My goodbye to Epinions.com
I just got an e-mail that Epinions.com is closing up shop. I've been on that site since 2000 and it was the first writing for the web I ever did for money.
I just thought I'd repost the goodbye post I made over at the Epinions.com forum, as much for myself for when that forum goes down as anything.
My Epinions.com story - and Goodbye
Although I've been expecting Epinions to close up shop for awhile now, I was still surprised and saddened by the announcement.
I've had some success here and got to know some good people. I thought I'd review some highlights of my Epinions experience.
I joined on June 12, 2000 and wrote 91 reviews total. I was never very prolific: I wrote five reviews in 2000, and 1 each in 2001, 2003, and 2004 (I skipped 2002 entirely).
I got back in 2008 during a "10 for 10" promotion. I wrote 39 in 2008, 34 in 2009, and 10 in 2010, and none since then.
I was fortunate enough that my firearms gear and ammo reviews really took off in 2009 and I was top rated, site wide, for 11 months that year.
I had a total of 426,549 visits (3,285 member) which got me to #7 in Sports and Outdoors and #252 overall. I'm bummed I didn't crack that "Top 250" level.
My most successful review brought in $126.15 and my worst brought in 5 cents.
My favorite review was of my old Minolta X370 35mm SLR camera that I wrote in 2000. It was a very personal review of something very dear to me. Amazingly, it's still getting hits and bringing in about 25 cents a month even now!
(My second favorite is a book review of "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll. One of my favorite books and another very personal review. It's also the first time I "let loose" a bit and tried some humor in my writing).
I've had reviews pay widely within those ranges. If you do a simple average of "money earned/# of reviews" it comes out to about $26 per review. Well worth the effort overall. (And yes, if you wanna do the math, you'll know my total earnings. Big deal).
Since I haven't written since 2010 I've just been grateful for whatever IS I've earned since I stopped writing. I've always been amazed that they continued to pay after I stopped contributing to the site.
Epinions definitely helped my writing career. My Epinions success in 2009 helped me get a title (column) at Examiner.com in Nov. 2009.
In addition to helping me get the Examiner column, writing about firearms accessories and ammo helped me develop the writing skills I now use for print magazines.
While the Examiner column (I have 3 now) isn't the most financial lucrative thing out there, I have had some success with it.
More importantly, I was able to use an Examiner article I'd already written to break into a brand new firearms magazine a year ago by agreeing to let them reprint it for free in their first "promo" issue.
That led to an ongoing relationship and I'm now contracted to write one article a month for them. I've had 12 articles published with them so far and have placed two other articles in two other firearms magazines based on those clips.
So, indirectly, Epinions played a role in all that.
As to people, I've enjoyed the people I met here. I've exchanged comments and e-mails with a few of you and there are a few I need to contact to get your e-mail to stay in touch.
That's my Epinions story. What's yours?
I just thought I'd repost the goodbye post I made over at the Epinions.com forum, as much for myself for when that forum goes down as anything.
My Epinions.com story - and Goodbye
Although I've been expecting Epinions to close up shop for awhile now, I was still surprised and saddened by the announcement.
I've had some success here and got to know some good people. I thought I'd review some highlights of my Epinions experience.
I joined on June 12, 2000 and wrote 91 reviews total. I was never very prolific: I wrote five reviews in 2000, and 1 each in 2001, 2003, and 2004 (I skipped 2002 entirely).
I got back in 2008 during a "10 for 10" promotion. I wrote 39 in 2008, 34 in 2009, and 10 in 2010, and none since then.
I was fortunate enough that my firearms gear and ammo reviews really took off in 2009 and I was top rated, site wide, for 11 months that year.
I had a total of 426,549 visits (3,285 member) which got me to #7 in Sports and Outdoors and #252 overall. I'm bummed I didn't crack that "Top 250" level.
My most successful review brought in $126.15 and my worst brought in 5 cents.
My favorite review was of my old Minolta X370 35mm SLR camera that I wrote in 2000. It was a very personal review of something very dear to me. Amazingly, it's still getting hits and bringing in about 25 cents a month even now!
(My second favorite is a book review of "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll. One of my favorite books and another very personal review. It's also the first time I "let loose" a bit and tried some humor in my writing).
I've had reviews pay widely within those ranges. If you do a simple average of "money earned/# of reviews" it comes out to about $26 per review. Well worth the effort overall. (And yes, if you wanna do the math, you'll know my total earnings. Big deal).
Since I haven't written since 2010 I've just been grateful for whatever IS I've earned since I stopped writing. I've always been amazed that they continued to pay after I stopped contributing to the site.
Epinions definitely helped my writing career. My Epinions success in 2009 helped me get a title (column) at Examiner.com in Nov. 2009.
In addition to helping me get the Examiner column, writing about firearms accessories and ammo helped me develop the writing skills I now use for print magazines.
While the Examiner column (I have 3 now) isn't the most financial lucrative thing out there, I have had some success with it.
More importantly, I was able to use an Examiner article I'd already written to break into a brand new firearms magazine a year ago by agreeing to let them reprint it for free in their first "promo" issue.
That led to an ongoing relationship and I'm now contracted to write one article a month for them. I've had 12 articles published with them so far and have placed two other articles in two other firearms magazines based on those clips.
So, indirectly, Epinions played a role in all that.
As to people, I've enjoyed the people I met here. I've exchanged comments and e-mails with a few of you and there are a few I need to contact to get your e-mail to stay in touch.
That's my Epinions story. What's yours?