Suite 101
Become a Suite101 Freelance Writer
Suite101 is becoming the Web's leading online magazine for independent commentary, opinion, and advice. We are committed to attracting excellent freelance writers and building a network of committed professionals. If this describes you, apply now.
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Application process
Do I have to be a member to apply?
Yup. All you have to do is create a username and password with a verified email address, fill in your legal name and contact information for the contract and have a valid PayPal account from one of the countries they service.
How do you assess eligibility when reviewing my application form?
We review your work experience, publication credits, familiarity with your topics of interest, and read your article samples to ensure your writing is objective, original, accurate, typo-free, grammatically-correct and the sources are attributed. We're engaged from start to finish.
How do I get promoted to a Feature Writer?
You've published at least 10 articles in three months and likely more, the articles are engaging, correct, optimized for Web readers, concentrated on a topic for which we have a FW opening and the Section editor raves that you are stellar. We love you, you love us, and readers will love your content.
As a freelancer, how much creative freedom do I have to choose what I want to write about and how I want to say it?
A heck of a lot, though we aren't looking for navel-gazing bloggers, those who'd really rather just have their own homepage, hucksters out to peddle their own goods, or articles masking as confessional catharsis. We want you to write articles on your area of expertise, get to the point with conviction, humor, excitement, accuracy, and experience... does that sound like you?
Can I be a freelance writer for more than one topic?
Contributing Writers can write articles on any one of our nearly 3,000 categories while Feature Writers represent a topic and devote more time to that topic by writing a blog, moderating discussions, as well as posting weekly articles. Feature Writers can write additional articles on other topics.
Will I get help learning to be a writer for the Web?
We have an editorial team (Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, Managing Editor, 10 Section Editors), who respond in the writers' forum and in memos and work 1 on 1 with Suite101's Feature Writers. We have a series of tutorials available on special web writing tips and tricks, a fairly exhaustive handbook, and our tools are pretty user-friendly if we do say so ourselves.
Do I have to know a lot of HTML to write for Suite101?
No, we have a text editor tool that applies the code to text you want to make bold, italic, bulleted or linked; trust us, the learning curve is not steep.
Can I write for other websites while I'm writing for Suite101?
Sure, it's a free world. We know freelance writers need to make a living and you have to spread the wealth, so we don't demand you're exclusive, but your content on our site has to be for the first year.
So what do you consider an "original article"?
Articles must be written wholly by you and not appear anywhere else on the Web. Altering 10% of an article that appears identically on another site, does not constitute original material. Articles should be tightly focused, in context, well-balanced, objective, add to the debate, written in the third person, cite verifiable sources, limited in external links, and fascinating from lead to last paragraph. Article formats include "how tos," pros and cons, introductions, reviews, op-ed essays, definitions, interviews, profiles, exposes, potted histories ... you get the idea. Suite101 is not a self-publishing site, we do not accept one-liners, book-length pieces, blogging, recycled press releases, self-promotion, thinly veiled sales pitches, fiction, propaganda or personal memoirs.
How much time will it take to write an article?
We like to think it will average about an hour an article, but if you're a fast writer and thinker and have your links and photos ready, it could take less.... Um, I guess that didn't answer your question. Why don't you email a writer in the section you're interested in and ask them? Suffice it to say the more (and better) you write the more you earn, so you do the math...
What happens if I don't post articles regularly?
We'll give you as much help as we can, strongly urge you to read our tips and instructions, and check in on your stats, but if you do none of the above in the first three months, we will politely remove your writer status. You will continue to earn money if your content is still live, and feel free to re-apply at a later point in time again when you feel you are up to meeting your commitment.
If you keep my content on the site after I leave (for personal, professional, health, other reasons) do I still get paid?
Yes, we continue to track and accrue, and we pay revenues to your account monthly.
Do I own the copyright to my work? How is this different from electronic rights?
