AboveTopSecret.com Is Now Paying For Great Stuff

The Launch of AboveTopSecret.com Premium

As we ramp up our efforts to launch a number of new initiatives, one of our next projects is the development of an "AboveTopSecret.com Premium Content Collection". As is typical, websites with "premium content" will charge special access or subscription fees to enable access to a higher-order of material that has been acquired through payments to a select group of authors. And, as always, AboveTopSecret.com will not be typical.

Our Premium Content Collection will be free to all, distributed through our email newsletter subscription database of over 55,000 subscribers, and posted to the discussion board for member participation.


Paying $75.00 Or More

To encourage great writers to submit, and great writing from ATS members, we're now paying a minimum of $75.00 (USD) for accepted submissions. Our Email Newsletter Submission Form has been revamped to include information about the new payments and upgraded content guidelines. Authors who would like to submit material but feel their work warrants a higher payment will have the opportunity to negotiate terms after a submission is accepted.

Obviously, if we're calling this "premium content" we expect high-quality submissions. Essentially, we expect that the material we accept for publication will be the best-thread starters we've ever seen. Your submissions should not contain any spelling or punctuation errors, and be well-researched with supporting documentation if needed.


What Are We Looking For?

Simple, anything that fits within the general topics discussed on AboveTopSecret.com and can range from exceptionally provocative opinion pieces to detailed research articles.

Ideally, a submission should begin with a discussion that exists on AboveTopSecret.com, reference the points made in the discussion, and take the topic much further through excellent research and insightful conclusions.

Or, find a timely topic that should be covered more in our discussions, but may be too complex for most people to comprehend. Your article could simplify and give life to a complex subject that would benefit from an increased awareness and understanding among our members and visitors.

And updated research on historic conspiracies, paranormal, and UFO events are always an excellent way to help our newer members become more well-rounded students of "alternative topics."


How Often Will We Publish?

We're looking to deliver an average of two Premium articles via the newsletter subscription service every week. As time goes on, we'll be developing additional methods for content delivery and a higher frequency of publication, so stay tuned.

Wow... just Wow...

Once again, the Amigos step up and take ATS to the next level.

This truly is a "community" and not just a discussion board.

This is great!!!!

But what will happen with people in the past that had submitted great work?

Will they get credit, or this is just for new submissions.

This is just for new submissions to the revamped service.

Great idea

It's great that the members now have a chance to share in the sucess of ATS. I think this will help produce some very high quality content for the readers.

Keep up the good work!

This is great. This is the future of journalism. This gives people the incentive to check their facts as well.

awesome...

but, whose pocket will this be coming out of

SO sure had me going. For a minute there it sounded like ATS was going to become a site you have to pay for to see.

Dirty rotten trick that was.

It got my attention though. Alas, my writting skills aren't up to par, so no money for me. Still, SO's announcement was even more interesting, when viewed in the light of another article posted on the web today which coincided with the timing and perhaps spirit of this thread.

A career newspaper man, (Phil Power), wrote an article today about something similar. He was mostly bemoaning the state of the newspaper industry, and how reporters are disappearing due to internet news sites, bloggers, etc. Yet, at the same time, he seemed to realize and acknowledge the power that the citizen reporter provides to the world.

Reporters Disappear as Internet flourishes

In an age when there are thousands and thousands of bloggers hammering away at all hours of the day, I happen to think we may be on the cusp of something that might be called "citizen journalism."

Indeed, it might be that community news could become more community-driven (and less newspaper-owner determined) than in the past. It might be less "professional," but it might be more passionate and far more broadly democratic.

Well done fellow Citizen Journalists, well done ATS!

[edit on 9/5/07 by makeitso]

Cool, but the link wont work from the current PC I'm stuck using (my video rig got zapped by lightning). Since it got zapped I'll be forced to do less exotic PC work, and I've had plenty of pieces that have been getting sidestepped with everything I normally do.

SkepticOverlord the new email submission page doesn't render properly in Firefox all I get is a blank white page.
Can someone like me who isnt the best writer and is or will look to get there first submission distributed waiver the fee in return for getting there piece distributed ?
Or put another way shouldn't payment only be reserved for the best articles ?

Originally posted by xpert11
SkepticOverlord the new email submission page doesn't render properly in Firefox

We had a brief hiccup in the file syncronization between servers... it should be fine now.

These are indeed for the best quality submissions.

Will Podcast and video interviews also be considered or is it only print articles?
Yeh we movin' on up! To the big time , to that deluxe apartment in the sky high.... Congratulations on the continued rise and surprise ATS seems to represent.

I see. Sounds like we might start to see some regular columns in that news letter. I'm hoping that ATS members will brush up on journalistic writing skills and take a shot at this.

I'm still waiting to see if the podcasting problem can be dealt with. It does take time to write a good article and polish it up. If time permits, I may take a stab at this.

I hope this works out well for the Amigos.

Absolutely fantastic idea. I have never thought of writing journalistic type "stuff" but I believe this will drive superb content delivery on ATS.

A question if i may SO. How will the payments be made to overseas participants? Perhaps i will be taxed less if payment is made in marshmallows. I would LOVE to see our parliamentarians scoff down $75 worth of marshmallows LOL.

Now that we're on a fresh page, I'm curious about the character limits and deadlines. Originally the first entry page had something like 6000ish characyters in the main box. That changed without me noticing a reference about it.

It appears that there's a 3000 count limit in the 'Synopsis' box, and then no limit for the main article section. Is this correct?

This is important baause with the 2 I submitted I refrained from going crazy with internal links and references at the end because I was afraid what I was already doing was too long.

Also, what is the deadline due date/time for each week?

The ones I did before were crammed into like 5 hours completion time with very little proofreading because I was under the impression I was maybe already too late for that week each time.

I love you guys, you know that right? I've been working on an OP/ED now for a while, and I think I know why I've held out so long. Talk about inspiring; this is just too much..

*sheds a tear*

Love it.

TheBorg

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
We had a brief hiccup in the file syncronization between servers... it should be fine now.

I'm afraid not I made a submission and I got another white page this time with an error that said something along the lines of last column not found. So I have no idea if my email submission went thou or not.

Originally posted by xpert11
I made a submission and I got another white page

I tested the page earlier, and it worked fine for me.

OK but I still have one unanswered question.
Do I need to resubmit to my article ?
There is no problem if I have to resubmit my article because I typed it in Open Office.

Question - How does this stack up for posters outside the US?

Does the payment (assuming we're good enough to get it) get mailed out, or transferred electronically via a service such as Paypal?

I've been thinking for some time about writing a serious OP/ED piece to kickstart myself into writing a book, and this seems like a good incentive