An idea to attract new writers and improve overal HP hub quality

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   Casimiroposted 10 years ago

   One of the more discouraging aspects for new and old hubbers alike is the time lag between when you write a hub and when you know if it's a hub that will pay. Unless you're lucky enough to write a hub that goes viral in its first few weeks, you'll probably wait for months or more wondering if it will take off. The hub topic could be a loser, the SEO poor, or the writer's grammar and mechanics are sub-par.
   
   So, what if HP were to subsidize writers by giving them a little upfront money for their hub with the caveat that the hub will be subjected to close editorial scrutiny, and the hubber is obligated to make requested changes to improve the hub before getting a credit in their account. The hubber gets a little warm fuzzy upfront for their efforts (say, a buck) and some good tutoring on topic choice, SEO, grammar, etc.
   
   In return, HP could take a bigger revenue cut on those hubs that have gone through this process, so they have motivation to make the hub work, too. Eventually, the hubber's subsequent hubs should improve and bring in more money for them.

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      Sarra Garrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good idea but HP is not going to let go of any of their money.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         From what I read elsewhere, they can't afford to do that right now anyways. When writers aren't getting the traffic they did, neither is Hubpages. The views are down.

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            Casimiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            If they don't have money to try new ideas, not necessarily this one, then that's not a good sign of a healthy business.

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      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Both of these things happen already here.
      
      Here's the info on the bonus program
      https://hubpages.com/my/earnings/bonus
      
      The editorial scrunity is better known as the QAP.

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         Casimiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Says I don't have permission to see that page.
         
         I've yet to have any editorial comment on any hub I've written, some of which I know have grammatical errors.

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            Pearldiverposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            If you are interested in improving the quality of the writing... 
            
            Then...
            
            Why wouldn't YOU simply worry about the quality standards of your own, fix your own grammatical errors and lead by example for others??? 
            
            Or...
            
            Are they hubs that were specifically written to provide examples of poor grammer?? 
            
            Or...
            
            Are you in need of Editorial attention and are 'Tricking' one of those extremely rare creatures into getting caught in your grammatical net, with the intention of having them pay to get free?
            
            I was once told that 'preferred hubbers' were those who didn't rock the boat and in stormy seas, got the raincoats and an extra lick of the chocolate muffin icing!  Believe me it's not as a result of originality or grammatical skills! 
            
            We have had many Quality Writers here,
            some of whom are so talented (and perhaps deemed 'too unpreferred' for here)
            simply because they have the skills and personalities to:
            
            Catch a mouse and 15 rats whenever...
            They can write a hub called say...
            'Really Rough Mice Diets'
            and then are able to provide a virtual crumb trail all though it with only their most budget grammatical cheese!!    
            
            Good Luck...... but NEVER compromise your ethics if you wish to have good cheese!! 

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               Sarra Garrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Umm a good Harvarti Cheese Sandwhich sounds good with Dill Sauce on marble rye.

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               Casimiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               No, I wasn't purposely making grammar errors. They were made out of ignorance, but HP is certainly not obsessed with grammar as part of QAP.

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                  Pearldiverposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for the confirmation of that...
                  I agree with your earlier point...
                  I don't believe selling or celebrating hypocrisy is much to be proud of, when really good writers have taken every effort to maintain high quality standards - only to have a NOINDEX tag attached.  Cheers..

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               sambo1362posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Dear Pearldiver I would be thankful if you could provide a means of contact (email preferably).
               
               With Respect
               
               Sam

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         mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I believe this came up a while back from what I recall, and it came out that it was only ever an experiment that was offered to a handful of hubbers, but never rolled out to the 'masses' therefore whilst some still earn a bit extra from it, no-one else (myself included) has the option to get on to it. I was pretty stunned at the time this came out, as if it was a 'failed' experiment, I wondered why it was still up and running and providing any kind of extra income to a small group of hubbers (surely it should have been axed and the money saved invested in to something that many more hubbers could financially gain from). Needless to say a couple of those in that program quickly said they made very little from it so it was no big deal, but I still couldn't understand why any money was filtered out to certain people when there was no option for others to get involved in the same program..

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            Pearldiverposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            To compensate for, the variety of different experiences expertly gained, when real cheese is tasted and judged by a ratty, or budget pallet.... perhaps? 

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            wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Perhaps because it was like every other beta program HP has tested.  HPads, for example, was limited for the first few months to only a few.  Could be mistaken, but I believe the eBay program was another, and certainly the AP was.

