Two months ago, I received an email invitation from Nicholas to be a travel guide writer for Melaka. My first question that pop through my mind was “Is this for real?” and the 2nd was “How this dude found me?”
Anyway, the email sounded decent and I don’t see any words such as “FREE” or “INVEST” or “MAKE TONNES ON $$” which 98% = “SCAM” . So, my first impression was probably some young group of poeple like myself trying to source talents from the internet for some project. The project turned out to be A4trip guidebook and I was rather impress with the a4trip’s official blog, a4trip is because I was actually looking for opportunities use the internet to earn some income. But, to do so, I need some experience and I think a4trip can be one of the best platform around to explore this field. With the flexibility they provide by doing it on a part time basis and the support from the team, I feel it’s suitable for many working adults who would like to contribute in writing a guidebook of their hometown, to participate in animal conservation project and generating some side income from their work.
But I believed many writers will have a feeling that can the guide book sells or doubt the a4trip team’s credibility. Of course even I feel the same thing at the beginning. But after meeting with Pin, ChinSeng and YC, I got pretty excited. Its the people behind it that actually inspires me to work together with a4trip. We shared stories ,experience , knowledge and make FRIENDS!
Why royalty income and not a one shot pay? Haha, this is a very interesting question. If you just get a one shot pay , wouldn’t it be no different than getting another part-time job? Try imagine going to 1.com office everyday just to complete the guidebook and leaving your present job and hometown. Because you have been paid to do so!
But with royalty income , things are more towards a win-win partnership. a4trip doesnt need to ‘employ’ any writers and writers don’t have any strict job like commitments. Writers are free to work according to agreed time lines and work pace. The beauty of royalty income is that it’s a one time work where writers generate incomes through sales of the guidebook. What if the guidebook that you write sells 500 copies worldwide for the first month? Thats 500 x USD 0.30. That’s USD 150! How about next month? If it has great responds thanks to the marketing team and sells for 1000 copies for the subsequent months? Thats USD 300/month by just writing a guidebook only once. But we need to give our best effort and be confident of our abiities if we wanted to achieve success.
I’m currently doing some background research on Melaka despite a tight schedule. Yes, the writing process can be a little troublesome when you don’t know where to start! Haha. But, you can see my writing progress in my blog. Thanks!
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