While I could have updated my original Inquisitr review, there were too many changes and comments that I wanted to make. It seemed to make more sense to create a new review for the new pay model.
If you want to read my original Inquisitr review, you can find it here. This will go over the older payment models and problems with views.
The new payment model is designed to remove some of the fears that writers have had recently. There was a minimum average view count that you would need to keep your place as a writer on the site. I was just hitting it each week, but there was always the fear that my views would dip one week. It’s a shame because the site was once excellent for views. It’s the only site that I’ve found has dipped in views, especially so dramatically!
What Is the New Payment Model?
Rather than an average view count, you’re now paid in terms of points. There are different points for different things you do. The most important and relevant one for myself is the view. For each 1000 views, you get a point.
Each point is worth a set amount depending on the amount of points you gain. Considering the views I get and the fact that only view points are relevant for me, I’m not likely to hit the 100+ points to get a higher pay, so I look at it as $5 per point.
You need to have 2 points a week to be paid.
That should be easy, right? Well there are deductions that happen. If you have spelling errors, issues with duplicate articles, or problems with images (just examples) then you will lose points. You can find yourself in a negative with your first article if you’re not careful!
The points do reset each week, though. That means if you ended up in a negative one week, you wouldn’t have to write for months without pay until you got back to 0.
Inquisitr’s view is that this payment method is fairer for all writers. There is more ability to test different types of articles, since you’re paid for the total views that come in and not relying on an average amount of views.
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Are There Other Changes?
It’s not just the payment model that has changed. The number of articles you need to write a week has also changed. This has been good, as you now only need to write one a week.
This has been positive for me, since it means I get to test this new payment system to see if it’s worth it. Last week was good, but I’m not too sure about this week. Like with any new site, I’m going to give the changes a month at least to decide if they are worth it.
Last week I did make more with one article compared to the amount I’ve made with three articles over the last few months. So for one a week, it could be worth it, especially since the pay is still weekly.
Of course, there’s no average minimum that you need to worry about now, which does allow more freedom and security. The only minimum you need to worry about is getting the 2 points. So technically, there is a minimum of 2,000 views, but there are other ways to earn points, such as being one of the three Editor’s Picks for the week.
However, the pay day has changed. The payments were usually paid by the Wednesday, with most payments made on the Tuesday. Now the payments won’t be made until the Thursday.
The Skype messages about your payments are also going to be a day later than normal. I’m not sure if you find out if you’ve had any points deducted during the week, since I didn’t get any deducted last week. It is possible that you won’t find out about your total points until the Wednesday now.
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When Were the Changes Shared?
This is my bug bear with the changes. We didn’t find out until the payment model change until the day before the new system was going to be in place. While it may be considered fairer and it did work out in my favor, it may not have worked out in everyone’s. Some people were writing 10 a week to get the $15 per article guaranteed minimum. It will be much harder to get to $150 now, so people won’t have had time to factor that in.
Also, the announcement about the payment date change was last minute. We only learned on Tuesday that our payments wouldn’t happen until Thursday, although it is one of the most common mistakes with payroll, it should still have been shared with more warning. People rely on weekly pay.
Should You Write at Inquisitr Now?
I honestly can’t answer that question just yet. Right now, the system looks a little fairer than it used to be, especially if you just want to write one or two a week. However, it’s not going to be better for all. The most effective way to overcome your competition with less effort is to adopt business process automation, you can read this resource to find out how you can automate your AR process.
If you have a lot of spelling errors in your posts, it’s not going to be worth your while. If you’re relying on hundreds of dollars a week from the site, it’s not going to be for you. Last week I made $40 for the one article. This week I think I’m on track for $25. We’ll see how it goes and whether I can push out older articles that are still relevant and boost the views.
Personally, I found the payment model change slightly confusing. It feels like jumping through a lot of hoops to earn lots of extra points, which I’m just not interested in. I’m focusing on the points for the views and that’s it. The pay is now more on par with the likes of Blasting News, which I don’t rate that highly.
I’m going to play around with this for a month or so and I’ll check back in with you in September with an update.
