Once you have successfully submitted your review, there will be an e-mail confirmation. The editorial team will then review your review, and send another e-mail confirmation upon acceptance or rejection of it.

I have submitted some 23 book and website reviews, but they have all been paid at the bulk rate. So at one time, I thought that this must be a scam, paying us peanuts for our writing efforts. If all my reviews are at bulk rate, I would have to write 125 reviews to reach payout! That's not very encouraging and simply too much work. The task ahead looks impossible, so left the site for a couple of months.

Then I read about a freelance writer who got paid by Review Stream after completing a certain number of reviews. Some of her reviews were paid at the full rate while others were paid at the bulk rate. Once she reached the minimum payout, which took 1 month to complete, she requested for her payment. She received it within 6 hours upon request. The site is legitimate afterall!

I was truly inspired by her achievement and decided to put in a little more effort writing the reviews. So I decided to implement some strategies to earn more money.

1. Review topics

   First of all, the types of reviews matter. I was writing reviews on books and websites which are not among the "wanted" categories. Reviews on travel, hotels, cars, insurance are often the ones which are paid at the full rate. So I gave it a shot. I wrote a few hotel reviews based on the ones I recently went to, and I was paid at the full rate. Excellent!

2. Check out the list of wanted reviews
   

   There is also a list of reviews wanted by readers. They are based on what people searched for at Review Stream. You may find something which interests you to write about. I have not really tried these categories, but I believe that your reviews will also be accepted at the full rate, since it is based on what readers are searching for.

3. Bulk rate vs Full rate

   There are some reviewers who implement this strategy which I'm also trying out. They choose not to be paid at the bulk rate when submitting their reviews. Subsequently if they were not accepted, they would rewrite them to improve them and resubmit. It is a lot of work and time spent though.

4. Review everything

   I have opened my eyes to everything I can see, touch, feel and experience when it comes to thinking about the different things I can review. When I'm at a loss, I usually think about what I did that particular day. For instance, I may have visited a restaurant, went shopping or watched a movie. Restaurants, shops and movies are all things you can review.

5. Write a good review

   When writing a good review, it is important that you include your personal opinion and experience in it. People are not looking into getting descriptions they can find on the web, they want to know how you felt about the product or service. So be specific!
   

6. Word Count

   So as not to have your reviews rejected by Review Stream, each review must have at least 200 words. It is best that you use an online word count tool and check for the number of words before submitting them. If you don't have 200 words, your reviews will be rejected immediately and shown a message saying that your review is not valuable to them. The words may sound harsh but it deters people who write one-liner reviews in the hope of getting paid.

Review Stream takes 3-5 days to review your reviews before accepting or rejecting them. Sometimes, they take a bit longer. I do get a little frustrated though. Currently I have 8 reviews which have been submitted and awaiting confirmation. I just have to be patient since this really is a legitimate site afterall. To all reviewers out there, all the best!

Take a List with You

Image Location

Sometimes, the smallest things can trigger an outpour of words. That was how I got my idea for Quicksilver.

Go Undercover

Image Location

If you're writing for children or teens, you can enter a popular site (like Neopets, Facebook, or Xanga) and create an account.

Observe

Image Location

Sometimes, things are right under your nose, and you just need to realize it. What about the rising gas costs? Or the wilting flower you keep forgetting to water? How about that annoying orange dust residue that's left on your fingers after eating cheese curls? They can all be symbolic, and may result in very creative outcomes.

Surf the Net

Image Location

Try roaming the internet. Google is your friend. Try typing 'hd wallpaper' in its image search and see what shows up. From there, keep on going. Once, I spent almost an hour looking at one picture after another. I started by looking for planets, and I ended up reading an ad for Sea Monkeys. Quite the experience, I may say. Also, try Youtube. Never know what you'll see there.

Perspective

Image Location

Embarrassing tumble in front of someone important? Didn't notice that stain until it was too late? Instead of seeing the glass completely emptied, change your "glasses". Who would know how it felt like to do what you did? That's what makes your writing special.

Well, if All Else Fails...

I've compiled some images.

These are things that can take hundreds of long pages to fully do. So how does a young eager writer pump out a winning short story? Well, like with all writing it is 10% knowing what to say and 90% knowing how to say it.

Title: The first thing that any judge or reader is going to see is the title. The best way to approach a title is to do it last. Stories are like children they grow with time. As a work is written it takes a life of its own and may grown into something very different then what it was originally meant to be. By waiting till the work is fully complete the author has a far better grasp of what their work even is.

