Menu
Listverse.com

Listverse.com review: Stay away from this one 58

I
Author of the review
1:50 pm EST
Review updated:
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

The site looks interesting and they even have an inviting "submit" and "write for us" button at the top of every page where the description offers $100.00 for submitted and accepted top ten lists of over 1, 000 words, with an emphasis on odd or unusual articles, as they say, if we like it, you get the money in your PayPal account! After researching the site and noticing the simple content (they have topic category buttons which only leads to the most recent submissions and don't have a title search, you have to search from Google - listverse top ten xxxxx), I felt my subject matter was cool, unique and well researched, so I decided to give it a try! Well after spending lots of time to compose my lists and submitting several to listverse, I've gotten no reply and no PayPal payment! So before taking the time to write for listverse, send them your subject title so that they can give you heads up, before any giving any effort working for them! Remember, the emphasis is on odd and unusual with a sense of humor. As with the previous comment, I agree that there seems to be no criterion for the listing order but only one's imagination and the possible approval as "likeable" by their editors!

58 comments
Add a comment
B
B
bwilliamsediting
, US
Apr 11, 2022 12:10 pm EDT

I submitted an article/list 1.5 years ago and never heard back. Personally, I wouldn't waste time on a site that can't even bother to acknowledge your submission. When I submitted it back then, they said they would send a response either way (accept or reject). Nothing!

T
T
Toni Smith
, US
Dec 26, 2021 7:59 pm EST

I am not an author…but I have nowhere else to speak my peace…I used to enjoy reading listverse..now they have YouTube for every single article…not everyone wants YouTube…I am an artist and therefore I am very visually oriented…I always had a picture to look at while I reading the article…now all I see is a triangle and part of a picture☹️

R
R
Roll Up The Sleeves
, US
Dec 26, 2019 4:02 pm EST

The fact is you are not working for anyone, you are just submitting your lists to a website that caught you attention thinking i can do that, sounds easy, i've been paid before and i'm a good writer, will do my research on a topic, twist it up a little bit in my own way, make the title catchy and intro, post my referrences and this is a good way for me to earn some money. All i have to do stick to the plan and submit in volumes so if some articles get rejected, some will go through and that's how i'm going to get this money from the comfort of my ow home and i can do it where ever i go in the world.
But then you get anxious, time goes by, you keep writing and submitting your hard researched and written lists, nothing happens and when it does it's an email that your article has been rejected, then another one and another one, but you still keep writing and submitting and at one point you start looking online to find posts like this one to see if anyone ever got paid from this site. And what you discover is very dissapointing to the point that you give up, but you don't stop there you keep looking around to prove your point and then start discouriging others to stop writing as well, because if you failed as being a considered great writer, your grammar is good, you use tools like grammarly or other to assist you, submitted ton of quality, interesting, unique, and hilarious lists but maybe few got accepted and then you start believing that this site was a scam all along, fraud, but every now and then they pay up so that they can keep the site alive and continue doing what they been doing all along and that is ... have ton of people do a hard research ( remember they want you to find and write a list on a topic that's not on the internet "com'on ... think about it...everything is on the internet ... for god's sake, YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET :) ) ... so have a ton of people do research to exsaustion, go around the keywords and then write their 10 ideas to and give this website ON A PLATE, and they go about saying WE READ ALL SUBMISSIONS, and the owner tells you WE ACCEPT ONLY 3 A DAY ... so, with that many submitted daily, and as others are being lured in through different blogs, you tube channel on making money online etc, etc ... LISTVERSE generates quality researched content with references for their own tools later on. Bottom line, few get paid and their work published to keep the good researched authors motivated and to collect for LISTVERSE more researched and unique work...the rest as some of them writers had a research, found uniquness and posted their greatest idea, they fell short because of the grammar...bingo. LISTVERSE takes that great idea, content with the references and put aside for their own authors as they get preselected material with stolen great ideas for their ow benefit. $100 is a lure to still ideas, and all of you are submitting uniqueness on the internet with the references for further review, editing by their own authors that now thanks to you have a lot easier time on topics with ideas on what to write and publish for their own pocket ... just like amazon microworkers, but here quality writers, and not so good writers but with great ideas but poor grammar are suckered in. That's all i got to say ! Sorry for my english and grammar...hopefully you recognize my point on LISTVERSE.

