WOULDN'T YOU RATHER HAVE A DIME?--Themestream vs Epinons Jun 10 '00 (Updated Jul 16 '00)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Themestream is a refreshing new web site with contributors ranging from first time authors to established technical writers; from housewives, romance writers and young writers to priests; computer geeks, nude dancers, mystery writers, and children's authors. The list of authors is almost as unique as their style of creative writing. Do you have a subject that you are passionate about? That you just can't read enough on? Want to find lots of perspectives on it all in one place? Do you love a website with constantly changing content that relates to your favorite hobby, interest or cause? Don't have time to constantly surf the web looking for relative content? At Themestream you're sure to find something to fit your mood and tastes in this fun, free-for-all writer's market. Or, do you fancy yourself a writer? Are you looking for a way to work at home, or just earn a little extra spending money? Want to network with other freelance writers or just hone your creative writing style? Need a place to create an online portfolio to showcase your writing skills? Or some stimulation to unlock that writer's block? If the magic of words put on paper (or the computer screen, in this case), is a gift that eludes you, are you looking for new talent with a fresh perspective to provide you with stimulating or unusual content for your website? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we have found just the web site for you. Its called Themestream. Here you will find over 1,700 subject categories each packed full of interesting freelance writing ranging from personal experiences, how-to's, and travel guides, to politics, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction stories, and more, each conveniently sorted by category. This interactive website is free to join and the enrollment only takes a moment. Membership gives you the privilege to leave comments on the articles you read, and the opportunity to rate them for quality of writing and how well they met your expectations. Members can also post articles of their own, and during the Preview Period each article is paid a dime every time someone reads it. Authors get a dime per page view, regardless of whether or not the reader is a member of the site. Themestream expects to launch the site officially sometime in mid-September. At that time, the rate of payments will drop to two cents per page view, but articles posted during the Preview Mode will continue to earn ten cents per view. This is paid quarterly. While in the Preview period, the site does have some technical difficulties, but they are working hard to iron them out before the official launch. In the meantime, hitting the reload or refresh button on your browser usually solves the problem when you get any of the error pages. Especially if you get a page that says to come back in 30 minutes, just hit your refresh or reload button and it will almost always take you to the page you wanted. This site is different from most "Get Paid To Write Web Sites" in that most of the content is not product oriented and authors are allowed a lot of latitude in their writing choices of style and expression. The site also has writing contests that range from friendly Writer's Challenges and Write-offs to a recent writing contest that awarded a five day trip for two to a writer's conference in Maui, Hawaii. Is Themestream better than Epinions? Well, one way to answer that question is to tell you that I made more on Themestream in ONE DAY with four articles than AN ENTIRE MONTH at Epinions with almost thirty articles. With thirty articles at Themestream, I made enough to actually live on for a month. The current rate at Themestream is ten cents per rated view of each article, in all categories. Their site says this is a temporary pay scale, but does not elaborate beyond that statement. It has been rumored this rate will drop when the site officially launches, with a target date of mid-September. Another advantage of Themestream is that the topics are more open and you can write on more personal subjects that interest you. The pay per article is the same whether you are reviewing a product or posting a short story or even poetry. The biggest advantage in my opinion is the fact that you retain the publishing rights to all your articles and can resell them, or post them wherever you wish and as many times as you like. Themestream only requests the right to post the article on their site and partner sites. Doesn't that sound more fair than Epinions? In case you didn't read the fine print of your agreement with Epinions, they limit publication of any article you submit here to use on your own personal website, only. It can't be displayed anywhere else on or off the web. I really like this idea because I can circulate those articles in opt-in mail lists and e-zines, or give them to other web sites in exchange for a link back to my sites, and get more exposure from them. Another thing they do over there is that your rating of an article doesn't count unless you were actually on the page long enough to read the article. This is great if you are an amateur writer who genuinely would like to receive constructive criticism and writing tips that are meaningful. There also doesn't seem to be as much infighting at Themestream as there is here on epinions, so I feel more confident publishing on controversial or out-of-the-mainstream topics. The negative side of Themestream compared to Epinions is that it currently has less readers rating your reviews, if this is your motivation, but I think time will take care of this. People who are actively promoting their articles are having positive results anyway, and since you get paid whether the reader is a member or not, the money actually adds up faster. I do get more comments on my opinions here at Epinions at this point, but I also get paid much less per view. Another problem of the Themestream site is navigation, which is quite confusing and slow. Your name is not automatically linked when you rate an article and you have to leave a comment for people to be aware that you have read their article. It is an awkward process trying to find another specific reviewer to read and rate their articles. Epinion's system is far superior in this regard and the search engine at Epinions is easier to use. At Themestream you have to do an Advanced Search to find an article by the author's name. However, if you are using the site mainly for reading, you do get a My Themes Page where you can set the categories of articles that interest you and it will show you only those categories or authors on that page. You can still access other categories by selecting from the home page and you can add or delete categories from your My Themes page anytime you want to. Also, Themestream does not appear to have an affiliate program, and does not yet have ad banners on their site. It is my understanding they do plan to add advertising at some time in the future, but don't know if writers will garner a share of the income for that. A hefty portion of my earnings at Epinions come from visits to my affiliate site. One more drawback of Themestream that I don't like is that payment is only made once every quarter, and checks do not go out until four to six weeks after the end of the quarter. Your earnings need to add up to $25.00 to get a check, but it appears to me that this would be easily attainable. At Epinions you can request a check anytime you have at least $10.00 in earnings owed to you. Something that may be a matter of concern for some people is the fact that Themestream does not allow you to use a pen name or alias. For example, I write on epinions as aaanativearts, but on Themestream I am listed as Raven SiJohn, which is my real name. This does cut down on the amount of abuse that the site receives, and it doesn't personally bother me to post my real name. In my opinion, I prefer the Themestream website to Epinions overall. I plan to do the majority of my writing on their site in the future, although I will also participate on the Epinions site to a lesser degree than I have in the past. This site is definitely worth looking into and can be found at www.themestream.com.

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