I have noticed a few writers that I know (you included) publishing articles for Inquisitr. I was tempted to apply but not sure my articles would be accepted. I also did not know about how income could be earned for my writing work. I was glad to receive this blog post in my eMail. Thank you. You have answered a lot of questions that were on my mind.
Thank you for this updated post. I’ll start on my Inquisitr sample and at least give it a try.
How has the new payment model worked out for you thus far?
I wanted to give it a chance, but not great right now. I’m going to give it until the end of the year I think and then make my decision over whether to leave or stick around.
Hi, I’m wondering what your opinion is of the new pay scale at this point. I used to write for them but stopped for a while because life got a little crazy. I was considering trying to go back. It sounds like there may be better options given these changes.
I wanted to give the site a chance, but I’ve got nothing positive right now. I was actually looking back at payments from this time last year to around February. I was earning $300 or more per week. Now I get $15-$20 depending on how “good” the articles have done. Inquisitr just isn’t getting the views anymore. I have articles on other sites and my own blogs getting more views than Inquisitr does and many of them aren’t even in Google News.
I am thinking about writing for the Inquisitr. Is it compulsory to have a Skype ID?
Yes. Messages are done through Skype and you need to be logged into Skype when working on an article and shortly afterwards. Not that I’ve ever got anything other than automated messages through most of the time.
Hello, I’m writing for Inquisitr as well and only recently found out about this, I’m thinking of dropping them since it does not look to be worth it. Has your luck changed? Or is the compensation structure still not working for you?
Do you have any other new sites that you can recommend aside from The Inquisitr?
Thank you for sharing the details. When I applied for Inquisitr, they refrained from sharing any payment-related details. If this is by any stretch of the imagination similar to BlastngNews payment, I’d rather stay miles away from them. I have over $200 in BN that I am unable to withdraw because of weird 30 expiration policy and what not. I recently wrote for Korea Portal and was supposed to receive my payment on Dec 15, but much to my dismay, the HR and editor have stopped answering to my chats and have stuck to their reputation of cheating writers and making to submit articles for a month and not pay them. Well, I am left with no choice but to report them to our cyber crime cell. It looks like Google changed a lot more than just its algorithms, it rendered hundreds of freelance writers jobless! Sad.
Has anyone else been ripped off by The Inquisitr?
I personally am owed money, and they’re not responding to my inquiries. Meanwhile they are certainly collecting ad revenue on my work, which remains posted.
I’m wondering if there are enough of us to start a class action lawsuit to get the money we are owed.
So Inquisitr has just made some changes to the pay scale that may or may not affect a lot of writers. The good news is that they’ve done away with the editor’s picks, which I feel skewed too much toward niche-topic writers (talented as they are) who specialize in science, technology, et al. Yet the bad news is also that – if done correctly, rewarding good writers with a good 20 points ($100) per editor’s pick could motivate people to make sure they’re submitting the absolute best article they could, and not mailing it in as if they were writing for a content mill.
More good news/bad news here. Good news is that they’re now offering incentives to those who write the top 5 (instead of top 3) highest-viewed articles in a week in certain categories. Bad news is that they’ve reduced the bonus points per top-viewed article from 5 to 4, and also reduced the number of incentivized categories from something like 15 to only 10 or so.
What do I think of these moves? I think Inquisitr is trying to save a few hundred bucks a week on payroll given Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement that Facebook users will see less news articles on their feed. Of course, they don’t want their writers to know that the bleep is potentially hitting the fan for many online news sites due to the upcoming changes on FB, and they don’t want them to think that money is getting tight, what with site-wide views having yet to return to how they were back in the day.
Once again, I’m giving it a few weeks to see how things turn out (I mean, these are supposed to be small changes, but not if one or a few of your specialty topics have been de-incentivized), but since I already took a good deal of my business elsewhere after the big change to the payment model last summer, I might consider leaving the Inquisitr until things get better, IF they do get better. Sadly, the online news business is in dire straits, and might not be half as lucrative as it was in the glory days.