Another Writer Mill: AllVoices.com

I'm mostly going to point to Angela Hoy's post about what appears to be yet another writer mill: AllVoices.com. An important point she makes is about minimum pay-out numbers. As most writers don't make diddly at these sites, a minimum aggregated sum for getting paid likely means that most of the earnings remain in the pocket of the publisher. Here's how the site responded to her email to it:

The new program is about building a personal brand, writer's portfolio and citizen journalism. We try very hard to help users make money by teaching them how to promote their material (and promoting it ourselves). Also, we're bringing in partners that will sponsor the top writers. Passionate and quality writers can build great momentum and earn money. We're driving 2.7 million visitors to our site each month. Even though we say "the money you make depends on how well you do", for a lot of writers it's not about the money. It's about writing and sharing their opinions.

Now, let's assume $10 cost per thousand for advertising. That's at least $27,000 a month in revenue, or $324,000 a year. That's actually not a huge amount for a business, but, still, it's a business, not a charity. But it is trying to position itself as a place that will "promote" what writers do. You might as well create your own site and work to develop an audience that's interested in you, rather than grabbing some tiny percentage of whatever the site's overall traffic is.