The next step is to play with words. A title should be unexpected yet still related. Sum up the story in one sentence, then cut all but a few of the words, and then arrange them in a bit of a poetic way. That is at least a start. The title should be a poetic, with a small about of rhythm and rhyme. That way the title literally bounces off the judge’s tongue.

Story and Plot: Plot movement in the story is one of the most important things in all works. The challenge of short stories is the limited time to develop a good plot flow. One way to help is to out line the whole story no matter how complex or long. Then pick the single most important event or time in that time line. That is the short story. No one expects the whole story, a short story is just a moment, or a day in time where something interesting happened.

Characters: Like plot, characters take dozens of pages to fully explore. Also like plot there is a way to help make believe characters in a short story without going into their life story. Develop the history of the characters before the story begins down to every detail. The majority of these things will never be know to the reader but the completeness, the reality of the character will come across. There is nothing worse then a predictable and uninteresting character. There is nothing predictable about real people, show that in the characters.

The Ending: An ending to a short story should be unexpected and even sudden. Leave the reader thinking and even a little disturbed. Remember, most judges have to read dozens of works, make yours stick in his head like glue.

In truth, there is no such thing as a bad story. There are just well written stories and poorly written stories. By using simple tactics one can increase the quality of their work greatly, no matter what their content is.

What I'm aiming for is to create a list of maybe… ooh ten articles? That will help out new members of our community. So, I'm going to start the ball rolling by adding a few of my own. I'd like Triond's writers to contact me and pass me links to their works aimed at helping people get the most from Triond. I'll take a look over your works, and then (Unless they're God awful), post them here. Hopefully, given time, we can create a useful tool for all things Triond!

Oh, one other thing I plan on doing is adding quick hints here too. If you don't have an article you want linking, but want to share your advice, let me know and I will place it here. I will also provide a link to either your Triond profile, or if you prefer, some other website.

What is Triond?

Simply, triond is a system where you upload articles on almost any subject, that are then published to websites. You recieve money based on how many views your article generates, and how many adverts on your articles that people click. Most other questions can be answered in the articles below.

Quick Hints

Hint from Evis T (With possible backup from RJ Evans):

“Drink heavily before you write. Read in the morning, you won't remember. Delete the bad stuff, or anything illegible.”

Hint from Evis T:

“Write! By all means, read advice and learn from guides, but there is no substitute for experience!”

The Main Articles:

Questions I wish someone had answered before I Joined Triond.

A roundup of some questions I wanted answers to before I joined Triond. I couldn't find the answers and went in blind. Hopefully, these will help you out!

Writing Articles for Profit

This article is one of mine. I've put it at the top of the list because it contains very important information about using sites such as Digg and Stumble to advertise your work. More importantly, how to use these sites so you do NOT violate their Terms Of Service. It's easier to do this than you'd think, so pay attention! Even if you don't read the rest of the article, please take this to heart.

Improving Your General Writing Skills

All the cool techniques and hacks won't pay you a penny unless you can write well. This article primarily focuses on how to write fiction, but many of the principles can be applied to factual work too. It includes advice on how to write consistently, how to write in bulk, setting goals, and setting yourself up to write.

Article Networking: A Great way to Generate Page Views Fast

Article networking involves putting hyperlinks in your articles that link to related works you have written. In this article I will begin with the basics, teaching you how to make hyperlinks, and then gradually move up to the more advanced stuff such as how to use them effectively and professionally.

Now, there are many questions that writers both experienced and inexperienced want answering before they join Triond. Some are easy to find, some not so much. In this article I hope to answer many of them, so if you have a question that has not been answered, please leave a comment and I will try to get hold of you.

How Much Will I Earn?

This is the golden question. For some reason people seem very iffy about discussing their earning in any job, so I will give you a straight answer, right now. I earn, on average just under a dollar a day. Some Triond writers will scoff at this, some will be amazed. I don't care which you fall under, this is an article to help people. I have only been a member of Triond for two months, and have not built up a large back catalogue yet. Most of my earnings come from recent articles in which I've figured out some of the patterns and tricks to help earn money.

First, let me tell you why this question is so hard to answer. There are many variables. The more articles you have, the more you will earn. The better your articles are, the more you earn. The more likely people are to click adverts on your article, the more you will earn. Above all, effort, perseverance and intelligence will see you through.

How are my Earnings Calculated?

