I've been writing articles since 2006, starting with Associated Content and then later adding Squidoo and Zujava. Several years Associated Content was purchased by Yahoo and I suddenly became a writer for the Yahoo Contributor Network (YCN). Well, I am no longer.
Two days ago YCN was shut down by Yahoo and the articles I wrote - all 225 of them - were removed. The rights to those articles have now reverted back to me, which means I could publish them somewhere else if I wanted. But I have other work to occupy my time now and even if I didn't, those articles are all at least three years old; most would need updating. And some just needed to come down anyway - something that was almost impossible to do with YCN (I know; I tried).
I originally set up this site just for a list of all my articles, because with three sites to track I wanted one location with links to everything I'd published. I still have that here; the page is just a lot shorter now because I've removed the YCN articles.
I wasn't going to do a blog. I've lost count of the number of blogs I've started and lost interest in, and honestly, I don't think another one would have any more chance of lasting than the others had. But with freelance writing having been my main online work for so many years I decided an explanation was in order, in case anyone who didn't know YCN is gone has seen my page and is wondering what happened to it.
It's the end of an era for me. Before Associated Content the only money I'd made online was on eBay. AC gave me another way, and it didn't involve methods that were questionable or required competition with skilled and experienced internet marketers - something I had no chance of succeeding at. The pay per article wasn't great but I think that over the years that has improved because of the royalties I was making every month from the page views. That of course is gone now but it was such a small amount - usually under $10/month - that its loss is not going to take a huge chunk out of my income.
That's all for now. Feel free to leave comments if you'd like. I'm especially wondering how other writers feel about this change, or about the changes to online writing in general. I have my own opinions of course, but that's a topic for another post.
Two days ago YCN was shut down by Yahoo and the articles I wrote - all 225 of them - were removed. The rights to those articles have now reverted back to me, which means I could publish them somewhere else if I wanted. But I have other work to occupy my time now and even if I didn't, those articles are all at least three years old; most would need updating. And some just needed to come down anyway - something that was almost impossible to do with YCN (I know; I tried).
I originally set up this site just for a list of all my articles, because with three sites to track I wanted one location with links to everything I'd published. I still have that here; the page is just a lot shorter now because I've removed the YCN articles.
I wasn't going to do a blog. I've lost count of the number of blogs I've started and lost interest in, and honestly, I don't think another one would have any more chance of lasting than the others had. But with freelance writing having been my main online work for so many years I decided an explanation was in order, in case anyone who didn't know YCN is gone has seen my page and is wondering what happened to it.
It's the end of an era for me. Before Associated Content the only money I'd made online was on eBay. AC gave me another way, and it didn't involve methods that were questionable or required competition with skilled and experienced internet marketers - something I had no chance of succeeding at. The pay per article wasn't great but I think that over the years that has improved because of the royalties I was making every month from the page views. That of course is gone now but it was such a small amount - usually under $10/month - that its loss is not going to take a huge chunk out of my income.
That's all for now. Feel free to leave comments if you'd like. I'm especially wondering how other writers feel about this change, or about the changes to online writing in general. I have my own opinions of course, but that's a topic for another post.