L
L
Luna Moon
, US
Oct 21, 2019 11:19 pm EDT

Listverse published a list of mine about 50 days ago; they have not paid nor replied to my repeated emails asking simply when I can expect to be paid. Will update if I do get paid.

M
M
MikeDScott
, US
Oct 25, 2019 4:34 pm EDT
Replying to comment of Luna Moon

I have wrote several articles for Listverse over the past few years, and they have always paid. Sometimes the payment was quick, and at other times it was fairly slow. I am currently owed for five lists dating back to August 15. This is the longest I've ever gone without receiving payment. I have also attempted to contact Jamie or anyone else at Listverse, but I have yet to receive a reply. They have always been good for payment, but I'm starting to doubt them now. I'll update If I receive payment.

M
M
MikeDScott
, US
Nov 23, 2019 2:59 pm EST
Replying to comment of MikeDScott

One month later, and I have still not received payment from Listverse. If you are planning on writing for them, I would stay away. Seems like they are not sending payments, they post less articles, and Jamie is even writing article himself at this point. Listverse is probably a good site to stay away from if you plan on making money as a writer. Jamie is engaging in fraud at this point by not paying writers, and I don't support any person, company, or website that deals in this way. Good luck to anyone hoping to receive payment!

M
M
MikeDScott
, US
Nov 30, 2019 5:50 pm EST
Replying to comment of Luna Moon

I did receive payment for the 5 articles that were purchased. Payment took much longer than my last payments, but I'm glad to see they are still good for paying.

G
G
Geanie James
, US
Jun 15, 2019 3:10 pm EDT

Wow, lots of unhappy campers chiming in. I know most people don't bother to comment on something like this unless they have an ax to grind, and I believe you all are legitimately ticked. On the other hand, I have to wonder how many writers have had positive experiences with Listverse but aren't commenting. Also I find it hard to believe they would continue to get 150 submissions a day if this were a scam site. Anyway, I've just started writing for LV and so far am pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to work with. Just sayin'.

L
L
Library Lady 2
, US
Nov 23, 2019 9:29 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Well, Let me just eat my words - I am no longer pleasantly surprised by how easy Listverse is to work with.
Hello Jamie,
I've tried to reach you by email but to no avail so thought I'd try this. I just wanted to remind you that I still have not received payment for "Weird and Wacky Libraries" which was published July 20, 2019. No legitimate business takes 4 months to pay their employees and frankly, after reading all the complaints about your site I'm not holding my breath, but I'm not one to give up easily. I work hard on my articles and cannot afford to give them away. I hope to resolve this soon.
Georgina (Geanie) Roake

L
L
Library Lady 2
, US
Nov 30, 2019 3:57 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

So here's an update on my situation. On November 29 Listverse deposited $100.00 in my account For Weird and Wacky Libraries. Thank you Jamie. I only wish I could continue to write for you. I enjoyed creating lists and had lots of other ideas but it just doesn't seem like a good idea anymore. Best of luck with this. I'd love to see Listverse get solvent again and repair their reputation.
and fix their reputation.

J
J
Joe Duncan
, US
Mar 13, 2019 10:13 pm EDT

My name is Joe Duncan and I came here to set the record straight about my experiences writing for Listverse for over two years. Listverse has been a Godsend for my income no matter what I was doing, they've contributed to my life in a great way over the years for articles/lists they've purchased, which have I think totaled over 100 lists now, and they're really a great company to work for. That said, the accusations people are making are, I think, out of frustration in the moment, so I figured that with my long tenure writing freelance for the company, I could give some insight. My Twitter is @JoeMDuncan and below is a link to my Listverse works which have been published thus far:

http://listverse.com/lvauthor/Joe%20Duncan/

1. Listverse have always paid me what they owe. No matter how much. They even paid me $1, 700 in lists when the lists were only accepted 14 days prior, even though Listverse's policy says that they will pay within 30 days, they still paid me two weeks early. This was December of 2018, for reference, in case you're considering writing for them, you'll know how recent this is. There was a point a year or a year and a half back where they got caught up and behind, but it doesn't happen anymore at all, whatsoever. They're on point 100%.

