idea and I looked at a few of these types of sites to see how the concept worked. I found buyers looking to purchase packages of articles, asking writers to write in batches, for very low pay, giving up a byline and all rights to their work. These types of writing jobs abound on the internet, and if you can write and have some understanding of keywords, then you can put yourself out there as a pen for hire, someone who can produce a staggering amount of content per day (often in what feels like assembly line style).

I’ve never done that kind of work, because while I might make some money cranking out huge volumes of content like this, it didn’t seem very creative or fulfilling to me. It seemed like I would burn out very quickly doing this type of work, and I believe as a writer or any kind of artist, we have to draw a line around our creativity, protect and nurture it, lest we lose that creative spark and passion to do the work.

I avoided writing for content mills and content factories and just kept on going writing for sites that paid me for page views, even though my earnings often fell short of my needs. In late September, on a whim I signed up at a site called Xomba, where writers are paid by participating in Google AdSense. I’ve been shocked by the earnings potential at Xomba; I’ve earned more in two months than I have in my whole time on some other sites I write for. I’m trying to earn more through my online writing, so I’ve ended up spending most of the last two months on Xomba, building and expanding my earnings.

However, while I find Xomba fun and fascinating, it is not as fulfilling for me as writing for Triond or Associated Content. So that’s really a dilemma for a writer trying to write as an art and as a business. Right now, since I’m out of work and trying to build up my online earnings, I’m devoted to Xomba (I’m a devoted Xombie, as Xomba writers like to call themselves!)

The other day I realized I felt a bit irritable and a little sad. Could it be the dark unbearably gray skies of cold Upstate New York in November, or something else? Yes, it was a bit of the seasonal blues, but more the fact that I hadn’t written an article in a while. I’d been posting Xomblurbs like crazy on Xomba (Xomblurbs are social bookmarks of interesting websites, blogs, articles, images, or videos, with a brief written description of the bookmark).

It’s enjoyable to find things to bookmark for Xomba, but it doesn’t always fill that need to express myself through article writing. Xomba writers can also post magazine quality articles called Xombytes, and I do have some Xombytes on Xomba, but I’m increasing my earnings by posting a steady stream of Xomblurbs each day (I have 14 Xombytes and about 350 Xomblurbs posted on Xomba as of this writing).

As I work on Xomba and build up content there, I’m sometimes earning more in one day than I do in a whole month on sites like Triond. Right now I’m making the most money working for Xomba, I receive steady monthly earnings from over 100 articles I have on Associated Content, and I make a only few dollars each month from my articles and photos on Triond. When I don’t write as much new content for Associated Content, my earnings still hold steady; however, when I publish less on Triond, my earnings fall dramatically. One month when I had my highest earnings on Triond, I did a lot of social bookmarking and writing. I published articles and some photos and achieved modest earnings. Perhaps I could build those earnings over time, but I earn more in a day or two on Xomba than I do in a month on Triond.

So, Xomba receives most of my focus these days, and I truly miss being on Triond on a daily basis, but my reasons are economic right now. I have this dream of earning a living through Xomba and blogging with Google AdSense. When I work really hard on Xomba and put in tons of effort, I see tangible results in my Google AdSense account. Regrettably, I can’t say the same for the other sites I write currently for. I’ve often worked my heart out on some of these other sites to log in and find a mistake has been made with page views and revenue has been taken away, or if there haven’t been any errors, my share of revenues for my articles remains discouraging low despite all of my best efforts.

Creating a Writing Plan

I think it’s useful for all writers to have a plan and do some goal setting. It’s good to have an idea of your creative goals and also a business plan for what you want to achieve financially with your writing. For 2009, I plan to worker harder than ever to build my Google AdSense earnings by writing for Xomba and getting more involved in blogging. I’ll put more time into my existing blog with Google AdSense and I’m thinking about creating some new blogs, too.

Some writers earn quite a bit on Xomba, and I hope to be one of them (some make anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars a month with Xomba). I believe with enough effort I can build Xomba into a great passive, if not full time income stream. The only catch is that I find it more creatively satisfying writing articles for other sites like Triond, so I’ll still do that from time to time, just to feel more fulfilled as a writer.

I’ll continue to increase my monthly revenues by adding articles to my existing library on Associated Content, but I want to branch out into other markets as well. I feel like I’ve gotten in a comfort zone writing for a few websites, and I need to challenge myself to branch out more. This means I’ll be scanning online job boards, crafting some query letters, and approaching new online markets as I’m also trying to break into magazine writing.

I’ve never felt more excited about being a freelance writer than I do right now. I’m proud of my accomplishments, but I feel like there’s so much more out there for me to achieve in my work. In this upcoming New Year, I’ll be paying more attention to writing as a business as well as an art. While I’m not willing to compromise my values and just write solely for commercial purposes, I am focusing more on receiving fair pay for my time and hard work.

This year as I’m looking into other writing jobs, I’ll be asking myself: will this assignment further me as a writer and am I being adequately compensated for my time? Hopefully, I’ll be able to balance my artistic needs with my desire to achieve financial freedom as a writer. I don’t measure my success solely in terms of dollars and cents, but it is important for me to be able to support myself in my chosen profession. Good luck and best wishes to all freelance writers in 2009; may you achieve happiness as an artist while you prosper in your writing business.