From the Georgia boonies

[Sharion]

Howdy from the Georgia boonies! Total newbie, signed up yesterday. Someone was writing about this on a blog and I ended up checking out several similar sites. Was actually going to sign up at several and see who flew the highest for me but after reading the TOS at the other places, decided not to. So hoping to settle in here for a good long relationship.

Some of those other TOS's were scary! Such as if you decided to leave they could still keep using your work and not pay you. (Did I really read that right?) Because I do use my own articles on my own websites and I don't want to sell all rights, and this place seemed the friendliest for usage sales only.

Some of the other places had weird payouts, too. One reminded me of Squidoo, where you got paid for Google Adsense rather than your actual work. For that, I can post it to my own websites and not share!

So here I am, hoping to embrace you all in a happy place!

Hello Ed. I've seen you all around the forums. You must be The Big Official

Sharion

[Celeste Stewart]

Welcome to the site! I hope you don't limit yourself strictly to usage articles though. They have their place here, but there's also a lot to be said for selling for full rights.

[Sharion]

My primary goal is to create residual income. While I might consider a specific assignment from time to time that someone was requesting, I'm looking more to create a bank of articles somewhere that can keep selling. That's what drew me here. Particularly here.

Oh Celeste, you are a genius! I just deleted the rest of the response because it would make a good article! Thank you for the inspiration! I'm very excited and need to go get it down while it's hot!

Thank you!

[Celeste Stewart]

You're welcome, but I'm not sure what I said that was so brilliant. I'll take it though

You're getting the site when you realize that a forum post could possibly be marketable. When I first started here, it seemed as if everything I did eventually became an article. I look forward to hearing of your successes next.

PS, I lived in Beaufort, SC for a while as a teen. Had some interesting and unforgettable experiences there. I need to go back.

[Sharion]

I've got a whole book written dedicated to the humor of a Yankee living in the Georgia boonies. But sadly, you guys don't do stories. If you aren't in SC anymore, I hope you didn't move to a cold, snowy place!

Geez, everything I try to put here gives me an idea for an article, another TWO paragraphs get deleted! Celeste, I think you are my muse, LOL!

Kinda leery about uploading too many before the first two get Ed's stamp of approval, though. I know I messed up a biggie on the first upload. I had it set to Arial 12 but that was too small for the old eyeballs and upped it to 14 for me, and forgot to put it back before uploading. (grimace) A boo boo right off the bat!

[Antonia]

Heh--I love those days when everything heard/thought/observed turns into an article!

I agree that full rights sell better than usage. I have a few articles that have sold multiple times for usage, but I don't count on them for continuing income...it's just a bonus. It's not like you can write an article, ask $10 for usage, and have it sell every couple of days...at least, that doesn't happen to mine! However, everyone has a different strategy and you might hit on an approach that works really well for you with selling usage. Good luck, and let us know when your first articles get approved!

[Sharion]

I'd be doing myself a great disservice to sell full rights for several categories. Dogs for example. I've got volumes of stuff written about dogs and several articles already on the internet, and they are being turned into a book that I plan to self publish. Were I to sell full rights, my goal of the book would be undermined as would another, companion business. I haven't decided whether to share any of the articles that will go into the book but if I do, definitely usage rights. I already know that folks find them useful from feedback where they currently live.

For me, every article is a link in a bigger chain. Share a link? Sure! Break the chain? Not so good.

[eek]

Welcome, Sharion!
I admire you spirit. I have a few unsold "babies" that I feel possessive over, and even though I don't have plans for a self-published book, I get your thinking. Hope that works out for you.

My hubby's from SC too, but loves, loves, loves Georgia, and if he had his druthers, we would some day retire to the booniest, loneliest cabin in a pine forest.

Hope you see an acceptance soon!
Emma

[4rumid]

I know I messed up a biggie on the first upload. I had it set to Arial 12 but that was too small for the old eyeballs and upped it to 14 for me, and forgot to put it back before uploading. (grimace) A boo boo right off the bat!

If you're working in Word or a similar application, instead of increasing the point size, you might want to increase the size at which you view the document, e.g., to 110%. That way, you can see what you're doing and not have to worry about switching anything back.

[Sharion]

That's a good idea!

I actually caught it before it got to Ed, and reuploaded it. I'm pretty certain I didn't lose my place in the queue either, as the submission date remained the same. Still got rejected but for minor, easily fixed things.

Of course after reading around the forums, I get the impression that if something simple trips a rejection such as font, POV, etc., that doesn't mean there aren't other issues. The review stops if I understood correctly, and it goes to rejection.

Fingers crossed on the next one.... X

Hoping it flies so that I know that my word processor can output an rtf file that passes muster. Poor Ed on number two... it's got words that will absolutely trip a spell checker but they are spelled as they should be. Hopefully he'll recognize them and they won't cause him grief.