2. Listverse can sometimes be late; hey, it happens, if you write something, they accept it, and say they will pay you, they absolutely, positively, 100% WILL pay you--but they might be a few days or a week over the 30-day mark, which, if they're you're only source of income, I understand can be nerve-racking, but please take it from me, they're not going to stiff you on your cash...and it's extremely rare that they're late. They've got a long history of a couple years of paying me 100% of my money in a reasonable time frame. Basically, the time it will take to get your pay is, in my experience, flexible, but you'll ALWAYS get your pay, so rest assured.

3. If you think about it, they have to sift through and read I'm guessing 300 articles a day on some days, to find tree that they want. It's a lot of work if you do the math, and having to send three payments a day all the while reading all of the submissions AND do the editing, it's a lot of work, and I'd theorize that sometimes lists slip through the cracks, it happens when you publish their volume and deal with that many submissions--I've never had a problem that couldn't be resolved with a simple email to them letting them know what's happening. @Jamie Frater and Colin Jenkens have been extremely good at getting any issues handled promptly.

4. If you've been thinking about writing for Listverse, DEFINITELY give it a try if you have the time to spare. But realize, they receive A LOT of submissions, as do other sites, and you've got to have great, interesting work with high-quality topics to get their attention; writing is a competitive market, but give it your all, I did and have literally made thousands of dollars writing for them here and there when I needed extra money.

5. I understand your frustration if you submitted a list that didn't make the cut, but that's the nature of the freelance writing game--you take a gamble. I've worked for Listverse for a long time as my sole source of income, but I've developed a system for putting out quality material that they like that works for me--just because your work didn't work out, doesn't mean the company's a scam. They've been good to me, but keep your head on straight and be sensible with them and you'll get far. The key is to come up with clever, interesting lists that people want to read, but when you do, the rewards are pretty sweet. They just have standards which is what brings their readers such great content.

Overall, great company, they've been amazing, and I'm extremely happy for having written for them for a couple of years now, and will continue to.

Hope this helps,
Joe Duncan

A
A
Abraham Rod
, US
May 01, 2019 12:51 am EDT
Replying to comment of Joe Duncan

Hi! I've been thinking a lot about writing for them, since at the moment I need some extra cash flow for an online business of mine. However, as you have read among these comments, I'm getting quite discouraged from all the hate Jamie Frater is taking. I'm aware that running a business model like the one Listverse runs is quite hard and can get slow and overwhelming sometimes. I hope this isn't too much to ask but, could you post a proof of payment from them? That would be very helpful to me and I'm sure it would be too for anyone else hesitant to write for Listverse.

Kind regards,
Abraham Rod

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 24, 2018 7:24 pm EDT

Update: Listverse has paid me in full what I'm owed at current. Hopefully in the future, they can get their payments in on time, rather than having payments 32 days overdue. They're a great site to write for with cool content, and I plan to continue to write for them daily. If you're thinking about writing for Listvwrse, be prepared for payments to sometimes be delayed, but they've always paid me every dollar owed...and have interesting material.

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 22, 2018 5:14 pm EDT

I'll give Listverse credit where credit is due; not all lists are worth publishing, and they've denied one of my lists, and were quick in getting back to me about it. That's the nature of the game. I've had dozens and dozens of lists published, so that's not why its a waste of time, they WILL publish quality lists if you write good stuff.

When it comes to payment, that's where I've run into trouble--they are 62 days overdue for one payment, and have a series of other payments that are late, 13 late payments in total, for published articles which were accepted as far back as August 21st, 2018 (currently October 22nd 2018). There are more articles that have been published and that are currently live and collecting ad revenue, but within the 30-day window when payment is promised that also have not been paid on, so at least 17 total unpaid articles, which is $1, 700 they owe me. I have emailed Jamie twice, and received not so much as a word about payment. I'm not holding my breath. It took me a lot of time to write those 17+ articles, time I'll never get back. DO NOT WRITE FOR OR EVEN READ LISTVERSE. This is a fraud, scam company.

Jamie, if you read this, perhaps LV is having financial problems itself, which I wholly understand, but at the very least you could send an email and let me know so I can at least formulate a forecast of what to expect in regards to payment. Otherwise, people are going to just think you're ripping them off, and as of now, you are. If payment isn't received, they'll be hearing from my lawyers.

J
J
JoshGrisenthwaite
, US
Apr 26, 2018 10:06 pm EDT

Submitted 6 ell-researched and extremely varied lists, ranging from extremely popular pop-culture subjects to morbid historical facts, and more than a months later I receive rejections for all of them.