You can't figure out exactly how much you will earn. Basically, your earnings are based on two things: Page views and advert clicks. Unfortunately you can't predict advert clicks, but if my previous experiences with Google adsense are anything to go by, these will be your main source of revenue. But the money you can gain by sheer number of views is not to be scoffed at.

Don't be surprised if an article generating five hundred views earns less than an article generating two hundred views. The latter may well have experienced a lot of advert clicks. Make note of it, as some subjects generate lots of advert views. Combine this with exposure techniques that I cover in another article and bingo- you've got a money spinner.

How do I get on the Hot Content list?

Getting a piece on the hot content list is the biggest boost to your confidence as a writer on Triond. You will get masses of views, and more importantly the money will inspire you to keep going. I've had two articles and one photo on hot content. How do you do it? There's three ingredients:

• A good article
• Good publicity
• Luck

First of, if you click any article in the hot content list, you'll notice that they're all great quality. Well written, lots of images and videos and other things to keep the reader interested. Second, the author got their work publicized in the first place, but again, this is covered in another article. Thirdly, sometimes you can write a killer article, publicize it, and for some reason it will still fall flat on its face. Other times, a photo you snapped of a Honda CBR bike, then uploaded just to keep up your “One submission a day!” pledge, will for some reason earn you loads.

How do I get on the Hot Users list?

Post nude pictures of yourself. Please excuse my pun. To get on the hot users list, you need to do the above, but repeat your success a few times. You'll soon find your name on there. As for getting it in bold type, I think the only way you're going to achieve that any time soon is by assassinating RJ Evans (Sorry RJ, but it's true!). The man currently has the Midas touch. Saying that, before him it was Nelson Doyle. And Chan Lee Peng always seems to be popping in and out of boldface.

Basically I don't have a bloody clue. Tell me if you find out!

How Large do my Articles Need to Be?

Usually, anything less than 500 words is left on the cutting room floor unless it's got good reason not to be short. Quality is important, but quantity should not be underestimated. Try to keep articles short(ish) and sweet, as people may not bother to read a very long piece.

Is Triond Worth It?

Are you patient? Are you committed? Are you prepared to work hard? If the answer to the above is no, then Triond is not for you. It's not a get rich quick scheme, and if you don't work hard then only luck will bring you your money. It can take months of trying before you get anywhere. I was lucky in that I got an article into the hot content after about one month, and that gave me the drive to carry on. That and the many fans I have on Triond. I love you all, and I hope this article helps.

If you're looking for immediate and steady money, get a day job (God I hate mine). My current goal is to earn an average of $1.60 a day on Triond by the end of September. Then by the New Year I want to be earning £15 a week (I know, change in currency…). My next goal is far more ambitious, to be able to pay my rent with Triond. The last goal may not be possible, but to be honest, I think it might be.

Networking your articles. And in this little skit, I will explain to you how this is done. We will start with what networking is, then more on to how to create the links, and finish with how to use the system responsibly.

We will start with the basics, and build our way up to the more advanced stuff as we go along.

What is Article Networking?

Put simply, its increasing traffic through your articles by placing links to your other works within them. It's as simple as that, but HOW you do it is where the lesson lies.

The power of this is obvious. You get more hits, as people who find one of your articles may well go right to other ones you have written.

How do I Make a Link in my Article?

Hyperlinks are text (or sometimes images) that have a link connected to them. Basically, when you click the text or the image, the URL connected to it loads. Creating these is very easy. First of all here's how to do it in MS word.

1. Highlight your text by clicking at the end of it and dragging it back to the start where you want your hyperlink. For example, I want it here.



2. Right click on the highlighted area, and click "hyperlink" in the drop down menu



3. In the new screen that pops up, enter the URL (for example www.evisisgreat.co.uk), and click okay.



4. Your hyperlink will be created, and your text will be formatted to a blue colour with an underline

To do it with a picture, simply right click the picture, click hyperlink and then figure it out for yourself. Note however, that for some reason many Triond articles do not allow hyperlinked pictures (they remove the hyperlink).

Next, how to do it in Triond's online editor.

1. Highlight your text as you would in MS word:



2. You'll see there's a little button just above the highlighted area (it looks like a chain, and it's next to the undo/redo buttons). Click it!



3. In the top line, enter your URL. Then you need to decide if you want the link to open a new window, or to open in the existing one. More often than not, you want the link to open a new window so as not to disturb your reader's reading! Click insert, and it's done!

