AC is the best according to me. Triond, bukisa, personalmoneystore.com are few others sites where I used to write.
Beware of places like GAF because there are a lot of scammers there. In fact, I see one on this thread right now. What these people do is they take work from someone for extra cheap, then they advertise the job has a high-paying gig. They will convince you to go outside the site-based payment system and you can guess what happens after that. They will run with your work and use it as their own. In any case, I simply used those articles on a new blog and used that as my portfolio to get good-paying gigs for real. Now to really answer the OP's question from my PoV. Yes, the sites mentioned on this thread will pay you for general articles but if you have a specialization you better seek out blogs/websites in your niche and land a regular writing gig with them. Even the halfway decent ones pay much more per post than the rates mentioned here and they usually don't fuss about where you are from. If you don't have a specialization, choose a profitable subject that you like and get started on that.
Never tried AC as it doesnt make sense for non-us writers, got to demand studio on this thread only so will check that out.. however, I have been a regular writer at Brighthub for more than a year and would say its good enuf. The editors are okay.. and they pay $10 per article through paypal.. however, they have this content qouta system and article topics will be assigned to you for writing... the quota is limited for each month and so you cant just write and submit an article at your will... so dont expect to make huge cash there (unless you write for a channel that has huge content quota and less writers)..but you can make decent money each month if you work a bit hard and try to get more articles
Its best to sell your articles working as a freelancer on DP, NP, sites. Which you can get pay ASAP once the articles are done. But pay is meager as others have stated. Unless you happen to write quality content. That is like almost 100% unique with great information. I want to know, whats the full form of NP?
Demand Studios probably pays the best but it's extremely strict with its submissions. AC is the best total package in my opinion, especially if you bring up your clout level and are being offered the $10-$20 partner calls. Also, there's a method that Chris Calloway from Warrior Forum came up with that DOES allow non US citizens to submit for upfront payments with AC. More info about it is in my sig and yes I promote his product, but only because it's the real deal.
AC is the best. Constant content gets you nowhere. I wrote a lot of stuff for them before I realized they were throwing bulk submissions at clients or buyers, who were cherry picking what they wanted. AC pays claims, pays upfront, gets you links, develops a social network base, gets good feedbac and critique from readers,. praise for good writing, and now AC sends little jobs straight to you from partners. Do it and make money. I did. And performance payments are sweeeeeet.
I agree with textczar...with the $20 partner calls and all of the other things AC offers I think it's the best total package, especially for newbies who are just getting started with online content writing. By outsourcing it, I've been able to average more than $100 a day consistenly with AC. Just make sure you're sending them articles with keywords being used and you'll be in good shape.
AC is also an excellent way to mount a broad range of topics online and demonstrate traffic clicks to prospective clients. I have AC stories with over 6,000 PV's. When a client says what do you have written about "x" topic, i give him those links. Against the body of a level 9 profile of work, i get hired.
I heard a lot about associated content. They pay with paypal which is sure great way to get paid for internet marketers.