You can click any list on the site and it will have sourcing mistakes (half of them link to random lists on the site instead of relevant sources), spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as just being plain badly written.

In light of this, there is no reason ALL of my submissions should have been rejected in favor of these absolutely inferior pieces. It only confirms what others have said, that Listverse is failing. I'll have an eye out for any permutation of my submissions being re-purposed without compensation, however.

And don't even THINK about KnowledgeNuts, a pet project of Listverse. It's even more bizarre, hosting information that is provably false, badly written and just plain kooky. It's like Jamie Frater's mental breakdown started writing articles.

I also enjoy all the shills who say things like "every single article I've ever written has been accepted" or "I have [x] articles published". Statistically, that is impossible, as the flailings of Mr. Frater make clear.

There's a reason Listverse's founder doesn't use twitter anymore (at least under that name). You can find (alongside his goofy conspiracy and raving pro-Trump tweets) replies about stealing people's articles without compensation. What a tool.

Avoid like the plague and let it die.

M
M
MMcC
, US
Feb 15, 2018 10:13 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I recently had two blogs published by Listverse (one was accepted on January 22 & the other on Feb 3), but haven't received payment for either. Can anyone out there who has been paid by Listverse tell me about how long the process took? The site says it pays within 14 days, so I wrote to inquire about my payment on February 8, 17 days after my first blog was accepted. I've written Listverse four times now but haven't gotten a reply.

J
J
Joe Arimathea
, US
Mar 07, 2018 4:10 pm EST
Replying to comment of MMcC

I have been contributing to Listverse for several years, but no longer. Originally writers saw the $100 payment appear in their Paypal account the same day their article was accepted. In 2018, however, Listverse began sending messages stating your article had been accepted, but payment would arrive 14 days later.
Guess what? The payment never arrives, even after the list is published. Listverse has apparently gone broke, but Jamie Frater, the owner, doesn't want to admit it's dead. Instead, he keeps publishing articles and promising payment that never arrives, all the time hoping business will pick up before all the writers quit his site.
So in conclusion, at one time Listverse was a fun and profitable place to get published, it is now indeed a scam.

S
S
SoTh2
, US
Jan 02, 2018 5:06 pm EST

Listverse went and made a book to sell out of a handful of lists where the submitting authors made little to no money at all. The website hosts lists they never paid for. Authors see nothing while Listverse profits from ads. Authors who were paid still don't see much compared to the website's ad revenue.

M
M
MelissaAmyMills
, US
Dec 19, 2017 1:35 pm EST

I have had 3 out of 5 articles I have written accepted by Listverse, 2 already on their site, one still going through editting. I have not yet received payment however. Its been 2 weeks since the first was accepted, and they do say to expect payment on 14 days so hoping againsy all hope that it's not a scam and that payment will come through.

A
A
Andrew Walne
, US
Nov 14, 2017 4:05 pm EST

Hi Theta,
Could you please post the links to your 6 articles? I would be interested to read them for reference.

A
A
Andrew Walne
, US
Nov 14, 2017 3:59 pm EST

Just dropped listverse an entertaining and readable essay. Ill let you all know what the outcome is... As people have said, some of the content already published makes you question exactly what it is they are looking for... 10 incredible facts about ravens being something I personally couldnt give a [censor] about. Anyway, here's to making a $100... Or not.

J
J
John K3
, US
Oct 06, 2017 11:16 pm EDT

I have submitted a list to the Listverse on august 14, 2017. Since then, I haven’t received any response from them, either rejection or acceptance. I have tried to contact both their submission staff and the founder itself, in this case, Mr. Jamie at least twice. Still no reply whatsoever. Please at least inform me if my list was rejected. It was about Citizen Science, by the way.

T
T
Theta_O'Neal
, US
Sep 27, 2017 7:14 pm EDT

I have written 6 articles for listverse and they have all been published. I followed the rules precisely, do my research and have gotten paid. I'm currently waiting on two payouts for my list. I think it takes a long time to receive payment but overall I've had to no qualms with it. I don't know work for listverse and only recently started writing for the site because it helps to pay for bits of my student loans.

