Ever get bitter that we are making hubpages rich for mere pennies?

1. 76

   DJ Funktualposted 11 years ago

   I am just curious if any of you get bitter about this.  I mean, we get preferential treatment from google that we wouldn't normally get if we just made a blog, i get that. 
   
   However I 30,000 views a week and only receive a measly $150 a month for it? 
   Really?  I am of the opinion that they are like pigs at the trough.  Seriously, unless you are reviewing new camera, computers , motorcycle and getting a referral on every sale there is no way to make any real cash. 
   
   Owners are always going to give very little to the pee-ons beneath them but i think we deserve a rasie.  we do all the work.  we run the forums and help others get started and see nothing for it.
   
   I agreed to the terms when i started and really have no plans on leaving but I just get bitter sometimes.  Do you?

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      Randy Godwinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Certainly understandable but then, it depends on what niche or subject you are getting views to whether you garner more earnings, as you said.  Before I was sandboxed I had views similar to yours, perhaps a bit more, but I made well over $500 a month counting Amazon sales and Adsense clicks.
      
      Even with less than a third of the traffic now, I am still earning almost the same as you are and my income is on the rise again.  There is no certain amount made by hubbers.  Just the way it is.
      
                                               

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   2. 72

      relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No because no one is making me participate here or making me write about the stuff I want to write about.  Being a member here and writing what I write about is all my choice.
      
      Randy says he's got less than 1/3 of your traffic but is earning as much as you.  I've got about the same traffic right now that you have, and I'm earning several times more.  We are all getting different results because we all made different choices.
      
      If your choices are making you feel bitter, then maybe you need to do something else.

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         Jason Marovichposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         This is true.  I started writing online with earning money as a consideration, but once I realized success doing this was centered around advertising, I backed off.  I'm just glad I learned that early.
         
         That doesn't mean I don't still enjoy publishing online, especially at HubPages, and from the amount of writers that still write what they want to write about I see here, I'm not the only one. 
         
         If someone's after the advertising money, and they know what's required to get it, go get it.  If not, then like Relache said, it's our own decision to not earn money.

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         Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with Relache, if someone feels bitter about HP then leave!
         
         I cannot understand people resenting the site then stick around and complain. I say you have a choice to leave or stay.
         
         Any way, based on my calculations of my current earnings I would be earning about $300 per month with those views. So as Relache says it depends on your niche.

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   3. 67

      cloverleaffarmposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      When I feel miffed, I go do my own blog. It gets a lot of traffic, although the comments are nil. There, I can do what I want, write what I want, and put all kinds of affiliate links in. I actually make more money there.
      I write here for few reasons, of which I just did a hub about. The major one is the community.
      Actually, I have several blogs, and they all help to sell my products, which in turns makes me more money that I will ever make here.
      I see on the front page that someone is making $1500 a month, and laugh. There is NO WAY anyone is making that much money here.
      Off to my blog. Have a great day.

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2. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   No. Splitting about 50/50 with my publisher is pretty much the normal for a good content or ebooks site.

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3. 60

   HarperDavisposted 11 years ago

   Not really, no. I signed up on my own. In my case it helps that I'm a journalist by trade and writing isn't really a chore for me. It would be nice if I received more of course (more is always better!), knowing how much I my salary is relative to HP, but as a side gig it's turning out to be quite all right.
   
   I won't say how much I've made so far, but my goal is to make enough to cover major bills like my car and insurance or cover all of my utilities. As long as I continue to make gains toward that goal I'll be fine.
   
   I do understand where you are coming from though, it's quite a bit of work to get the snowball going but after reading others' experience notes I'm positive it will pay off soon.

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4. 60

   Randy Godwinposted 11 years ago

   As some here already know, I write some hubs for money and others merely because I love the subject.  I don't make much on my creative writing, but I get much appreciated and very valuable input from those whose work I also admire.  A win-win situation, if you ask me!
   
   However, I'm often surprised at earnings on hubs I wrote just for my own enjoyment, not to mention the occasional sale.  It reminds me of those old ads I used to see in the back of comic books and magazines which simply read:
   
       How To Write For Fun and Profit
   
   I never thought it was possible! 
   
   
                                                            

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5. 87

   Jason Marovichposted 11 years ago

   I think it's <expletive> awesome that your writing is bringing you happiness.  I used to try to write through the unhappiness that comes with writing about what I don't love.  And I did it, and did it well.  Yet, I agree with you, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise, that I'm surprised at the positive readership I get on some of my stories, on HubPages.  That's probably why I'm in the forums writing this. 
   
   There's plenty of speculation among top writers on publishing sites, that Google is beginning to identify semantic quality.  That's a rather exciting development for writers.  You know, writers...

