Disinterested Cow Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I notice many people here have quite impressive written English despite it being a second language, and are looking to improve it further. Have you considered joining content mill sites such as Textbroker et al?Content mills are websites where you're paid a few dollars to submit short articles that site owners can purchase and use on their blogs. It's fairly low-level ghost writing and as such is accessible to people without perfect English. The key thing is that you'll be getting feedback on your articles from Copy Editors who are very strict about Grammar and such, and the fact that you're getting paid provides excellent motivation for improvement.It's not just for English of course, but that's a particularly common language with lots of content mill sites based around it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted January 13, 2014 Report Share Posted January 13, 2014 I have some experience with Textbroker. However, I did not apply as a content writer there, I was myself hiring people for my Chinese blog http://www.der-chinese.com.I have really been pleased with the results. Most of the texts I got from context writers from that platform were excellent and well researched. Textbroker is great in terms of quality and also in terms of "flexibility". You can browse a large database of users and it is fairly easy to find a qualified person for your needs. You can "pick" content providers according to their quality of writing (they use a star-rating system that goes from 1 star up to 5 stars). If you are in need of a very well-written text with perfect grammar, you can go for 5 stars and usually you get a decent text. Of course you need to pay more for a five-star content writer than for a content writer with less stars.Another great feature about Textbroker is that it is "SEO-ready". What does that mean? It means that you can define keywords and keyword density for your texts (content writers that will take care about the text will have to stick to those predefined "settings") and they will have to make sure to implement your keywords when writing your text. After the job is done you will also have the opportunity to review the text and ask for improvements if you are not satisfied with the overall results. Only then will you have to pay for the text. If you are not satisfied with the result, you can refuse to pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Hard Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Text-broker accepts only Native English speakers. Currently they have two websites. Text-broker.com [for U.S writers] and Text-broker.uk [for all the other writers]. To qualify as a writer for Text-broker.com, you MUST be a U.S citizen. For Text-broker.uk, you HAVE TO BE a: a Brit, Canadian, Aussie, South African [with a Smith-sounding surname. . .if you get my drift], an Aussie or a Kiwi. So I guess that locks out most writers no matter how good they might [if English is their 2nd language.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daimashin Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Sounds very limited and unnecessary to limit only to those that are native speakers. Truth be told, I've seen people that are not native speakers speak and write excellent English, even better than those that are native. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 We are maybe not talking about the same "Textbroker" company then. The information I provided above is based on my experience with textbroker at http://www.textbroker.de (from there you can also switch to English and other languages). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnSmite Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Isnt it fairly difficult to get accepted onto a content mill? I have heard that even native speakers have difficulty getting accepted due to their being so many unemployed college students that they get the choice of a fairly talented crop of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disinterested Cow Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yeah, there are different language/location requirements for different content mills. Textbroker has different sites for different locations but many are more international and judge only on your written ability.Isnt it fairly difficult to get accepted onto a content mill? I have heard that even native speakers have difficulty getting accepted due to their being so many unemployed college students that they get the choice of a fairly talented crop of people.Again, it depends on the mill. Textbroker for example has a lot of flexibility due to its rating system, it's very easy to get in at 2* and I imagine many here would be rated at 3*. Four stars a harder as it requires a more thorough understanding of grammar that isn't generally developed naturally (IE native speakers). Keep in mind with your comment regarding native speakers, most don't actually take any further education in their native language beyond what's compulsory. They often make little grammatical errors that will immediately stand out to an editor, even if they sound very natural and otherwise communicate well. It's not that uncommon for foreign learners to overtake them on strict adherence to the rules.I know of someone who moved to Germany and joined the German Textbroker as a way to improve their writing. They were initially graded at 2* but slowly climbed up and ended up earning a nice income on the side, in addition to becoming proficient in written German. Due to Google recently upgrading its algorithms 2* level articles are a bit less desirable than they used to be, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaKay Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Textbroker is a great site, but I don't really recommend it for non-native speakers. I think iWriter.com is a better choice for those who are still learning, but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disinterested Cow Posted January 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 iWriter is the lowest-tier content mill and I'd be hesitant to recommend it to anybody, it also lacks a proper feedback system