W
W
WhiteOut4599
, US
Aug 09, 2017 3:19 pm EDT

It's a real longshot having a list accepted by Listverse and getting paid! Mr. Frater made it clear, Listverse onlt accepts 3 list per day out of 150+ submitted daily, and their requirements for acceptance are stringent, and it's very difficult to meet those requirements. So most people should not waste their time and effort on such a crapshhoot.
It's just not worth the time and effort to write a list for such a slight chance of making $100!
The main problem I have with Listverse, though, is that I can go to YouTube, and find hundreds of list type of videos, such as from AllTime Top 10 or from Hybrid Librarian, and others, with mostly the same type of subject matter that Listverse itself wants. YouTube also doesn't need to reject videos either. There is no need, in reality, to go to sites like Listverse to find interesting list. just go to YouTube or any other video hosting site.

N
N
nessmd
, US
Apr 03, 2017 5:28 pm EDT

I sent in a list on March 3, 2017. I really researched my topic and felt I had done a great job writing my list. When I submitted it to Listverse, I received an email saying I would hear back from them within 2 weeks. Needless to say, it's been a month and I still haven't heard anything from them. I even went as far as emailing them inquiring about the status of my list and nothing. I also emailed the so called founder, and still no response. This is clearly a fraudulent writing site and not worth waisting your time on.

J
J
Jamie Frater - Listverse
, US
May 04, 2017 4:43 pm EDT
Replying to comment of nessmd

Please reply to this and let me know whether you received a rejection or acceptance. I do not hold back any content so you absolutely must have heard by now. It is unfortunate that people who come to this site to complain about us never return when they discover their fears were unwarranted.

J
J
Jamie Frater - Listverse
, US
May 04, 2017 4:46 pm EDT
Replying to comment of nessmd

Actually I just checked my email and think I have found your emails - it was the list about weight loss methods right? My records show that the list was rejected. We have previously published lists about bizarre diets so this was rejected as a duplicate (as per our author's guide linked on the submissions form, we don't accept lists that are too similar to previously published lists).

C
C
Carlos Behrens
, US
Jun 25, 2017 7:45 pm EDT

Hello mister Jamie, i just sent you an email with some possible subjects. Sorry to use this site to tell you, it's just in case you miss the email. Thank you.

S
S
Serialkillerfanlol
, US
Jan 24, 2017 8:24 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

They are a scam that cheats you out of grocery money. Its stupid how quickly they usually reject articles. I think their editors are lazy.

S
S
Serialkillerfanlol
, US
Jan 24, 2017 4:09 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I recently wrote a list for list verse. It was a 1800-word count article. The topic covered a serial killer. My sources included some websites, none of which would be invalid. I mainly used a paperback biography on hand for accurate dates and names. Its only been 7-8 hours but I received a submission reply from the editors there. Im so anxious and hope to not be rejected. I want to buy a cheeseburger, seriously.

I
I
IwNcTyB
, US
Jan 19, 2017 1:35 pm EST

I'm completely on your side on this. I do believe that site is misleading and has, recently, even turned into a major scammer. I strongly recommend if you're a self-respecting writer or at least value your personal time, do not get involved with Listverse. They have their own circle of alleged 'random' writer who, in fact, are personally involved in the money-making scheme of that website, sort of a staff team.

J
J
Jamie Frater
, US
Oct 21, 2016 8:44 pm EDT

Hi Jorluer - my paypal account is a New Zealand account - the payments you are seeing are all in the same month (August - 08). We use European date settings so you should be reading that as dd/mm/yyyy. The screenshot shows payments between the third and eighth of August this year.

J
J
Jorluer
, US
Oct 07, 2016 9:40 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Mr. Frater, your screenshot shows payments being made. However, the screenshot shows no payments were made between March and August. Can you explain this?

J
J
Jamie Frater
, US
Aug 13, 2016 4:33 pm EDT

I am the owner of Listverse and would like to briefly comment on the above. We receive over 150 submissions every day and from that pool we are only able to accept 3 or 4 (because that is how many articles we publish). We reply to every submission (whether it be a rejection or an acceptance). We absolutely do not use content that is submitted unless we have purchased it from the writer. Our editors do not write for us - they edit only. All content is user-contributed and paid for. I am attaching a screenshot from paypal to show that we do make the payments.

As for the length of lists, we have recently changed our policy and now require content that is between 1, 000 and 1, 500 words (whereas before we were asking for lists >= 1, 500).

We also accept pitches by email (to save you writing a list only to have it rejected for not being a good fit for the site).

