Blasting News: Writing Site
I've been looking to expand my horizon in writing experiences and read " On Writing for Blasting News " by member littlenancy . What she explained piqued my interest in the site, so I joined there and have thus far written almost two articles. (I'll explain that in a bit.)
My intent here is not to repeat what littlenancy explained, but to share my experience there thus far and provide a few tips for anyone who might be thinking of joining there too.
How Have I Written ALMOST Two Articles on Blasting News?
The Blasting News writing tool limits the open time of writing to 60 minutes. I completed one article within that time frame, submitted for approval and this article was posted. I had then written a second article, all but complete but for one required link and poof! the entire article was gone when the 60 minutes expired. Ugh!
But I'm learning and wanted to share this knowledge before it happened to someone else. I felt discouraged, but had only myself to blame for the snafu.
If you're thinking, " I don't need 60 minutes to write a 2,000 character article," then please read on for the remainder of the requirements for an article there.
Useful Details About Requirements in Blasting News
Once you join the site , you can find what is called the "Guide Blaster" that explains the ins and outs of the site and the guidelines for writers. It's all straightforward and easy to read.
* Title and subtitle required for each article. Although not stated in the Guide Blaster , there is a character minimum and maximum for these areas you'll need to work with.
* Photo: Photos are theoretically not required, but I highly recommend using. Only copyright free photos may be used and you'll verify you have permission to use photo before it will be uploaded. Minimum size is 660x360 px with a maximum size of 5 Mb.
A caption will be required for the photo, also with a character maximum and minimum.
* All articles must be at least 2,000 characters in length, with a recommended maximum of 3,500 characters.
* Each article is required to contain at least two links, no more than three, to related articles within Blasting News.
I can tell you that I am finding this the most challenging aspect of article writing there. I write in the U.S., which is one of the newer areas at the site, meaning there are fewer articles from which to choose for those links and I have yet to find an ability to "Search" within the site.
There is more to know about writing at Blasting News, which you can find in littlenancy 's post or in the linker Guide Blaster above. I mentioned the details above because I think to remain in that window of open time to write articles there, pre-finding some of these required elements and writing your article first in a word program BEFORE you open the article writing field will prevent you from losing a nearly complete article due to timing out such as I experienced.
*****None of the links in this post are referral or affiliate links*****
FOPP - BlastingNews - WritingSite - GuideBlaster
Image Credit » https://pixabay.com/en/news-business-newspaper-theater-760984/ by 777546
Comments
MegL wrote on October 24, 2015, 4:55 PM
Losing an article because of a time limit would totally make me see red! Thanks for the heads up.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 4:57 PM
I was miffed, no way around it. The whole thing was complete save one required link. I will be wiser from here on out and employ the method I recommended here.
Kasman wrote on October 24, 2015, 5:02 PM
We live and learn! I also read littlenancy 's post and checked out Blasting News but not to any great depth. Glad to read this post. It gives useful information - and I would likely have fell into the same trap you did!
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 5:06 PM
It's not the easiest website to navigate, at least not for me, but thus far I can do the basics. I did learn lesson and shared here to perhaps prevent someone else learning the hard way. : )
1xstitcher wrote on October 24, 2015, 5:25 PM
So when you say you write "articles" for Blasting News, is it, as the name implies, "news" type articles? What sorts of things do you write?
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 6:13 PM
Blasting News is an international site for trending news....the U.S. is one of the newer countries added. Yesterday I attempted to write about Hurricane Patricia, my first article was something political, but I don't recall exactly what it was.
xstitcher wrote on October 24, 2015, 6:15 PM
I hope you do well, there. I'm not a fan of writing about news myself.
1Lillybell wrote on October 24, 2015, 6:59 PM
Are you supposed to write news articles on there?
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 7:44 PM
News and opinions about trending topics -- you might want to give the opinions option a try and see how it works for you.
Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 7:46 PM
Yes, Lillybell ...news and opinions on news are what the site is looking for. They are also careful about plagiarism, no copy & paste, etc. A source link must be provided at the end of the piece so that the info can be ascertained to be from a reliable source.
VinceSummers wrote on October 24, 2015, 7:54 PM
Tell us more, later. I'm tired of half-baked, low-paying writing sites. My time is worth more.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 8:13 PM
I'm not sure what else you'd want to know, later. Between this post and littlenancy 's that's about all there is to know unless you join there yourself.
AliCanary wrote on October 24, 2015, 10:44 PM
I think your advice to write ahead of time in Word is very good. I edit meticulously, so I am fairly slow at writing. Shame on them for not having a Save feature! So basically you get 60 minutes write as much as you can? That's kind of odd, I must say.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 24, 2015, 10:57 PM
If there is a "Save" or "Draft" feature, I haven't found them. I don't know how long the site has been around, but there are some other issues that suggest a lack of maturity. The list of tags from which you must choose at least one is very limited and for the most part very specific. I read that you can ask administration to add tags, but if the article you're writing needs those tags, I doubt the response would be timely enough to apply.
Paulie wrote on October 24, 2015, 11:40 PM
Thanks for your experiences in writing on Blasting News. I haven't looked at this site yet.
Feisty56 wrote on October 25, 2015, 12:18 AM
Because it is an international site, you might find that Thailand is a choice for you to choose. I know there are many countries represented there, but I don't recall if Thailand is on the list -- if that's the country you'd want to be writing for, that is.
Paulie wrote on October 25, 2015, 1:49 AM
If I wrote articles on Thailand, I would have to be very selective because there are certain things you can't really talk much about in Thailand. They are the royal family, politics, and Buddhism.
1Rufuszen wrote on October 25, 2015, 12:55 PM
Thanks, will be having a look a this one.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 25, 2015, 1:02 PM
Ah yes, I had forgotten about those edicts there.
Feisty56 wrote on October 25, 2015, 1:04 PM
Cool beans -- if you join up, please look for me (deb jones) so we can friend one another. I'm kinda lonely there. : )
markgraham wrote on October 25, 2015, 1:36 PM
Living and learning that is what life is all about.
1BarbRad wrote on October 26, 2015, 4:29 AM
Judging from your experience, this would not be my kind of site. Is there any financial incentive for writing there?
1Rufuszen wrote on October 26, 2015, 1:35 PM
Will do, but I am right in thinking there is a seperate site for the UK?
1Feisty56 wrote on October 26, 2015, 4:47 PM
Yes, separate portion for the UK -- we can still be friends.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 26, 2015, 4:51 PM
It is indeed, markgraham
Feisty56 wrote on October 26, 2015, 4:54 PM
Actually, BarbRad , I wrote another post there last night using the same advice I'd provided here and the posting went well. (Thankfully) The site does pay decently and it's according to the views a post receives. littlenancy described it in her post about the site, which is where I first learned about it.
ViperGirl85 wrote on October 26, 2015, 8:27 PM
I'll have to look into this; it's always good to have additional eggs in the basket. Thanks! :)
1Feisty56 wrote on October 27, 2015, 9:30 AM
You're most welcome! If you decide to join up at Blasting News, look me up if you get the chance so we can connect as friends there.
NickRThomas wrote on October 29, 2015, 2:22 PM
The lost article - I am sure we've all been there! This site certainly sounds as if it's worth investigating.
1Feisty56 wrote on October 29, 2015, 2:59 PM
It was truly my fault as I was aware of the timed interval. It's a great place to be.
1CoralLevang wrote on November 2, 2015, 2:21 PM
Another place to check out, if there is time. LOL
1Feisty56 wrote on November 2, 2015, 6:03 PM
CoralLevang , with several articles written and published there now, I can say that I'm enjoying my experiences there. I followed my own advice in this post and no longer have to be concerned about the time constraints.