Constant Content

I am a relatively new author on Constant Content. I've had one article on the site for a while, but have been a bit reticent to post more.

I write consistently for Associated Content and Helium and have recently begun to post to the Helium Marketplace. I made two sales on the Marketplace recently.

I am thinking of becoming much more active on Constant Content. I would be interested in hearing any advice from seasoned users on how to increase sales.

Thanks,

Jennifer

Well for starters, one article isn't going to yield a success on any website. To be honest, the transition from those two websites to the type of writing that sells here can be bit difficult. The audiences and money producing activities are different. Buyers here are looking for magazine quality, or premium web content mainly. Also, you want to make sure you include in your pricing the expectation that you will only receive 65% of the total sale.

The best way to make it on Constant Content is to begin writing quality articles as a response to public requests. I try to do a one-for-one ratio; for every public request I write for, I try to write another article on spec of my own choosing. So far, this has allowed to me to sell about 70% of the articles I submit.

Also, clarity and construction count here. I'm not saying the other websites are bad because they don't focus on this requirement, but it does seem the vast majority of content there is written stream of consciousness, without much thought to how a piece flows. There is most certainly an audience for that type of writing, as the success of those sites show. However, Constant-Content seems to be advertised in a more tailored manner to a different audience. One that is looking for writing with clear sections such as an introduction, body, and closing. After rejections for proofreading errors, clarity and conciseness is another big reason for rejection that is baffling for some new authors.

Finally, the nice thing about Constant-Content is it doesn't require a bunch of personal advertising from writers, nor does it allow it. You can't put links into articles, or put in an author's biography at the end of articles. The content is meant to speak for itself, which is why we post a preview of the article to buyers. While you run into a little competition from other authors for public requests, it is extremely common for other well-written pieces to be picked up by other buyers. You can often find a "Way to go!" or "Congrats on the sale." on the forums from other authors when they see a piece sell and know who wrote it.

I hope that helps, and welcome to Constant-Content. One thing you will notice here is the authors are very keen to keep everything friendly, and we do our very best to help new authors find their way.

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth West

Hi Jennifer and Welcome!

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to submit more articles to CC if I were you. I've been here almost a year and have found it to be a great site to write for. Keep an eye on the Public Requests and also the Recently Sold Content. This will give you an idea what topics are hot. Also - it never hurts to read some of the other author's work on the site to see what they are doing. Most of all, write about the topics you enjoy.

You should try placing a few articles here to give it a chance. Having only one here doesn't give you a good enough chance to sell. Try a few more in different topic areas and see how it goes. Right now it seems shorter, less expensive articles are moving fast - but larger, more expensive ones are always good if the topic is hot.

Good luck,
Deanna

Hello, Elizabeth and Deanna.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at the public requests to see if there were any I could fill. I will seriously look into writing some of those articles. I'll take your suggestion of writing an additional article for each public request.

Anyway, I never intended to stop at only one article. I got derailed after that article because I was concerned about a couple of things. First, I wasn't certain about how quickly articles sold on Constant Content. On Associated Content they sell cheap, but they sell fast. Also I had heard that you can get suspended if you get too many rejections. I'm meticulous about grammar, spelling and punctuation, yet I can't guarantee that I won't occasionally make mistakes. I also want to be sure that I won't be rejected and suspended for other reasons. I suppose I'll just have to be equally meticulous about my proofreading and try to keep my writing style very clean and focused.

Actually, I do produce a lot of clean, magazine-quality writing on Associated Content and on Helium (although I occasionally do indulge myself in a stream-of-consciousness or opinion piece). I understand that the quality of writing is not enforced on either one of those sites sufficiently. However, that doesn't mean that I am producing content which is comparable to the majority of content which is on the site. The quality of content on Helium is very poor overall, except on the Marketplace. Unfortunately, even on Associated Content many writers can submit for no up-front pay without review. This means that a lot of poor quality writing gets on the site, and becomes mixed in with the higher quality material which was paid for.

Thanks again for all your excellent suggestions.

Jennifer

Jennifer,

The advice Elizabeth and Deanna gave you is good. Here's something else:

If you have articles on AC that you submitted for "non-exclusive" you can repost those for sale here (priced as you think appropriate). You just have to put usage rights only (put a "0" in the fields for unique and full rights, and be sure your pen name is the same here and at AC). I just thought that might be helpful information to you as you've only submitted one article so far. If you do this, don't submit 12 or 15 articles all at once, but maybe upload 3-4 to the site a day.

Welcome to CC!

Lauren

Jen-

I wasn't trying to insult you or say your writing was low quality. Your first post didn't give much information to go on. In general, the main adjustment writers become frustrated with here on Constant-Content versus the other sites is the editorial aspect. A daily read in the questions about rejections doesn't make me envy Ed's job in the least! (Sorry Ed.)

As far as the speed to which articles sell here, it is slower than AC. Public requests are typically purchased within 3 or 4 days of submittal, but some customers wait a week or two to give more authors a "bite at the apple." On the other hand, I've had an article sit and sell after 45 days (I wrote it on spec, not for a specific request) and another I wrote on spec snatched up within an hour of going live. It just depends.

I like that I can count on C-C to pay me every month, once I pass $50, and that is a steady stream of income so far for me for 3 months. I also have outside clients that I write for and I invoice them through Paypal. Unfortunately, their projects and pricing don't work too well for C-C or I'd transfer them here, but just the few times I've had to hound a bit for payment makes me definitely appreciate the system here even more.

Good luck, and I hope you are successful in all of your writing!

Thanks again for all the helpful information.

I'm actually thinking of doing some rewrites of articles I've written for other sites. Most of the articles I wrote for Helium Marketplace didn't sell. I think the publishers were flakes. Anybody have any experience with rewriting articles for publication here? Anyway, it seems to me that there isn't that much of a demand for the usage license. Most people seem to be selling full rights.

Jennifer

If you rewrite articles, be extremely careful that the article becomes a completely different article if you plan to ask unique or full rights for it. If the article is just enough of a rewrite to make necessary improvements, you may still ask only usage rights for the article. However, if you take a different approach and include different information, you can get by with asking unique or full rights. If any part of the article is taken directly from the previously written article, however, you'll be requested to ask usage rights only. Just make sure not to "plagiarize" yourself.

Thanks,
Ed

Ed,

Thank you. That's exactly what I was thinking. I'll need to take a completely fresh and new approach to the article in order to avoid self-plaigiarism.

Jennifer