90% of the content we reject is written with bad English. The rest is rejected because we can only take a few a day and as I said earlier we get more than 150 submissions daily. Most rejected content written in good English is rejected because it covers topics we don't publish (gaming, self-help, personal opinion, movies, TV) or topics that have been published already in the past.

If you wish to submit a list but prefer to pitch the idea first, feel free to email me directly at jfrater@listverse.com

View 0 more photos
S
S
Serialkillerfanlol
, US
Jan 24, 2017 5:01 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Its ridiculous how long it takes to look over a serial killer piece. Its not even boring and where's the rejection letter cause its obviously not well received. How many people submit a 1800 word article?

J
J
Jamie Frater - Listverse
, US
May 04, 2017 4:41 pm EDT

We receive between 50-150 articles per day. There are very few sites offering $100 for freelance writers with no national or educational requirements. They are all over 1, 800 words because our submissions form won't allow you to submit articles shorter.

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 22, 2018 2:07 pm EDT

I'm still waiting on payment for PUBLISHED articles. $1, 300 overdue that are LATE, and over $2, 000 in PUBLISHED articles total that haven't been paid on. When will I see this money?

K
K
Kim Dum
, US
Jan 03, 2019 10:30 am EST

I will be emailing you a list (no pun intended) of ideas I have for your site. I'm a big fan of Listverse, read it every single day, have a good grasp of how to go about writing for you. The biggest complaints here seem to be from disgruntled people who were rejected once or twice. It comes with the territory. I believe your site is legit and you an honest person. I'm glad you're on here defending yourself, but keep in mind it is falling on the ears off people whose minds are already made up.

A
A
AnieAnie
, US
Jul 09, 2016 8:18 pm EDT

This is awful, but in a way, comforting to read. I recently submitted two articles to listverse, about two weeks apart. The first one I wrote was in regards to one of their most popular themes. I scoured online and in the library, made sure my references were perfect, and also confirmed that the items in my list had never appeared before. And guess what? I was rejected. I received the same bulk email as listed above. Tried again, got the same results. I knew what I wrote was done properly, interesting, and informative. Yet the other day I'm reading a list that states "scientists have no proof that evolution exists". The comments really attacked that one, filling the comments section with jabs about how idiotic the statement was. Long story short, they post garbage day after day. The same topics are repeated time and time again. Some lists are copied from Wikipedia verbatim. After my first rejection, I thought it odd, but didn't give too much thought to it. By the second I knew that something was fishy. Basically I'm convinced this site is a scam. As stated above, I'm pretty sure they just ask for submissions to steal ideas from readers. They certainly don't have a problem plagiarizing. Oh and the real kicker: I'm a professional freelance writer. I have made my career out of writing. Don't fall for their game. Don't waste your time. Writers, keep writing! :)

M
M
MefiX95
, AU
Jun 27, 2016 3:25 am EDT

They are terrible, without a shadow of a doubt. I sent them 4 articles, one of which I have never seen done on any top 10 list before. I took a whole day writing and researching and even amassed over 60 references from scholarly articles. My composition was informative and relevant, yet I got the same copy-pasted response as the person above (and as a lot of people seem to get). I'm obviously vexed, I wasted four days and frankly, it has put me off writing for a while (maybe forever).

Not to mention they are quick to reject you (got my emails within 2 hours) yet when I inquired about the possibility of writing some lists (so I don't waste my time... which I did anyway) I never got a response. Honestly, I would not recommend writing for them as it is just a waste of time, especially when I compared my articles to some of the half-assed drivel they have published over the years.

Save your literary talent for people that actually can recognize it, not the troglodytes at Listverse. Who evidently wouldn't be able to spot quality prose even if it hit them square in the face.

Ok I'm finished ranting, as you were.

S
S
Serialkillerfanlol
, US
Jan 24, 2017 5:11 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more
Replying to comment of MefiX95

I wish I got an answer that fast or payment. Theres not even a list on there about Richard Ramirez and I use a published book for accurate information. I seen the stupidest list ideas get published in one day. Im pretty sure if they actually read it they would learn something.

S
S
SuspiciousMan1
, US
Apr 07, 2016 10:22 am EDT

I wrote a list for Listverse and submitted it. I immediately received an automated reply saying that the articles would be reviewed and that I would receive an email either accepting it or rejecting it within the next two weeks. A day or two later, I received this email rejecting my list:
"Dear [my name],

Unfortunately we are unable to accept your list for publication because it is a subject we feel won't appeal to our readers. We are looking for lists that are remarkable—lists that make you go "wow!" This list is missing that remarkability.

