There's been so much discussion on my LinkedIn groups of how "most Internet publishers pay only $10, or $5 or $3 per article" lately that I had to revisit this topic. Why? Two reasons.

1) There are so many better-paying markets out there. Just in the past week I saw this $50-a-blog ad. That's for everyone who wrote me to say they couldn't survive financially if they signed my petition and pledged not to write for less than $50 an assignment!

Also see Deb Ng's valuable article >40 Freelance Writing Markets Paying $100 Or Much More on her site, FreelanceWritingGigs.com. I'm going to write my own manifesto on good-paying markets soon, but this will help open your mind in the meanwhile. Personally, this fall I'm writing more than 25 online articles at around $1 a word for a major business-information firm, to name just one great-paying online-content gig I'm working on right now. Just don't believe the negativity and hype, and go out and find companies who want to pay you well for your writing expertise. They're out there.

2) Content mills' low-pay model is failing. Market forces are compelling content-aggregators to do more to attract good writers. There are too many writer sites and not enough decent writers to go around. So they're starting to compete with each other and improve their offers to writers. You may know Demand Studios began offering healthcare to its frequent contributors a month ago. Next up: Allvoices, which has launched ProVoices, its content site for professionals that pays up to $250 for articles. They were advertising for writers in the past week.

I think Allvoices realizes that low-quality content is a game of diminishing returns. As companies discover that content somebody researched and wrote in 20 minutes won't help them get or keep clients, they will cease buying $15 articles and seek professionally researched and written material. So Allvoices is smartly getting into the business of providing this higher-grade content. I believe they have seen the future – and it pays better! ProVoices may be a good option for out-of-work reporters looking to make some money and get some exposure while they job-hunt. Certainly, $250 an article is not optimal but it is a huge step up from $15.

3)Mill customers may be going away. Another development to watch this week: Some content customers are getting into creating their own content, cutting the mills out of the loop. AOL apparently plans to start using a Demand-like algorithm to determine what site visitors want to read about and quickly deliver content packages, potentially working with advertisers to create "complementary copy" on key subjects to accompany their ads. While the current pay plan appears to be revenue share (sigh), it says $100 an article for hot topics will be possible, which if real would be a big improvement over typical mill rates.

If AOL gets into this…why wouldn't writers work directly for AOL instead of some relatively no-brand content mill? As it happens, I write for part of AOL – AOL Careers – through a third party. It's one of my lower-paying gigs at around $300 a fully reported story, but I do it because the exposure is MASSIVE! My tagline links to my Web site and it has been a great marketing tool. If this new AOL work is bylined writing, it could be an interesting new bottom-rung opportunity. I've been approached by some AOL sections directly, and pay seems to range from $50 up.

Which content mill will be next to improve its writer pay and perks as they seek to hang onto their clients? Which companies will start their own, better-paying content factories? I can't wait to find out.