Skip to main content

One-Year Review of Writing on NewsBreak




I started writing on NewsBreak around the end of Dec. 2022 with my first published article on Dec. 25 (an unintentional date, but isn’t it fitting). It was about the renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course and it has accumulated 129 views up until now.

The renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course in Eastern Oregon | NewsBreak…

Although I started writing in Dec. 2022, I didn’t start making money until February because I had to apply and be approved. This entailed having 100 registered followers, writing ten articles, applying, and waiting around for a month. Here are the details of my journey if interested.

Approval Time for NewsBreak Monetization

Being a seasonal golf course greenskeeper, I have 4 months in the off-season to write more on NB, writing around 10–20 articles a month. During the other 8 months, writing is just a part-time effort — I usually write 1–2 articles a month.

The theme for all of my articles at NewsBreak is #Oregon.

Here are my stats for the last 13 months:

  • 112 articles (average 8.62/month)
  • 14 million impressions
  • 704k views
  • 8,667 likes
  • 2,720 followers
  • 9744 comments
  • 8108 shares

The total amount made up until now:

  • $3,597.98
  • $32.12/article
  • $300/month
  • $5.11/RPM

The most popular article so far is:

Should 1998 Thurston High School shooter Kip Kinkel be let out of prison? His sister thinks so |…

It has 109,803 views and made me around $675.

The exact dollar amount made is hard to calculate the way NB does stats, as it goes month by month and doesn’t give a total for all time with each article.

The runner-up has 109,668 views (essentially a tie for first):

Woman shoots a gun at the Portland International Airport to avoid shooting her family

The article with the most comments (1,618) is ( BTW this article was basically ignored at Medium — I syndicate select NB articles):

Opinion: Most communities in Oregon and the US are Republican, yet Democrats are in charge

The article with the most likes (891) is ( stirred up a hornet's nest, so they made me change the title, it was better before),

Trump agrees with the conclusion of Oregon Secretary of State to keep him on primary ballot |…

The article with the most shares (1,190) is:

Accepting pro-LGBT views is now a requirement for adopting children in Oregon

Those are the stats and details of my writing career at NewsBreak. Hopefully, the popular news app will continue valuing its local contributors in the future, so I can keep making money writing about Oregon!

NB has been my best earner as a writer, blogger, and author. I also write for HubPages, Medium, Vocal, Blogger, WordPress, and my books. Out of all of these writing income sources, NB has far surpassed them.

For instance, my most popular book has made around $600 in its lifetime (nine years old). My most popular article on NB made more than that. Just one article that took about two hours. Wow.

You never know when and where you will get favor. I started out writing for All Voices in 2013 before I started blogging at Blogger and WordPress. All Voices turned into a closed system with select writers…It has been a long online writing road…Squidoo…Daily Two Cents…Bubblews…Teckler…InfoBarrel…Persona Paper…

Unfortunately, if you’ve been writing online long enough, you realize how transient and capricious things can be when it comes to long-term stability with platforms. Things change and sometimes the platform doesn’t make it — HubPages is in the throes of this now, will it change and survive? Hopefully, it’s had a long run of nearly two decades, starting in August 2006.

NewsBreak could change as well. AI seems to be the culprit of future gloom for most creative platforms. Until the bots take over I’ll keep writing online, remembering to stop and smell the roses along the way.

Here is the help page explaining what is required to apply for monetization if you are interested in writing for NewsBreak:

Monetization options and application


Originally published at Medium

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5 Topics Hotels Can Consistently Blog About

Starting a blog to complement a website and other digital marketing efforts is a great idea for hotels, yet what should their blogs be about? Consistently posting blogs about interesting topics sometimes isn't that easy. In an effort to help, let's discuss 5 topics hotels can consistently blog about to gain traction online. 1. Local Attractions and Destinations: cc from pxhere.com Local SEO is vitally important to gain attention from search engines, in order to stand out to prospective guests interested in staying in the hotel's local area. Blogging about local attractions gives hotels a large topic to draw upon when brainstorming blog ideas. Even if the hotel is in a relatively isolated location or smaller town, there's always something to write about when it comes to local attractions or destinations. Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, concert halls, sports stadiums, race tracks, wilderness attractions, parks, historical sites, and more can be highlighted in a ho...

The Following Leaders on Medium

I remember one distinct moment during a career development course at a community college I attended 21 years ago when the professor asked us to stand up and do an exercise.  She asked the class to separate themselves into two groups; those who thought of themselves as leaders on one side of the classroom and those who thought of themselves as followers on the other.  This question came without warning at the beginning of the class, so we didn’t have time to think it through. The result was probably more sincere because of this suddenness.  For some context, the class consisted of about 30 students, mostly young adults under 21 YOA; I was about 21 years old. An interesting thing happened.  An Important Life Lesson in Social Perception The vast majority of the class went to the leader side of the class and only two of us went to the follower side. I was one of the followers along with another young man. How awkward; then the professor focused on us followers and ask...

City of the Damned

The people have been spoiled by wealth and ease The city is a place to hide for the damned Wicked hearts full of evil Fearful and suspecting Not able to discern evil or good As they judge everyone according to status and money They’ve lost something important Yet are unaware of the tragedy They’ve been conditioned They’ve been brainwashed By a targeted social engineering program The city is full of pride Haughty people in vain pursuits People who love money and pleasure People who don’t fear God, nor think they are mortal They are ignorant of their miserable state They mistake it for a cloak of glory When it is a rotten rag that stinks like sin Fake smiles and conversations Fearful motives as they accuse and manipulate They destroy and cause chaos With their lies and deceit All those who have discernment should stay far away From the city of the damned

3 Ways Small Brick and Mortar Businesses Can Leverage their Websites

Not every modern business is tech-savvy and proficient with digital marketing; in fact, 36% of America's small businesses don't even have a website ; and many of those that do, have nothing more than a lonely website in the shadows. While this is a good start, this type of strategy isn't going to attract many website visitors. The good news is, it doesn't take a marketing genius to start gaining traffic to a business's website, yet it does take some time and effort to develop and execute a viable digital marketing strategy. In an effort to help, let's examine 3 ways small brick and mortar businesses can leverage their websites. 1. Optimize the Website's Sales Funnel: The first thing businesses need to do is optimize their website's sales funnel to make conversions . For brick and mortar small businesses like retailers, restaurants, event centers, etc., gaining a visitor's email is a conversion; for small businesses offering professional se...