Please don't be discouraged from sending in other lists for consideration. We recommend reading the Listverse Author Guide for some pointers on successful submissions.

http://listverse.com/authors/listverse-author-guide.pdf

You should also note that we recently updated our author's guide with a new submissions format. See section 7-Sources.

Regards,
Listverse Editorial Team"

After this I thought fair enough. It was a list about the built in apps on Mac OS X, it wasn't something that was popular on Listverse and I didn't really link to any sources, so I thought that at least it was nice that they read it and gave me some constructive feedback. I then decided to write another list, but this time one that would be more popular with what Listverse say their readers like. So I submitted another list with facts about relationships. I immediately received the same automated reply after the submission saying that they would review my list.. The next day I saw that I had got another email from them and from the preview on my phone lock screen, I could see that I was rejected but I still decided to read the full email because I hoped that I would get some constructive feedback like last time. However, when I opened the email, I found that it was exactly the same as the rejection email that I got for the previous list that I submitted. This made me a little bit suspicious but I still decided to write a third list. I went to their website and looked at some of their most popular lists to get some inspiration to try and improve my lists. The website claims to have a minimum word count of 1500 words, with 150 words per item in the list. However, if you look at some of Listverse's most popular articles, you can see that most of them fall short of this 1500 minimum word count. I am also suspicious that Listverse may just steal people's submitted lists and publish while the authors think that they have been rejected. I am going to keep a close eye on Listverse in the next few weeks for my list

C
C
ComplainingQueen22
, US
Mar 08, 2016 11:08 am EST

The first list I wrote was turned down so I thought to myself okay so maybe it wasn't that great however after three more very creative, well written and time consuming list- I received an email telling me it still wasn't good enough. Looking around on their site I found some terrible articles that weren't creative/exciting as they claimed they were looking for nor did it appear that they did any hard work at all. Do not fall for this site.

R
R
Romilla K
, US
Feb 10, 2016 8:01 am EST

I feel that the writers could be the editorial staff themselves and ever so often, there might be a legitimate person who got paid. When I click the author bio, it shows a page not found, so my guess is this website is a fraud. I have been a victim of it too and you can really do better finding other spots which pay. The $100 offer is simply a bait to make you do your best essay which they can alter over time to make it their own. Be realistic and it took me a while to figure that out - if you look around and check websites that pay, you can imagine the $100 payment is a trap. No one really pays a $100 unless you are writing freelance for a magazine or newspaper, so there is something truly odd about their payment offer. Do yourself a favor and look somewhere else. Don't waste your time here.

J
J
Jamie Frater - Listverse
, US
May 04, 2017 4:39 pm EDT
Replying to comment of Romilla K

There was a bug with the author pages for a period of time. It is now fixed and you will see that the bios are available.

And we absolutely do pay $100 per list we accept (3 lists per day). If you look further down this page you will see that I posted evidence of payments to allay people's fears.

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 22, 2018 1:08 pm EDT

I'm waiting on $1, 300 in OVERDUE payments from PUBLISHED lists. There are more which haven't quite had their 30-day period yet, totaling over $2, 000. Pay up! Its a good site with good content, but if you don't pay your writers, your content will plummet. I've been writing for you for over a year and would love to continue, but I'm not going to do it for free, especially under the premise that I will get $100 per article.

T
T
Tommy Serigne
, US
Jan 17, 2016 3:35 pm EST

Yeah after several submissions over a long period of time and no answers, I would have to say avoid this website. You can work on an article for hours or days and then send it off and hear nothing back ever. It's just a waste of time you could be using to write or submit elsewhere. If they sent rejection letters that would be a different story but apparently they do not.

I'm actually a bit skeptical. I wonder if they accept articles, wait a while, and then use their staff to steal the material and rewrite the letter for their own uses. I've never met anyone in real life or online that has been paid for an article. I've seen one comment claiming to have been paid and it was very suspect, likely a shill. The more I think about it and look at the evidence, the more this seems likely.

After all, why no rejection letters? Every publication uses them, but the giant listverse does not? Hmm.

S
S
Serialkillerfanlol
, US
Jan 24, 2017 4:58 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I dont understand why it takes so long to reject or accept it. How many people submit 1800 word articles. Its ridiculous that other people received a response much quicker. Its a serial killer piece wtf it's not even boring or poorly written. The website seems like a scam.