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      Randy Godwinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, Jason!  "Online Writer" sometimes seems to be dirty words these days!  I hope it actually becomes respectable to be called such one day. 
      
                                               

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6. 78

   Sally's Troveposted 11 years ago

   That's the way it is, buy into it or not. I've got lots of other things I could be bitter about.

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7. 0

   paxwillposted 11 years ago

   If you don't like the return, you can always take your articles off of HubPages and post them on another revenue sharing site, or your own site, or sell the rights them for a flat fee to someone who buys web content. This is not the only game in town.

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8. 88

   lobobrandonposted 11 years ago

   Just got comments on my tomato series from a person who said she loved the website for helping her with all her tomato questions (My hubs not the website actually) and that I helped with his/her daughters project. Guest users did say thanks before, but these comments really made my day. I was on checking the analytics and I noticed that apart from one all my tomato hubs were viewed by this person.
   
   I do like the earning part; but, I feel great when what I write is appreciated by people.

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9. 65

   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   I think of it like this, if you ride on a roller coaster for long enough the ups and downs start to become normal. Passive income,not really,passive no too many updates needed, income no, now it is cake money - yes maybe.
   
   Amazon adding the little red button for Pin's to their pages. I believe has resulted in people adding items as pins to purchase at a later date, rather than as an item purchased then or put in the basket.
   
   After sending more than 200 people/visits to Amazon from across my different places of writing; I saw that I was making a few cents from a sale. That does feel more like voluntary work than anything else.
   
   Hey folks, you can now pin it instead of putting it in the basket or buying it. When they return later it means no commission; Amazon and the customer are connected by our writing but we are factored out of the resulting sale.
   
   When I feel; what is the point, I write something on my own blogs. Usually it is something to help people learning to compost or grow vegetables. Not money makers but it is good to keep writing. At the moment I am trying to encourage people in England to make space for hedgehogs to survive on their allotments at as their numbers are in decline. I mean the hedgehogs are in decline not the vegetable growers who have allotments.
   
   The roller coaster is - more than HubPages,it is Google,Amazon,the economy and more.

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      cloverleaffarmposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have never used the Pinterest button. Honestly, I have checked out that site, and it is just a bunch of "stuff" from other places.

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10. 62

    Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

    I can't see being bitter over what HP gets out of the deal. 
    
    The way I see it, I can pay a couple of bills with what I earn each month from stuff I didn't write in that month.  It's a different "pay deal" than with other types of writing, and I signed on for it.  Even with what I earn, though, HP isn't particularly getting rich of me, personally. On the other hand, a lot of other people are earning enough to at least pay a couple of bills each month; so the volume that gets HP its money means there's also volume when it comes to number of people who at least earn enough to pay a couple of bills.  If I'd made other choices with some of the things I'd be earning more than I do right now.  It's not HubPages' fault that I so often "do my own thing" because I prefer it.   As for the poster who "gets miffed" and "laughs" at the $1500/month "claims"/statements:
    
    I'm always surprised to see that someone thinks it's laughable that others are said to have made $1500 a month because it's not at all.  My earnings have been down since about February (but still would have covered some bills), but I know what I'd earned previously from Ad Sense only (even so often "doing my own thing")  I'd done very little with Amazon at the time, and I've never been someone who writes more a few Hubs a month (unlike those who write daily, for example).  As a result, I've never had more than 330 or so Hubs here because I keep deleting.  Even with all that, if, in the four-plus years I've been on here, I'd written the 1000-plus Hubs that some of those others who earn over 1000 a month do, I'd have been earning over 1000 a month on this site too, even without Amazon effort. Or, if I'd put in a shred of effort into bringing traffic to my stuff I'd be earning a lot more than I do now as well.  As it is, my Hubs have been a spare-time/skimmed-time thing done with whatever leftover mental energy I have after "the rest of life" is dealt with; and I've been happy enough to make my spare few thousand dollars a year doing that.  I, personally, don't have anything to be "bitter about" or "miffed at" when it comes to this site.  If the site earns "big money" giving thousands of people a place to earn even a few thousand a year in passive income good luck to the people who put it together.
    
    I have no particular attachment to this site (beyond being used to it), so I could decide to do something different in my extra time tomorrow if reason to do that should crop up, for example, tonight); so I have no real reason to defend it other than not liking seeing anyone/anything "bad-mouthed" for what is not true, or for what could stand a little more perspective.  People choose to write on this site and know what they're signing on for in terms of how it works.  I really don't get signing on and then being "bitter".   (My perspective:  HubPages sure as hell isn't getting rich off my individual earnings; and if they decreased their cut to 5% they still wouldn't be getting rich off them.  Whereever else they get their money isn't my business.)

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