by Sylvia Harrison

Created on: October 05, 2011   Last Updated: November 28, 2011

Personally, I prefer up-front payments on a more regular basis. There are many advantages to the up-front payment, particularly when those payments are used as salary supplementation to another job. I love to write. I would probably do it anyway. But getting paid for an article or story at the time it is completed and accepted is a great feeling and a boost to my personal economic situation.

Income from page views is also a good thing but this type of income is much slower in coming. The perfect combination, in my point of view, is to be paid up-front when an article is completed and also be paid residual income from page views. It is a boon to the writer's self esteem to actually be able to "see" that his article is being viewed by others and, hopefully, making a difference in someones life, somewhere.

Up-front payments are, indeed, a much quicker boon to self esteem. It is a good feeling to see your article in print and have payment posted on the same day. There is a feeling of accomplishment and pride in knowing "you did it!"

Especially for the less unseasoned writer, like myself, this feeling of accomplishment is an integral part of believing in what you are doing, what you can do, and what you have done.

The question put forth in this debate is "Do you prefer earning from page views or up-front payments?". There are several content sources that I, personally, write for or have written for. Helium is consistent, Demand Studios tends to be a bit overbearing, Triond allows one to express himself but pays little and so on. Being relatively new, my own opinion is based on only the last few months of writing, (when I began to think of it as a more serious endeavor).

I do prefer up-front payments with page view earnings as a bonus to that after payment. What I like the best? I truly enjoy writing articles that may help someone, somewhere deal with situations that I might be able to offer stable advice on. I truly enjoy reading articles, like those in this debate, which can give me some personal insight on situations I may find myself researching. For instance, the articles on this particular debate have given me even more ideas where I might branch out and/or improve my writing.

Each to his own opinion, but, for me, payment is a necessity and up-front payments put another gallon of milk in the fridge for the grand-kids! Whereas, page view payments compare to a savings account that I can watch grow day after day!

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