J
J
Jamie Frater - Listverse
, US
May 04, 2017 4:37 pm EDT

Hi - I am the owner of Listverse. Because we can only accept three articles a day (and we get sent many more!) I try to hold back the lists with promise that aren't accepted for at least a week to give the writer more of a chance to be accepted. That is why there can be a delay. However, we absolutely respond to every submission.

S
S
SoTh2
, US
Jan 02, 2018 5:09 pm EST

You did not always pay for lists and yet you still host and profit from lists you accepted but never paid for. This is true for so many authors that you should be ashamed of yourself and people know and talk about this fact. FRAUD AND CONTENT THIEF!

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 22, 2018 1:03 pm EDT
Replying to comment of SoTh2

Can confirm this. I have 13 lists which are currently overdue for payment, lists which have been accepted totalling $1, 300 in payments, and even more lists that haven't yet hit the 30-day payment threshold, so I'm owed over $2, 000 in ACCEPTED LISTS. @Jamie needs to pay up, otherwise this site is a total FRAUD. I've written for them for years and they've always paid up, the past few months, July until current, October of 2018, I have not been paid for my accepted and published lists. DO NOT WRITE FOR THIS COMPANY. If paid, I will gladly update this and confirm that I have, in fact, been paid, but until then, stay away from Listverse and don't waste your time.

T
T
thedoors27
, US
Oct 24, 2018 10:45 pm EDT

I am in the exact same boat and I don't understand why the payments have stopped. I have over 10 lists that are overdue. Some dating back to March! I also will be happy to stand corrected and speak kindly of this site if payment comes in...if not, I'll go another route to expose him as a fraud including those that work for him; Patrick Weidinger (Moderator who lives in Pennsylvania), Judy Richardson (Senior Moderator - Canadian), Anthony Sfarra (Editor - American), Colin Jenkins (Junior Editor, colin@listverse.com ). I am currently searching how to legally report frauds/scams. This is robbery! Here is a link to report scams in New Zealand, where they're out of:

http://www.theorb.org.nz/

http://www.police.govt.nz/advice/email-and-internet-safety/internet-scams-spam-and-fraud

There will be more to come!

B
B
BeingAndNothingness
, US
Oct 25, 2018 12:38 pm EDT
Replying to comment of thedoors27

Update: Listverse HAS PAID ME IN FULL. They sent the payments through in lump sum. I stand corrected.

L
L
Library Lady 2
, US
Oct 29, 2019 8:30 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more
Replying to comment of SoTh2

Sadly, I have to agree. I sent in three lists which were accepted and published. On the first it took almost two months each time, but I was eventually paid. The last one was published over 5 months ago, but no payment and no response to inquiries. It's too bad because it's an interesting site, but if Listverse can't pay people for their contributions they are committing fraud and the site should be taken down.

S
S
Shaneka Knight
, US
Nov 14, 2020 7:53 am EST

Have you been paid?

R
R
RonnY McCreA
, US
Sep 22, 2015 9:50 pm EDT

I send a list regarding supercomputers. I received no reply from your side.Please let me know whether you have accepted or rejected my list.
My email is rhlbhgt8@gmail.com

View 0 more photos
M
M
Magdela
, MY
Jan 18, 2013 11:50 pm EST

True, I spend time searching for information and try as hard to complete the list. Nothing happened, which is really a major bummer.

J
J
Joe Arimathea
, US
Mar 07, 2018 4:14 pm EST
Replying to comment of Magdela

I have been contributing to Listverse for several years, but no longer. Originally writers saw the $100 payment appear in their Paypal account the same day their article was accepted. In 2018, however, Listverse began sending messages stating your article had been accepted, but payment would arrive 14 days later.
Guess what? The payment never arrives, even after the list is published. Listverse has apparently gone broke, but Jamie Frater, the owner, doesn't want to admit it's dead. Instead, he keeps publishing articles and promising payment that never arrives, all the time hoping business will pick up before all the writers quit his site. By the way, like most deadbeats Frater ignores all emails inquiring about missing payments.
So in conclusion, at one time Listverse was a fun and profitable place to get published, it is now indeed a scam. I've poked around the internet and found more recent posts from other Listverse contributors who are having then same problem.