Well, it seems that I now have money from Examiner. Unfortunately, it took over six months for them to decide to pay me! (Oh, and it also took threatening to expose them through Angela Hoy’s site, Writer’s Weekly.) I contacted Angela, who has made a practice out of calling deadbeat publishers to task, with all the details. She contacted Examiner.com and gave them a chance to respond. Within 48 hours I had a payment in my PayPal account, an email notification from Examiner, and a telephone voice mail from them, checking to make sure I had received the payment and that everything was now okay.
You know, I’m glad they paid me, but it shouldn’t take the threat of being exposed to the world as a deadbeat for them to live up to their obligations.
Thanks, Angela!
#1 by Barbara Hudgins on March 21st, 2010
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Yeah, I noticed that in Angela’s weekly which I read also.
Funny, I hate Examiner but I’m still with them because every once in a while there’s a news item I can write up. Have made very little money with them, which I think is the norm.
Seems celebrity topics and SEO expertise are the key to making anything with them. Was wondering what happened to you –weren’t you the Atlanta writing examiner or something like that? There’s a Boston writing examiner on my LinkedIn Examiner group who is very nice but she complains of getting very few views also.
Barbara Hudgins – New Jersey Day Trips Examiner
#2 by Tony Burton on March 22nd, 2010
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Barbara,
Yes, I was the Atlanta Writing Examiner–or rather, one of them. I believe that probably reduced my page views, because at one time there were three Writing Examiners in Atlanta. I honestly didn’t expect to make much money, but it bothered me a great deal when they kept saying they would pay, and saying they would pay, but finally it took a threatened exposure to force their hand.
I agree that celebrities—oh and scandals and sports—are the biggest page view draws. If you write about someone like Tiger Woods, you get the Triple Word Score effect!
#3 by Deanna on April 20th, 2010
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Sorry to hear that it took you so long and so much work to get payment out of Examiner. I’ve been with Examiner since October 2009 and they have always paid me on time when I reached payout. I do think it is very true that the local Examiners don’t make too much money, but I haven’t given up on them yet. I recently applied for and became a National Examiner, so I’ll see how that goes as compared to my local gig. Thanks for letting us know about your problems with Examiner and that it finally was resolved (after many threats – ugg!)