Now, how about creating hyperlinks in other areas, such as forums and blogs? Most blogs will allow you to use BBCode tags. To create a URL hyperlink in these, use the following code:

[url=http://YOUR URL HERE /]THE TEXT YOU WANT YOUR READER TO SEE HERE[/url] .

Of course, all this hassle begs the question, why bother? The answer is simple. Because it looks a lot neater than pasting links everywhere, it doesn't break the flow of reading, and if people have an idea what the link is about before they click it, they will be more likely to follow it.

How do I Network my Articles Effectively?

First of all, you need to make sure that there is a reason to link to an article. Basically, make sure that what you are linking to is related, and pertinent. For example if I'm talking about music piracy, and I mention an obscure genre of music I have written an article on, then I put a link to that article just after mentioning the genre, so people can read about it if they want to.

Next is to link to sources. Show the reader your sources and they will take you more seriously. While this may not help with your hits directly, it will make you look a lot more credible as a writer, and people will be more likely to look at your other works.

If you have taken your own photos for the article, then provide thumbnails of them in your article, then links to them as well. This will encourage readers to visit your photographs too, increasing your hits. I did this quite well with my article, walking with the dead.

Finally, provide links at the end of your article to related material you have written. For example.

One last point is the idea of "mother articles", these are basically directories linking several related articles together. Say you have five articles about food in your country. You create a sixth article and provide links to all the other five in it, along with a short description of each article. Now, someone who finds that mother article and thinks it sounds interesting may well load all five "sub articles". You have now just had SIX hits from ONE person. Here is an example of a Mother article.

The Final Step: Wide-Range Networking

Wide range networking is how you can get a reader from an article about one subject, to a totally different one. Wide range networking can be summed up like this:

1. You create a link in your article to a related article of a similar topic
2. The article linked to, has a link in it directing the reader to another similar topic
3. Repeat step 2

Here is an example. This article, on Great Geek Anthems, contains a link to an article in which I talk about music piracy. Then that one has a link to an article on software piracy. There is no way I could have reasonably shoe horned the article on software piracy into the article on Great Geek Anthems.

However, thanks to networking, I have now gained two hits from anyone who was interested in reading about music piracy. And given that the link was related to the topic, it's a good chance they'll click. And if they're interested in piracy (which again, is likely), I may well gain yet another hit from them!

Very soon, you can have your reader looking at articles of a completely different type. Imagine a chain linking all your articles. If you have links in every article, and they can be tracked through in such a way that the reader doesn't need to visit the same article twice, then, in theory:

You could have one person viewing every single one of your articles.

Of course, this depends on them not loosing interest and clicking every link. Like many theoretical possibilities, it is unlikely to happen. However this does not change the fact that using networking and wide range networking, you can increase your hit rate considerably.

A Final Example and Closing Advice

I'm sure by now you've realized the fact I have used article networking extensively in this piece. Let's examine how effective it can be shall we? If we say that you clicked the example of the "mother article", then I have now gained two hits from you (one for this article, one for the mother article). Assuming you follow one or two of the links in the mother article to see how it's done, I now have four from you. Whereas before I may have only gained one unique view from you, I have now gained four, effectively quadrupling my hit rate.

My final piece of advice is to remember that networking, like everything on triond (or the writing industry on the whole really), will probably not make you a big earner over night. Networking will increase your hit rate, but you must still produce lots of content, and produce quality content. No amount of networking can make up for effort. The golden rule for effective networking is to make the reader want to click the link. Give them a reason to read the next article.

All in all, the advice is simple: Write!

And now for one last example.

If you enjoyed the advice presented in this article, then these may appeal to you:

• Advice on how to write for profit
• Advice on writing in general
• Getting friends on Triond

Writing about a good topic is always the first step to getting lots of views. If you write an article on your old hamster, then chances are it's not going to get views. But if you write about a controversial topic, such as why you believe 9/11 is all a conspiracy, then chances are it's going to do well.

Use A Simple, Straight To The Point Title

This is always the key to getting people onto your article. If your title is long-winded, and just confuses people, or sounds like its going to be a dull read, then people are not going to check it out. If, on the other hand, it has a very 'normal' title such as: "How To Write An Interesting Article That Will Earn You Money" then it will draw readers in much more easily.

Write About Something That Will Help People

This article helps people to write good articles, and therefore people will look at it to get some help on how they can improve their articles; as well as helping them make their bank balance look better.

