Wikio to OverBlog Transition

I have been checking in at the Wikio site everyday since they announced the big switch-over. I wasn't planning to make the switch-over, but I've been watching my pennies slowly add up on the Wikio revenue page and knew, even though it's not a lot, I would never see the money if I didn't make the switch. (At least, it's very unlikely since there is no way to click the invoicing button if you can't get to the page where it is. Also, I wanted to be able to dish on the new site and what it's like.)

The transition was pretty simple. You select your subdomain name, if you're a Suite writer you already know about that stuff, read a long page of legalese to set up the blog. (By the way, they claim full rights to your blog posts, pictures, and anything you post.) Then you go to another page of legalese (completely written in French so some of us have to use a translator tool to read it)where it describes the monetization of your work. They actually post the formula for calculating your earnings, so there is some transparency there that you don't get with other sites.

"The remuneration is therefore calculated in accordance with the popularity of the Blog using the following formula:

Popularity= popularity ranking based on the [system for analysing traffic on the Blog]/100 * Rate of advertising coverage * Unique visitors/1000

Gross remuneration = Popularity * CPM" (Directly quoted from the contract as translated by Google translator.)

At the end of the switchover process, a message pops up saying that access to OverBlog will be granted in a couple of hours, so while you can look around the site, you can't immediately get into your account.

I actually think the site has some potential, and while I don't plan to invest a lot of time there, I do plan to post once a week or maybe once a month while I am making my final assessment of OverBlog.

(I seem to be having a typo day today, so to anyone who read this when it was fresh - sorry about that.)

Good-Bye Wikio Experts, Hello OverBlog?

Another good writing site bites the dust. Ignore my earlier post about writing for Wikio Experts.

The site sent out emails today informing writers that Wikio is closing and articles will be transferred to the OverBlog site. I won't waste your time by posting the entire message. It is already posted on several other sites anyway. If anyone wants to see it, however, leave a message and I'll get it to you.

Upfront payments are gone. Even articles already claimed and in writer's queues will no longer earn an upfront payment.

Joel, the moderator in Wikio forums, is promising this is going to be a positive change, with writers pleasantly surprised when the details are released.

Added, he did stress that the kind of writers they want are the writers who write for the love of writing rather than the love of money; and writing there should be about enjoying writing rather than for work.

I checked out OverBlog, and found the details to be a bit sketchy. I guess they are in flux along with Wikio Experts.

Without the rest of the details, I cannot see much point in continuing with the site, or continuing to encourage others to sign up. I recommend moving into wait-and-see mode when it comes to this site. It could turn out worthwhile, but it is too early to tell.

When further details are released, I will share as quickly as possible for those of you who are interested.