Profile of a Writer : Lela Davidson

Please welcome the newest guest blogger in the writer4web community, Lela Davidson, and enjoy her great commentary about her work at HubPages. Lela comes with the highest recommendations and I am very happy to have her here to share some of her life experiences as a writer, and hear her recommendations and insights into the world of content writing.

Hi, my name is Lela Davidson and I’m a writer and Parenting Columnist for HubPages.com, where anyone can sign up and post articles for free. I started writing about five years ago while still working as a CPA. I write short stories, memoir, web content, newspaper articles, and my humor column, After the Bubbly. However, on HubPages I write only on parenting.

I’m a paid writer for HubPages. That means I have agreed to write at least a set number of articles on my topic every month, for which I’m paid a nominal fee. It’s a very low rate so I write very fast to almost bring it up to minimum wage! I answered an ad I found on Deborah Ng’s Freelance Writing site in March and have been writing Hubs (articles) since then.

I also receive income from the Google ads that grace my HubPages. Anyone can join HubPages and generate income from the Google ads, but not everyone receives an upfront payment. There are HubPages writers who I suspect make a pretty decent amount from Adsense, but I don’t know how much. So far, since March, I’ve made about $24 from ads.

When I decided to write for HubPages, I had a couple goals in mind. First, I needed external accountability. Writing for HubPages has worked out for me because I am committed to writing a certain number of articles per month. Even if you are not a paid writer with HubPages, you can still create this accountability, but you’ll be answering to yourself. (If you’re looking for good search engine results and therefore more Google Adsense revenue, you may want to consider picking a single topic and sticking with it.)

I also wanted to increase my readership for my humor column, After the Bubbly, which focuses on family life. The parenting topic was a natural. I’ve had over 12,000 hits in three months on my HubPages and the hits on my personal website have gone up steadily since March, so I’d call this a success as well.

Notice I didn’t mention money? I can’t say it’s not important. Money is always great, but more than anything, the income I make from HubPages has helped me to think of myself as a writer. I suppose there is the opportunity for greater Google Adsense revenue, but I won’t count on it.

I’m very happy writing for HubPages, but as it turns out the best things about writing there weren’t what I’d imagined. Yes, I am more accountable and writing everyday now. Yes, my column has a few new readers. But what’s really fun is getting feedback from readers of my HubPages. It’s especially rewarding when someone has been touched my one of the more sensitive subjects. I have also learned to release some of my perfectionism. You may find spelling and grammatical errors in my Hubs, but I’ve learned to let it go. My goal has become to get good parenting information to people – and lots of it! I have learned about so many things I wouldn’t have if I weren’t writing on the topic.

Lela Davidson