.I’ve been writing for a long time, since I was a teenager. Much of that writing has been mercenary, i.e. for money. I like being paid to write, because it’s always fun to be paid to do something you enjoy. Now, I’ve talked about article marketing before, and there are many ebooks out there that discuss the topic, especially lately with the rise of “bum marketing”. (The ebook I recommend for article marketing is Secret Article Profits. Don’t forget to download Brad Callen’s free article submitter software to help distribute your articles.) But bum marketing is about indirectly making money by writing. What about directly making money from writing?

Cash For Content

If being paid to write interests you, the ebook Cash For Content by Matthew Sherborne will interest you. Over 120 pages long, this ebook shows you how to write articles for paid content sites like Constant Content, sites that will actually pay you up front for your writing. Or for revenue-sharing sites like Helium that split their ad revenues (usually from AdSense) with you. Here’s the full table of contents:

  1. Introduction to Cash For Content
  2. What is Cash For Content
    • How the Cash For Content System Works
    • Why Do Sites Need to Pay For Content?
  3. Your Insider Knowledge
    • Paid Insider Mind Map
    • Finding In-Demand & Profitable Topics
    • Find Your Profitable Topics
    • Your Content Portfolio
  4. Process of Creating Content
    • The Cash For Content Outline
    • Outline To Article
    • Caveat Lector
    • Research For Your Article
    • Put It In Print
    • Writing The Introduction
    • The Conclusion
    • How To Write A Headline
    • Headline Starters That Get Noticed
    • Create A Profitable Headline
    • Writing A Summary
    • Putting It All Together
  5. Money Making Sites
    • Writing An Author’s Bio
    • Pay Upfront
    • Constant Content
    • Associated Content
    • Pay By Ad-Share Sites
    • Wise Orb
    • Helium
    • Niche Blast
    • Triond
    • Newsvine
  6. Get Paid To Review
    • Guidelines
    • Headlines
  7. Pay By Review Sites
    • Gather
    • MyLot
    • Xomba
    • ReviewStream
    • RateItAll
    • WritingUp
    • Epinions
    • DayTipper
  8. Affiliate Marketing Free Sites
    • MyPickList
    • Squidoo
    • HubPages
    • Promote Your Review Page
    • Create Your Own Review Site
  9. Repeat, Recycle & Rebuild
    • Repeat Content Creation
    • Recycle Your Work
    • Rebuild & Leverage Your Actions
  10. Paid Insider Secret Weapons
    • Your Online Empire

As you can see, it’s a fairly detailed book. Best of all, I’ve obtained resale rights to it and am making it available to my readers for only $5 for a personal use license. (Note that you can also buy master resale rights yourself for a bit more.) Along with the book itself you also get a “Cash For Content Toolbox” report that gives you a blueprint to follow in order to make money through article writing, including a great little section on headline writing. While Cash For Content won’t make you rich, it is definitely a respectable way to make some money if you have some writing skills and some free time. And yes, you can apply the skills you learn doing this to other writing projects like bum marketing. To grab your copy, visit the Cash For Content sales page or else press the PayPal button below.

Are You Writing Something of Value?

Of course, the “cash for content” and “bum marketing” techniques do bring up an interesting issue. When you’re writing content, are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you writing something of value, or are you just in it for the money? Chuck Brown and I had an interesting discussion on this topic recently in response to my initial thoughts about Project Black Mask. To quote Chuck:

I just think it s important to extend the concept of something you re  interested in to something you re actually  invested in terms of at least beginning to acquire experience and knowledge in the subject. Someone with 100-300 sites simply cannot do this. Someone with 10-20well, that might be humanly possible. I am also not in any way exposed to experimentation. As I said that s what I m doing in several areas. But before I entered them, I had in mind a Unique Selling Proposition (what can I offer that s different and/or better?) which I believe is the part of the equation that so many are leaving out.

There’s a saying that goes “Do what you love, and the money will follow”. The more invested in what you’re writing about, as Chuck says, the better the end result. That’s good advice for anything you do online.