Monday, January 30, 2012

Yahoo! Voices Changes in Publication

Late last year Yahoo! Voices (formerly Yahoo! Contributor Network, YCN), changed their publication process.

Their old policy of allowing writers to post directly any item which received display only payments ceased.

Now material which is to be published on Yahoo! Voices must be submitted for approval.

This is ok if it improves the standard of writing, any material published in a magazine or book in the world normally has to be submitted for editorial review.

The problem is now there is no way to comment on matters as they happen. I do not know how many reviewers Yahoo! has but it isn't enough. Prior to the change items submitted for upfront payments took about thirteen days to process.  I have now had work submitted for sixteen days and counting.

By the time one researches a posting and writes and submits it,the news is old and it is only fit for history books. Now we are lagging way behind with little sign of things getting any better.The only way to beat this new system is to write about subjects other than the news. So with Valentine's Day coming up my Assignment desk is full of write something about Valentine's Day. I would be willing to bet money though, that writing such a piece would not make any money until 2013, because it won't be posted until past February 14th.

For me it would be nice if Yahoo! created a special contribution arena for news stories and once again allowed items to be placed in on a display only payment scheme. That way the public become the ultimate editorial group. If they don't like what we write, they won't read what we produce.

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