We all like to think that we can get paid for writing, especially for writing a list of things! Listverse is a popular website that publishes lists and, if they like your work enough, they’ll even pay you $100 USD! Anyone can do it, you don’t need any special qualifications or a degree, you don’t need to have been a writer for years, nothing like that whatsoever. What you do need are a few good ideas that haven’t already been published and the time to sit and write. And, if you are good enough and you are creative enough to come up with more neat ideas, then you can make some pretty serious pocket money! How do you get into all this? By following the ten tips over the next three articles. So, if you are interested, read on and find out how to get started:

Only Write What You Know About

This is the number one rule for any type of writing, particularly lists, but it is always the number one concern of all newbies to writing. So many people think that they don’t know anything, therefore they can’t write anything – seriously, you don’t need a degree in writing lists before Listverse lets you write about a specific subject!

In fact, I will guarantee you that you already have an idea or two in your brain right now! The best thing about writing lists is that you can choose any topic and it can be broad or it can be narrow. The only limit is your creativity! Do it now; write down a list of everything that you know something about and then pick a subject that you know the most about.

Work Your Angle Out

Okay, you have picked your topic so now you need to decide what list is going to come from it. You need to be a bit clever here; Listverse doesn’t want boring lists, they want fun, unusual, original and astounding lists. The better it is in these respects, the more likely you are to get it published and get that $100 winging its way to you. One thing you should not be concerned with is controversy – in fact, be as controversial as you want.

Controversial ideas get people talking, get people commenting on the list and the more, the better. So, find your angle, look for a twist that will make it stand out from all the others on the same subject and you are off to a good start.

At this point, I will say that the one thing you must do before you submit your ideas is to make sure that they haven’t already been written about. Not only are you wasting your time, you are wasting their time as well and readers don’t want to see repeat lists.

Also, after you have made your list of subjects that you know about, pick a couple, find creative angles for two or three, not just one. That way, you either have a fallback if the first one goes wrong, or you have another couple of lists ready to write – more lists published = more money in the kitty.