Tax Information for Writers

Every writer who earns an income is required to report their earnings and pay their taxes each year. For those of you new to or just unsure about the process involved, below is an article I recently wrote on how to make tax time easier for writers. I hope this helps those of you who might be filing taxes as a writer for the first time this year!

Tax Tips for Writers
Freelance Income Reporting

Avoid IRS audits for self-employed writers by keeping tax time in mind
all year round.

Read more...

The Future of eHow?

With less than one week left to the month, I am beginning to have serious thoughts about the direction of eHow's future. After several months of not submitting any new content, I published 3 articles near the beginning of the month but have yet to see any revenue from them. Aside from that, I am also earning half of what I was in January, if that is even possible (And January's earnings were half of October's...).

This makes me very hesitant to waste my time on a site that is likely heading for failure. I don't want eHow to fail, but I am extremely worried this might be the case. It will be interesting to see what my final earnings are for Febuary with eHow.

On another note, my Suite earnings have sky-rocketed. I've already met my all-time earning high! For the remainder of the month, my writing efforts will be concentrated there. With my goal to reach 50 articles on Suite 101 only 6 days away, I am just 17 articles away from reaching that goal. We'll see how I do!

eHow UK Compensation

With the recent eHow UK fiasco, eHow informed writers last month that they would be receiving "generous compensation" for the earnings lost with articles displayed on the UK site. Yesterday, this bonus came in, with most of the writers on eHow receiving a 10% bonus on top of their monthly earnings in January. I myself received an additional $1.30.

While I am grateful for the extra money (no matter how small), I cannot help but feel jipped by eHow. The UK problem had been going on for the past 6 months, and writers were only compensated a tiny, tiny portion. I saw my earnings drop by 50% when the UK site launched, and the bonus eHow gave me does no justice to the amount I should have recieved. I know many other writers are upset about this as well, since they took a bigger hit with loss earnings.

What does this mean for the future of eHow? I am not sure, but I am hopeful despite all that is going on. I am hopeful that issues will be resolved within the next few months and writers start earning more again. We'll have to see how the next few months play out. If the kinks are still going on come June, I will likely retire my writing there.

How much did you receive in compensation for the UK eHow problem? Do you plan to continue to write for eHow? What is your outlook on the future of the site?

Review of Writer Gig's E-Book on Writing for eHow.com

When I first started writing for eHow.com, I can across Writer Gig (Maria)’s eBook, How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers. I was intrigued and wanted to buy the book. Maria currently makes over $1500 a month from her eHow articles alone. She clearly has succeeded as a writer there and knows what she is talking about. I put off buying the book, however, thinking I could figure things out on my own. Recently, I caved in and bought the book with my monthly residual income. My only regret is not buying it sooner.

Maria’s eBook includes step by step instructions on how to effectively optimize eHow articles for maximum earnings. She includes screen shots of her monthly income as proof as well as resources and links to online tools that will help you in the research and writing process. She also has keyword and SEO tips which both beginners and veteran web writers can benefit from.

After reading her eBook, I am excited to begin implementing her techniques to help maximize and greatly enhance my eHow earnings. I highly recommend it to anyone who writes for eHow, as it is a timeless resource that will help you succeed in your writing efforts there. The price is totally worth is, especially since your monthly earnings will increase quite a bit with her technique.

Maria also has a money back guarantee. She states, “Your satisfaction is guaranteed. With dozens and dozens of customers, I have never had a single request for a refund! If you try my method for 30 days and don't see results, I'll refund your purchase! You have nothing to lose.”

***UPDATE: Due to the recent eHow rule banning all affiliate links in articles, Writer Gig will be updating her eBook with new information. When the new version is available, those who have purchased her eBook will receive the updated eBook at no cost to them.***

January Earnings Report

It's that time of month again- evalution and reporting of earnings. My actual earnings will be down the following months, mainly because I've stopping writing for Demand Studios. If we need the extra money, then I'll write for them, but otherwise I'm choosing to stick to residual income opprotunities such as blogging and writing for sites like Suite 1o1 and eHow.


And without further ado, here are the stats!


Suite 101- $14.89 (this is almost double what I made last month, with 7 new articles added)
eHow- $11.18 (up a tiny bit from December, but still about half of what I was making)
Examiner- $0.92 (I did not focus on examiner this month)
Adsense- $0.55 (I have not launched my new SEO focused blogs yet)
Total= $27.54

This past month was largely spent outlining my specific writing goals I want to achieve in the upcoming year. February will be the first month to implement my weekly goals, so that should bring an increase in residual earnings. I hope to stick to the plan and remain focused throughout this new month. I just need to keep writing, writing, writing!

February, I'll be focusing on...

• Launching 1 new niche blog
• writing 2 new articles per week for Suite 101
• writing 4 new eHow articles
• writing 4 new Examiner articles
• Query 1 print magazine
• write 1 short story

In order to hold myself better accountable, I'll be rewarding myself with a manicure if I get all this done! I have MUCH more time available to write this month, so this is very doable.

How did January go for you? Did you see a jump in residual earnings from December? What are your goals for February?