Make More with Bukisa

I signed up with Bukisa awhile back. At the time I was just looked for writing sites that will build up my writing resume and adding a few passive income sites was a great way to do just that. However, I recently came across a post on Twitter where a writer has made a couple of thousand dollars in the past couple of months on Bukisa a lot of writer do well with passive income, but this lasy only had 10 published articles! It really got me thinking about how I want to work on passive income and how easy it can be if you pick the right topics.

Her topics weren't articles that were going to be high earners for years and years, but they were topics that people would be searching for now. While she used video game information, you can use any topic you want, as long as it's a hot topic. I have been thinking about this for a few days now and plan to use this strategy to increase my monthly passive income. Bukisa is a site where you can publish any type of article you choose; therefore, I will be writing at least one article per week there for the next few months and hopefully, we will see my income raise from pennies to dollars!

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Passive Sentences Versus Active Sentences

When I decided that it was time to quit my office job and become a full-time freelance writer, I also discovered that I was in serious need of a refresher course in English. I enrolled in college classes, read everything I could get my hands on and reviewed various websites in my quest to re-discover proper grammar. While trying to get various writing styles down, I discovered that many content sites wanted writers to write articles using an "active" voice as opposed to a "passive" voice. (Maybe I'm not the smartest tool in the shed, but I'm sure I'm not the first one who had no idea what this meant. After all, high school, for me, was a million years ago.) This is why it's important for beginning writers to take a step back in time and revisit their high school English course. Back then, sentence structure wasn't the most important thing in the world, what with parties to attend, friends to socialize with and all of the gossip going around.


Simply put, in a sentence constructed with an active voice, the subject acts. Mike swung the bat. This sentence is cuts to the point and the tells the reader what is happening. What did Mike do? He swung the bat, that much is obvious, but when the same sentence is written in a passive voice the author tends to sound unsure of Mike's actions. The bat was swung by Mike. Timid writers will use a passive voice, because to most people constructing a sentence in a passive voice makes them "sound" more intelligent. In fact, the opposite is true. Passive sentences tend to sound awkward and contain words that are unnecessary. When a writer writes in a passive voice, the subject isn't taking action, instead the subject has something done to it or is simply in a state of being. (As is poor Mike when the bat was swung by him.)

Active Sentence:

The cat scratched the boy.

Passive Sentence:

The boy was scratched by the cat.

There are instances when a passive voice should be used, (The robbery was committed at 10 PM. In this case, the subject of the sentence is unknown and a passive voice is necessary.) but in most cases and active voice is preferred. Companies want writers to master this skill. Not only does writing in an active voice make the writer sound more knowledgeable in the subject they are writing about, but it engages the reader and holds their interest longer. Master this skill; you will be glad you did.

Still unsure about your skills? Review what the sites below have to say and try your hand at some of the activities they list.

Choosing between Active and Passive Voice Verbs when Writing

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips

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Review: Stephen King's On Writing

My creative writing class starts next week. It's just one of the many English classes I need to take to obtain my BA in English. The required book for this class is a book written by Stephen King, titled On Writing. While the book covers fiction writing, I have found the book itself very intriguing. (maybe I will start a novel of my own.)

The book begins by Stephen sharing various bits of his life dating back to his childhood. Within each mini-story, you find a tidbit about how that moment helped develop his skills and made him the succesful writier he is today. While the stories are interesting, you will not find a step-by-step guide to writing a novel. (Of course, I don't thik even the best of writers could give a step-by-step account that will tell the average Joe how to write a book.)

Even writers who are interested in the more technical aspects of writing will enjoy this book. There are many basic aspects to the art of writing and Stephen King does his best to explain them in terms that even a bad writer would understand. Needless to say, while the topic of fiction writing won't help most of us who endeavor to succeed in writing non-fiction articles, the book is extremely well-written, will easily hold the aspiring wirters interest and may very well teach you something that you didn't know.

P.S. While I am not a huge Stephen King fan, (in fact, I was disappointed when I picked up the book at the college bookstore) I couldn't put this book down.

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