Published Article on eHow

Well it worked!  I wrote a recipe for eHow, How to Bake Shepherd's Pie.  I submitted it at 7:06 pm and I got an email at 7:15 pm that the article has been published.  As Martha Stewart would say, 'that's a good thing'!

eHow Articles Availabe Again

Drum roll please!  According to the chatter at eHow, articles that have been in limbo for weeks have now been published.  The writers are practically dancing in the streets over there.  I'm happy for them.  I still think that what eHow did was wrong.  Here's the short version;  a writer submits an article to eHow.... EHow doesn't publish it but places it in 'unavailable' status.... they don't tell the writer if the article will be published or rejected,  they simply hold on to it with no indication for how long.  In 'unavailable' status the writer cannot access the article, not to edit it or, to delete it from eHow and perhaps take it to another writing site.   At Bukisa for instance, when you submit an article it is placed in 'Editorial Review' for 24 to 48 hours.  During that time you do have access to the article.  You can't edit it during that time but you can remove it if you wish.  As you should!
EHow says it was a glitch.  I think that eHow's mission statement should read "We have more glitches than any website in the history of the internet and we propose to keep those same glitches as long as possible and continue to add new ones".
So, with this new revelation of articles getting published again, I'm going to write one for eHow tonight.  It'll just be a recipe that I like.  I'll let you know what happens.

Another Article at Xomba

I just published a new article at Xomba.  That site is really growing on me.  It's so easy!  It doesn't pay as well as Bukisa but I like it for publishing short articles.  The minimum word count for an article is 150 and for a 'blurb' it's 50 words.  And of course, I really like those 'blurbs' as I explained in a previous post.
Anyway, the article is about senior citizen housing options. Here is the article:  Senior Citizens Housing Options

I'll Have Gertie's Brunswick Stew.....Or Not

I wrote a short article and put it on Xomba.  It was a toss up between Xomba and Bukisa, I like both sites.  I put it on Xomba because the article is just a short human interest story and I didn't want to wait the 24 to 48 hour editorial review waiting period on Bukisa.  Here is a link to the article:  I'll Have Gertie's Brunswick Stew.....Or Not

Ehow's "Generous Estimate" Compensation

Well I told you this would open a new can of worms.  Didn't I? 
First let me explain eHow's payment structure.  Oh wait, I can't because they don't tell their writers what it is.  They just say several factors go into the algorithm.  This is nothing new, we've always known that they refuse to tell us.  Funny, the other sites that I write for tell their writers exactly what the payment structure is.  Well the 'generous estimation' payments have arrived for the 6 months that our articles were on the UK site.  I have 21 articles and received nothing, that's right..... $0.00.  Generous would have been something like; 'okay here's 25 cents'.  But no!  I don't feel too badly, after all I only have 21 articles and they're all fairly new.  But let me show you some other writers compensation:

• $1.47 - 48 articles
• $9.19 - 43 articles
• $8.13 - 119 articles
• $.80  - 107 articles (that's right, 80 cents)
• $8.00 - 300 articles                                                                         

The chatter is how unfair this is, and I agree.  Some writer's have already refused to accept payment by returning it through Paypal.  I wonder what's coming next.  I will keep you informed.   

Xomba 1 - Bukisa 0.....Subject to Change

I just wrote a new article about my visit to the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  I wrote it on Xomba and the process was flawless.  Not only is it easy to insert text, but they practically hold your hand and walk you through uploading photos.  It doesn't get any easier!  Actually I wanted to put that article on Bukisa and, in fact, I did enter all the text.  Then I tried to upload photos from my computer.  Well, the 'Browse' button seems to have mysteriously disappeared, or maybe it's browsing around someplace else.  Now don't get me wrong, Bukisa is quick to fix glitches but after dealing with eHow I just wasn't in the mood for a glitch from anybody.  So I deleted the article from Bukisa, took it to Xomba and voila it was published in a matter of minutes.  I should also mention that at Bukisa I found a thread on their forum regarding the 'browse button' problem so I added to it.  The original thread was started 4 months ago.  If you would like to be a Xombie and earn money writing Xombytes and Xomblurbs, join Xomba now.

Earnings from the UK site

I just painstakingly watched a video that lasted 3 minutes and 50 seconds, it seemed more like 3 hours.  It was poorly done and practically inaudible.  But all that aside, the video was Greg (General Manager of eHow) and Rich (Community Manager of eHow) and I think I heard Greg say that the writers will be paid for the time that our articles were on the UK site.  He said the payments would be a "generous estimate" payable in February.  This should open a whole new can of worms!  Generous estimate???  We'll see.  Oh, if you would like to watch the video yourself, here it is.