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               mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               This is correct, and exactly what they did, but when they decided not to roll it out site-wide, they didn't axe the program, they left it running, and to this day it still is, only problem being that no-one else can join it, and those still in it still earn from it as an extra 'bonus'.

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   wildernessposted 10 years ago

   What you're describing was done when I went through the AP.  Each hub earned a few dollars for being published and was looked over by staff.  It came from HP money, though, and not a higher cut from other hubbers.
   
   Speaking for myself, those few dollars are NOT an incentive to spend 8 hours or more writing a hub.  Or even a better hub than I might otherwise have written.  All incentive comes from the fact that the hub may perform well in the future and earn me something and, for the AP, the fact that I was learning how to produce such a hub.  It did produce a fuzzy feeling, though, at the end of the month when I found a little extra income in the account.  Just no incentive to do it again.
   
   Again speaking for myself, I would not be very happy to have HP take extra from my earnings to give it to someone else so they would have that fuzzy feeling and maybe HP could earn more down the road.

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      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with Wilderness -
      
      As he says, the AP (Apprenticeship Program) included a small financial incentive for up to 15 hubs a month.  Also as he stated, that small amount of money is not an incentive for me to write more hubs (and that applies to the bonus program, too).  I was, and am, very thankful for the learning process the program offered, though. Even though I have been commercially published for many years, I'd not tackled online publishing (on my own - the magazines and newspapers I wrote for published online, but someone else did the formatting, SEO, promoting, etc.). HubPages was my first venture publishing directly online, so I'm extremely thankful for the support the staff and site offer to all writers.
      
      My personal opinion is that the very small incentive or payment per hub the AP included was more of a trade-off for learning what the program offers rather than compensating us for our hubs.  I also feel that we should let our work stand on its own, and always produce high-quality content.  Either it gets traffic or it doesn't.  Anyone who cannot write that well should not be on the site. 
      
      Also - and this probably won't sit well with many writers here - 'incentives' that are too low (such as the AP figure was and the bonus figures are) are counter-productive as a tool for attracting 'good' writers. The Internet has badly damaged the financial side of writing as a career. People in some areas are willing to write fairly long pieces for $5-$20 a pop. This is far too low, and it has diluted the overall quality of what is published, and has negatively affected our incomes. The amount of money HP could pay would be very low, and would only feed that trend. The number of hubs for which the AP incentive and/or the bonus program applies was reduced from 24 to 15 per month, because the site realized some people were churning out the maximum number of hubs just to get that small incentive, and they were not always the quality the site wanted.
      
      And, again as Wilderness said, I'm not interested in having my revenue eroded in order to attract more writers to HP.  That's the site's job, not mine.

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      Casimiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I guess I wasn't clear about the revenue cut. I meant that *just for those hubs that went through this theoretical process* that the HP's revenue cut would be higher, say 50/50. So, it wouldn't be coming from any other hubbers' revenue.

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      Casimiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I wonder what percentage of writers who are not already top-notch actually go through the AP? I thought about applying to that, but it seemed that the slots were so limited that it wouldn't be worth waiting to get in.

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         wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         HP seems to scatter the AP students all over the place by experience.  I had been here 2 years (with no other writing experience) while others just a few months. 
         
         While I do know that some hubbers are turned down, "top notch" hardly describes the people in my class.

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   IzzyMposted 10 years ago

   Some people are 'preferred hubbers' over others.
   
   I guess I didn't meet the criteria.
   
   I was not allowed onto the AP program, which I have since learnt couldn't have taught me anything I hadn't already learned, but disallowed me the promotion offered.
   
   Promotion is always to be welcomed.
   
   These threads, in recent days, have shown us that the promotion offered by HP is not worth a monkeys.
   
   I am sorely disappointed for those APs who took the time and effort to write top-notch hubs, who are now finding their work unfeatured.
   
   I hope they will spare a thought for those of us in this predicament who have also written stellar hubs that Google ignored.
   
   We are a team, folks.
   
   Let's remember that, because when the ship goes down, it is sink or swim,

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      Jo_Goldsmith11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Izzy,
      Well, I can tell you for me personally. I enjoy reading what you write about.
      I prefer you over quite a few. You have an amazing talent. And you are a inspiration for me. I love your attitude!
      Don't worry, better days are ahead! :-)
      I am on my way over to see you now.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 10 years ago

   "I'll have the Spam, eggs, bacon, Spam, beans, Spam, Spam, and Spam, with extra Spam!" - Monty Python.

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      Sarra Garrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      

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