Even articles about how to put a shelf together, or how to upgrade the memory in a certain laptop will get views as people who need help putting a shelf together, or upgrading the memory in their laptop will look at it.

Use Good Spelling And Punctuation

Nothing is worse than having an article with spelling and grammar mistakes. An article with a title such as "how 2 put the shelf togever!!" is never going to be read. By anyone.

Use Headers

When writing an article always remember that headers are your friends. Breaking the article down into small, manageable chunks is always a good idea. This article would look horrible if I took aways the headers, and just compressed it into a wall of text. Lots of short paragraphs are also another way to break things down under each header.

Don't Make It Too Long, But Not Too Short Either

It's a difficult line to tread, and it's very much like asking "How long is a piece of string?". Generally I try to make no more than ten points in a single article, but no less than five. Use your own judgement and common sense though, one long point is better than a dozen small worthless ones.

Make It Easy To Read

Try to make your article easy to read. If it can be read by the average person then you are appealing to much wider audience than if you use lots of technical terms. Most people browsing the web looking for something to read are not looking for a dictionary.

Finish Off The Article Nicely

Try to have some final words at the end, such as this, where you thank the reader for reading your article, and where you say that you hope that the article helps them in some way.

Final Words

Thanks for reading this article, now go out there and write some really good articles!

It's amazing how many different subjects and topics are covered on the news, and so this is always a good starting point when you are trying to come up with something to write about.

A quick search through the BBC homepage will bring up dozens of different interesting topics that you could write about, such as the Olympics or the Russia and Georgia crisis.

You could then choose the Olympics as your many topic, and then there are hundreds of different things you could write about, such as what should happen to drugs cheats if they are caught?

Search Google

Just general surfing and browsing can yield many ideas. Try googling words or phrases that you think could help you come up with ideas. Go onto your favourite gaming website, and find a game that you write about, or google the word 'Interesting' and see what you find, you will probably be surprised.

Look At Previous Articles

You can look at previous articles written by yourself, and try to look at similar things you could write about, or you could look at articles written by other people, and try to get some inspiration from them. (Don't copy them, or make it too similar though).

Choose Something Random

Whats the first idea that comes into your head when you think of the word 'Random'?

Completely random topics often do very well. I know of topics about how to kill ninjas that have been some of the most viewed topics on Triond.

State Your Opinions

Can't find a good topic to right about? Use your head. Stating your opinions on something normally cause people to agree or disagree with you. This then leads to a debate, and debate is good.

Don't like China's human rights abuses? Write all about it and watch the views shoot up.

Show Off A Hobby

Everyone has a hobby of some sorts; from football to stamp collecting everyone likes something. Why not write an article on how to repair vintage watches; or how to do a cool footy trick; or a guide on how to swing a golf club like a pro?

Finishing Off

I hope this guide has given you some inspiration on how to think of an article to write, or maby it has already given you a great idea for an article that is going to get ten thousand views? If it has helped you please drop me a comment, I don't get any extra for comments, but it's always good to hear that one of my articles has helped. Thanks for reading.

Keep a Journal

Many ideas come when you're least expecting them. Keep a journal or recorder with you at all times so when creativity strikes you are armed and ready. Later when you are at your writing place, go back to what you have recorded and see what ideas come from them.

People Watch

When you are sitting at an airport, restaurant or any place where there are plenty of people, sit and observe what they are doing. What are they saying to each other? What are they wearing? Where are they going? Make up your own stories and lives for the people passing you by. Why does the man who just walked in front of you look as if he's in a hurry? Is he late for something? Keep asking questions, which brings me to...

Why? How? When? Where?

If an idea strikes you, ask questions about everything that has to do with that idea. Even if you don't actually use the answers to some of these questions it's okay because it gets you started and it leads you to what may be more important for your story.

Write What You Know

What do you know about more than anything else? What do you want to inform people of? Did something amazing happen to you sometime in your life? Draw from experience, memory, maybe a book you read or a movie you saw. You can use these experiences as idea starters.

Read, Read, and Read Some More

When you read all sorts of different genres you get ideas from them that you can use towards your proposed genre. You see examples of great writing used in many different forms. Do you like the way one author describes scenes? How can you use that technique for the scene you are working on?

Many or all of these ideas may work for you, the idea is to keep writing. Even if you feel you have nothing worth writing one day take out a journal and start writing about your day, thoughts you had, how events made you feel. Sooner or later one of these remarks will spark an idea for your next piece.