Yes, always and absolutely copyright stays with the writer. You own the electronic rights if the work you post on our site isn't under contract elsewhere on the Web. You need to be able to grant them to us for one year exclusively (and after that on a non-exclusive basis) so we can post the material on our site. After that year, you can post the same material elsewhere crediting Suite101 as the original publisher. Electronic rights are sometimes bundled with radio, TV, electronic book rights, but we are only interested in them as they apply to the Web.
If I have articles in print magazines, books, or newspapers that are applicable to my topic and I own the electronic rights, and they're "evergreen", can I republish them on the site?
Sure, as long as they scan easily for a reader on the Web (who tends to like things short and sweet) .
Can I publish the same freelance writing on some other site after a year?
Yes, that's your choice, we just want to be first.
Will you protect exclusivity during that first year by going after sites that steal my freelance work and/or don't credit it to me and Suite101?
We'll do our best if you bring it to our attention or we discover it on our own and we have a bulldog lawyer, but we need your help to monitor abuses and stay vigilant. Technically, it's your responsibility, but hey we're here to help.
How long will it take before I start to earn money as a freelance writer?
You start earning and accruing money right away, but how much depends on many factors including the rate at which you post new content, the quality of the articles, the aptness of your titles, the amount of promotion you do, the speed at which the search engines index and rank you... but you are paid your share of ad revenues on your material, in full, monthly. It could take quite a while before you consider quitting your day job, but writing for Suite101 is a "long tail" game so whatever you write will continue to earn you revenue as long as it's on the site.
What is "revenue sharing" anyway?
We are currently partnering with Google to advertise on Suite101. Google supplies ads to our site based on inventory matching the keywords (purchased by advertisers) that appear in your material. This program is called Google AdSense and it "delivers relevant text and image ads that are precisely targeted to your site and your site content. The ads are related to what your visitors are looking for on your site or matched to the characteristics and interests of the visitors your content attracts." Only they know how much the ads generate when a visitor clicks on a link, but you get a predetermined share of that when it happens, and they track it whenever it happens and add it to your balance. The more pages you have, the more ads appear, the more chances readers will click on them and make you money.
Note that we are currently working exclusively with Google for contextual advertising, however, should we partner with other advertisers in the future to greater benefit of our writers, the process would be very similar.
What happens if Google doesn't have any ads that match my content?
This is rare, and often temporary, but they reserve the right to filter content for words with which advertisers may not wish to be associated or to change their terms or business model.
So experienced writers and Feature Writers receive a bonus. How does this work?
Let's say you have already got a couple of articles on our site and get promoted to that vacant Feature Writer spot. Up to now, your articles have earned you $10 every day. You become a Feature Writer, and that means that you receive a bonus of +20% for as long as you are a Feature Writer on all your articles. All things being equal, you can look forward to $12 a day. And that's before you have counted in that topic homepage and started writing those Feature Writer articles and blog posts that should see you growing even quicker!
Do I get a share of banner advertising too?
This is a separate program and revenue share is not available to writers in this format.
How do I know what I'm earning?
Suite101 has a stats program that you can see privately whenever you log in so you can keep an eye on your revenues, pageviews, visitor numbers, keywords and referring sites that deliver traffic. Warning: obsessive checking may result in screen blindness.
Do you send me a check?
This is 2007 - everything is electronic now. You sign up with PayPal using your email address and your bank information and money is simply sent to that address, which is automatically transferred to your bank account.
How do I get access to review materials?
Many publishers have very good experience with the objective style of Suite101 Feature Writers, so introduce yourself politely as an accredited Suite101 Feature Writer and request to be included in their distribution list for CDs, books, etc. - whatever falls into your demonstrated topic of special expertise.
How do I get an editorial letter of reference?
Only Feature Writers are eligible for receiving a letter of reference, and they must have held that status for at least 6 months to make sure we know who we are talking about.
I can't think of anything else. Why are you still hanging around?
Hey, it's my job. I live to serve.
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