Article formats include how-tos, concrete advice, tips, reviews, interviews, profiles, ... but avoid like the plague first-person diary accounts, recycled press releases, blatant self-promotion, cheap sales pitches, straight-up lists, rants or propaganda (religious, political etc.) out to convert. We'd love to be able to do fiction, poetry or memoir but these don't work well on the Web, so no. Articles must be written wholly by you but not in the first person 'I' voice and should be tightly focused, offer concrete examples, cite verifiable sources, and captivate us from start to finish. See our full content guidelines here.
Yup, though it has to fit within our 10 sections and if you only want to write about yourself for a small constituency then that's called a blog or MySpace or Facebook homepage and go crazy on these sites. We want you to write articles based on your experience that would benefit a discerning but searching population, get to the point with accuracy, detail, specifics... does that sound like you? Don't generalize - people are looking for exacting details and not sweeping statements that don't really answer the question. If you're a professional, bring it on. If you're new to this, but have information worth sharing, we'll give you a leg up. If you're a professional writer but new to the Web, step up and we'll show you the ropes.
That is what we're saying. We know this is risky, but our spam-busters are working round the clock to sniff out pure self-promotion, business pitches, offensive rants, and all other forms of anti-article. Don't push us though. If you keep it up, you're blocked and if you wow us from the gate, you're our new best friend.
We have an editorial team (Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Multimedia Editor), who tweak titles for clearer keywords, add subheadings, shorten paragraphs, fix grammar, copyedit for typos and misspellings, check links, remove unsubstantiated material, and generally fix it up, but this is really your job before you submit and we're inclined to take it offline until you fix it if there's more wrong than right. We work 1-on-1 with you to improve the quality of the work article to article, but meet us more than halfway and we'll heap praise and Editor's Choice Awards on your blessed head.
We send you email tips weekly, notes on each article that requires a fix, and in the newsletter and forum we teach you the magical powers of SEO (search engine optimization) as well as best practices for online professionals. We have videos, a scintillating and fairly exhaustive handbook, and we like to think our tools are pretty self-explanatory. We're not saying we're all-knowing, but we've been at this for a while so what we don't know, we'll research.
You bet, always and absolutely copyright stays with the writer.
Yes, I'm afraid you're about to be outted - you must use your full, actual, legal name (capitalize first and last name) and not a username or pen name to protect copyright. Don't register with your business name or put links to your own site in the articles - save this for the profile only as they'll be edited out of articles. We want to look legit and a story about Global Warming written by fuzzybunny is not going to win you any Pulitzers, get it?
Readers want to know about your publication credits, familiarity with your topic, relevant work experience and why they should trust you. I'm sure you have a lovely family and like long walks in the rain, but that's another site‚ so keep it PG and consider this your LinkedIn portfolio for future publishing clients or employers. Wouldn't it be nice to have all your professional work in one place?
When was the last time you were TOTALLY honest on an application? That's what we thought. These can take a lot of time to process and in the end the proof of your abilities is in the article, so we'll judge it rather than your resume. Ideally, your work demonstrates you know how to write a great lead, your facts are straight, you get my attention, I trust your credentials and you answer the key question readers are asking. Hopefully you've got good sources and spiff it up with a Creative Commons photo (credited and linked to the photographer) or a video you shot, but our editors will help you if you've overlooked anything.
Nobody writes well with a gun to her back and the world has enough deadlines already, so we figure we'll make the posting process so addictive and easy that you won't be able to tear yourself away. Barring that, there's the added incentive that if you don't post you'll never make any money or rise to the fame and fortune you so deserve. We won't kick you out of the club, but we reserve the right to poke you to see if you're still breathing.
You grant us non-exclusive electronic rights indefinitely so we can post the material on our site forever, but it doesn't prevent you from posting it elsewhere or editing it here. As long as it's live on Orato, it earns you money, forever. This is affectionately referred to as the "long tail," which means it may not earn you a fortune once, but it will earn you small amounts (micro-payments) each day, usually adding up to more than that one-time payment. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
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 or have any non-compete clauses, because we're confident that Orato will soon rank higher than those other sites and we'll get the traffic, the only catch is that you have to abide by your existing contracts elsewhere, so if articles on other sites have to be exclusive to them for a year etc., wait until this is up and then post it here too for extra cash. Might as well get paid twice, no?
