Freelance Writing Pays Off for Lena: Suite101.com Writer Earns $4,940.77US in July

Posted by Marci Hotsenpiller Sep 1, 2009

The secret is out! We’re thrilled to congratulate Lena Gott, Feature Writer at Suite101.com for setting a new record for monthly earnings at Suite101.com. During the month of July, Lena’s articles earned her revenues of $4,940.77US—the most money earned by a writer in a one-month period since Suite101.com launched in 1996.

Congratulations Lena!! (The the official news release is posted here.) For all you writers asking HOW she did it, here are some tips from Lena herself:

Suite101: How long have you been writing for Suite101?

LG: Since late 2007, so almost 2 years.

Suite101: Where do you live? How old are you? (if you don't mind me asking!)

LG: I live in the Raleigh, North Carolina area; 29 years old.

Suite101: Is Suite a PT job, a hobby, or a full time one? What other things do you do?

LG: Suite101 is definitely a real part-time job for me. I try to devote at least 15 hours per week to researching and writing articles. I would do more, but I am a stay-at-home mom and have others jobs as well. I’m a CPA and currently teach for Axia College of the University of Phoenix . I also own a jewelry business, Milan Jewelry Design.

Suite101: What kind of writer would you describe yourself as? Why?

LG: This is a weird question for me because I never thought I’d be a writer! I suppose I like to write to inform or teach. I want each of my readers to learn helpful information from my articles, whether it’s important details about new tax law, how to save money, or just where to find a useful family budgeting spreadsheet.

Suite101: How do you find story ideas?

LG: I only write articles on subjects I enjoy studying, so my article ideas primarily come from my personal interests. But instead of writing only what I know, I try to put myself in another person’s shoes and ask myself, “what do I need to know about X topic?” Once I decide on a topic, I check for similar information online; if I find that the topic is pretty well covered, then I try to find another angle to write about. I prefer to provide information that’s not already well covered; that way I’m not competing with so many other writers or websites to get web traffic. Once I write one article on a particular topic, I branch out from there until I feel like I’ve exhausted the topic (or become burnt out on it!).

Suite101: How many published articles do you have on Suite101?

LG: 228 as of today. I aim to add 5 to 8 new articles per week. I’d say at least a third of time I devote to Suite101 each week is spent researching topics and keywords, not writing.

Suite101: Do you write for other sites too?

LG: No – I signed up for eHow and Demand Studios, but I’ve yet to contribute anything to either site! ;)

Suite101: Can you tell me the top articles that earned you such high revenue share in July?

LG: I thought I knew for sure, but now I’m not so sure. I can probably attribute much of my July earnings to Cash for Clunkers, but now that the program is over and the page views on those articles have plummeted, my revenue has not taken a proportionate plunge, so I really don’t know! I strongly believe that writing in “article clouds,” or webs, and interlinking the related articles results in higher revenue. For the same amount of work, you get more page views because every article has the ability to drive page views to several related pieces, fulfilling the reader’s search for more information.