Profile of people who post in Content Writing and Copyright

Are you AdSensers? Independent contractors? Run your own site? Why write?

[Webwork]

What's the writing world like out there? Any common threads? What percentage of you rely, to some degree, on AdSense.

Why do you write?

Me?

Not yet a member of AdSense, though I find the program fascintating and I'm hopeful for it's success as I think it opens the door to many people doing what they love and getting paid for it.

Lawyer by training, so I write "professionally".

I've got many interests and somewhat broad experience, so the idea of spending time writing and writing about a variety of topics is very appealing.

I like to educate, inform. I like to challenge thinking that strikes me as not fully informed (versus simply biased). I understand that not all educational writing is "pure", despite one's best efforts. ;)

I'm open to the possibility of moving from law to writing full time as my children move on to college. (No quite there yet.) Age 49.

You?

Why do you write? Who do you write for?

[EileenC]

I'm a freelance copywriter. I am raising a family and so work only part time, but even part time I bring in a substantial income. It's the perfect field for someone who wants the kind of freedom I want. One of these days, when I have space enough in my brain, I'll figure out this Adsense thing or another way to put up my own content site and make money from it. But meanwhile, I enjoy helping other people to grow their business. IMHO, 95% of the copy on the web stinks. I'm on a personal mission to change that. :)

[Jenstar]

I'm a writer at heart, and had well over 1000 original articles written and up on various websites long before AdSense ever came along. However, AdSense now is why I do much of what I do now.

In fact, I am finally getting the final credit for my bachelor's degree by doing a directed reading class with my professor on Making Money with Google AdSense ;) And how embarrassing it will be if I can't pull off an A+ in that one!

[jimbeetle]

I've been freelancing or otherwise working for myself for, wow, must be more than 20 years now.

Got into writing as a young intelligence type in the Army. I wrote a wide range of reports and papers, from the very concise, "Fenwick possibly moves troops into Lichtenstein," (And the more concise, "Oops. Nevermind."), to a variety of technical, non-technical, formal and informal analyses. I found I had a knack for organizing information and making the tech talk understandable.

Went on to dabble in a wide variety of writing-related work: Tech writing, consumer market research reports, writing and editing el-hi textbooks, a bit of business writing and some annual report preparation.

Then this thing called the web and HTML came along. I realized it was just an electronic blue pencil, very similar to markup language used in programs like Atex and XyWrite. Gently dove into it and here I am some years later, still organizing and presenting information, using many of the bits and pieces I've picked up over the years.

To answer your question, "What percentage of you rely, to some degree, on AdSense."

It's made a difference. A couple of well-chosen affiliate programs supported me for quite a long time. Adsense smooths out some of the rough edges and gives me much more time to develop content that in turn support the affiliate programs. I still do some outside work here and there, but now because it's my choice, and simply to get my butt out from in front of this infernal machine.