Sure, as long as they scan easily for a reader on the Web (who tends to like things short - 400-600 words - and easy on the eyes with 1 or 2-sentence paragraphs) and the print publisher doesn't also/still own the electronic online rights. What better way to promote your book or an issue than excerpt it here for new audiences and offer them a teaser? Doesn't hurt to double your pleasure, double your dollar.
Of course, we know sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, or visitors, so if you've got great visuals or a video that meets our guidelines, or a podcast, why not post it here for money while YouTube, Flickr and Facebook aren't paying? The interface is awesome and the deets are on the upload form. You'll have to say enough about it that the spiders can index it properly, but otherwise who are we to stand between an artist and his audience? Remember what Orato is though - inappropriate materials will be deleted faster than you can say xxx.
A girl/guy's gotta bring in the bucks and as we're convinced we get what we pay for, we want to pay well. So‚ the short answer is Google supplies ads to Orato's pages based on its ad inventory matching the keywords that appear in your articles (video and audio voice-recognition software to come). This program is called Google AdSense and it essentially created the online economy when it debuted about 5 years ago.
Only the great and powerful Google knows the value of the click when a reader clicks on an ad link (those in the top right and bottom left corners of your articles), but Google takes its share off the top, Orato gets what's left, and we give you 20% of that. Google tracks every click on articles with your byline whenever it happens and the click value is instantly added to your account balance.
The more good articles you have, the more ads are out there to be clicked, the higher the odds they will be and you will soon be rolling in the dough. Clicks can run from a few cents to $12, and this is a function of how many advertisers are bidding for those keywords and what they're willing to pay to get your readers' attention. We aim for transparency so that's the most we can tell you, not knowing more ourselves.
We hate it when this happens. This is unlikely, and often temporary, but they reserve the right to filter content for words with which advertisers may not wish to be associated (read: bad words, blacklisted words, swear/porn words) or to change their terms or business model whenever they feel like it. Try refreshing the page and usually something will come up or tweak the text to target a synonymous set of keywords that might have more stock. Ads are also geo-targeted so just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't showing in Idaho or Brazil.
You start earning and accruing money right away, but how much depends on many factors including:
but you are paid your share of ad revenues on all your material, in full once the balance is over $10. It usually takes a few months to achieve critical mass (25 articles) so that you can rest on your laurels, so don't give up too soon or "I'm not making any money" will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Google Analytics allows us to track your revenues, pageviews, visitor numbers, keywords and referring sites that deliver traffic. We've built an interface that presents these values without you having to login to Analytics. Obsessive checking may result in screen blindness.
This is 2009 - everything is electronic now. You sign up with PayPal (not every country is serviced) using your email address and your bank information and money is simply sent to that address once a month as long as the balance is over $10 (if it's not we'll keep it for you, we promise). At the end of every month we automatically transfer the green to your account and the rest is groceries.
If you've published 25 articles, some of which have been so stellar they've earned an Editor's Choice award, then you automatically (that's right - no waiting around for Editors to find the time to review you) get promoted to Special Correspondent in your byline and get 30% of the ad revenue from your articles instead of 20%.
And wait, there's more. You also get a business card, access to free review materials, special features on your profile, and a chance to be one of Orato's exemplary go-to reporters when the media (I mean the other media) come knocking. Only Special Correspondents receive a letter of reference to make sure we know who we are talking about. Oh, and you get a set of ginsu knives (kidding).
If our readers can't even FIND the article on the page, they're not going to come back, so no, we'll never compromise the integrity of your work to make a greedy buck - it bugs us as much as it does you.
At the moment we're running this as a separate program and revenue share is not available in this format yet, but never say never. Eventually we'll customize ad type to reader behaviour per subject so that articles that get lots of readers but no clickers feature banner adds that pay per view and articles with lots of readers who click feature contextual ads. Let's just say our geniuses in the cellar are working on it.
Hey, it's my job. I live to serve. Think of something later? Drop us a line at info@orato.com.