making it comparatively useless for improving your written ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnSword Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Instead of joining content mills such as Textbroker and iWriter, I chose to write articles on my own blog instead. Sure, it's not paid to write per se, but I've been earning loose change through AdSense and affiliate links. At the same time, since I'm writing about things I'm interested in, I tend to stay more focused and motivated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidney Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Textbroker seems to be strict with the nationality of their members, what does that have to do with writing content? I guess they automatically assume that a native English speaker is superior to non-native English speakers because it's their native language, which is very untrue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daimashin Posted February 4, 2014 Report Share Posted February 4, 2014 I've been through and back from Textbroker after reading this topic. Did some research and it seems that it's very hard to earn there because of its strict rules. People spend hours looking for stuff to write instead of writing them. Besides this, some of the instructions are too vague so a lot of them get rejected. I guess you need to be really good at generating facts to earn good money there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pahagwl Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Well, I have tried writing for some sites and have not enjoyed much success in monetary terms. As a lot of people have mentioned, most of the sites have very strict rules which make it very easy to reject an article without specifying any particular reason. So, I have given up on these sites and do not look at them as a way to make money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadence Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I'm interested in trying out using a site like this too. I just registered at iWriter yesterday and right now they didn't seem to need any articles in any subject suiting me, perhaps in the future. Textbroker seems interesting as well but as a swede I suppose I'm not able to register at any of their sites. Does anyone know any other sites like these that might be worth looking up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookiesandcream Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 I'm interested in trying out using a site like this too. I just registered at iWriter yesterday and right now they didn't seem to need any articles in any subject suiting me, perhaps in the future. Textbroker seems interesting as well but as a swede I suppose I'm not able to register at any of their sites. Does anyone know any other sites like these that might be worth looking up?You could try freelancer, elance, odesk, fiverr, and bubblews. I've used all of these in the past and think they're great. Give it a try. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extrafancyganza Posted March 3, 2014 Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 That'd be lovely, great both for improving the language and your writing if you get me. I'll see if I can find the time between my homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelicagapit Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 You could try freelancer, elance, odesk, fiverr, and bubblews. I've used all of these in the past and think they're great. Give it a try. Good luck!Out of the sites you've suggested (freelancer, odesk, bubblews, etc.), which do you suggest? I'm currently living in the Philippines so hopefully you could recommend a site that accepts internationals. I read a lot about TextBroker, but unfortunately, it isn't allowed in my country. Hopefully I could get a great site where I can express myself through writing and earn a few extra bucks for doing so.Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trellum Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Text-broker accepts only Native English speakers. Currently they have two websites. Text-broker.com [for U.S writers] and Text-broker.uk [for all the other writers]. To qualify as a writer for Text-broker.com, you MUST be a U.S citizen. For Text-broker.uk, you HAVE TO BE a: a Brit, Canadian, Aussie, South African [with a Smith-sounding surname. . .if you get my drift], an Aussie or a Kiwi. So I guess that locks out most writers no matter how good they might [if English is their 2nd language.]I was about to comment about that! I'd have loved to be able to join hat web site, but as you said they only accept native English speakers and they are extremely picky when it comes to your location (as you pointed out). It's a pity, because a monetary incentive is always a good motivation for someone to improve any skill, just like the OP suggested There are other sites that accept people who are not US based, so I would really recommend all the users that don't have all the requisites to be accepted at text-broker.com to try the other sites that do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peninha Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 That is really interesting, but I am not a native speaker so I can't apply. Trellum, what other sites are you referring to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esperahol Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Isnt it fairly difficult to get accepted onto a content mill? I have heard that even native speakers have difficulty getting accepted due to their being so many unemployed college students that they get the choice of a fairly talented crop of people.It depends - for the lower level ones like Textbroker it's actually rather simple in nature. For the more intensive ones like The Content Authority it's actually seriously difficult for anyone to get in the door. That said there are many, many sites out there if you're looking to give it a try. In fact, if you'd like you can P.M. for a list of sites that I've had experience with. I'm trying not to hijack the thread here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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