Slow month?

[PeggyTee]

Is it just me or is August shaping up to be a slow month for sales? Too much sunshine tempting us all outdoors instead of at our computers tiptapping away?

Pegs.

[Debbi]

I was just thinking the same thing. Hardly any public requests and the Recently Sold Content list has, for the most part, been pretty short. Maybe everyone is on vacation or getting ready for school to start up again?

Debbi

[audrabianca]

yes.

[SallyA]

It's been very slow for me, and I've not actually sold anything since around this time last month. That said, I've not been submitting as much as usual so that may have something to do with it.

[Zabrina]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one. I was getting worried! My last sale was July 27th.

[Celeste Stewart]

It goes in spurts for us all. As for me, no, I can't say it's been slow right now. I will say though that I'm learning to appreciate the slow times. Gives you a chance to breath and re-evaluate - and gear up for the next cycle. Remember that customers and hot topics come and go, so if you're writing for a particular topic or customer, you may be busy until that topic has run its course or that particular customer has filled his immediate needs. Keep writing, keep exploring topics, keep answering public requests and you'll be in a good position to ride the next wave - whatever it may be.

[Blair]

It's been a slow year for me. That's why I started looking around for more work and thought I'd give this place a try. I lost two regular clients to bankruptcy earlier this year, and have another that owes me money and is rumoured to be in difficulty. Other regular and semi-regular clients aren't ordering as much and are paying less when they do.

I'm pretty lucky financially...house is paid for, no car payments, etc...and I have enough income from non-writing work to be okay. It's starting to cut into the beer and tobacco money though, and we've put off getting my wife a new car until the lease money from the farm comes in. Of course that lease is basically third bushel, and the crops aren't looking too good out that way, so there might not be any money there.

Still, considering that when I moved here 25 years ago all I owned was a 10 year old pick-up truck, a couple of Nikons, a used typewriter, and huge and violent dog, things aren't looking too bad. I have two dogs now, for instance.

[Debbi]

Slooooooooooow. No requests, hardly any sales, very few forum posts.......did the whole world go to sleep?

Debbi

[Celeste Stewart]

I'm not seeing it being particularly slow. If you look at the request list, there's like 20 requests or so since the beginning of the month - and those are the ones still open. I'm sure some have come and gone during that time. As for me, I've sold quite a few older articles this month including several high dollar ones. NIce little surprises .

The recently sold board appears fairly busy. Plus, I've seen a few older clients (on CC as well as a couple of outside clients) start getting more active the past couple of months, re-emerging and anxious to try new things. I guess it's all relative, but I don't think the past two months have been particularly slow as a whole on CC. I have noticed that it goes in cycles. My slow time is usually March through May. Why, I have no clue but that's been the trend for me since 2006. The one thing that I've learned over the past few years is this: Enjoy the slower times with the knowledge that the next burst is coming (but keep submitting).

[Debbi]

Maybe it's just slow for me then. I don't think I've found my niche yet. I love to write abou dogs and I see a lot of searches for dogs, but apparently not for what I'm writing about. I wish the searchers would put in more keywords so I knew specifcally what they're looking for. I really want to devote all my time to CC, but I've been forced to spend a lot of time recently writing for lower but surer paying sites to make ends meet. I write those article but don't enjoy them and find myself yearning for my CC fix!

On another topic, do you know what the Expert Authors is based on? Number of articles written on a particular topic or number of articles sold on a particular topic? Just curious.

[Celeste Stewart]

I think the "expertise area" is number sold.

Yeah, it goes backto the old watching the recently sold board. I used to think that parenting articles would be hot items here but haven't really seen that. Business and computer topics have been good for me. I've seen others do well with gardening but that never panned out for me. Of course, I'm the world's suckiest gardener so it must show. Maybe I should write about what to do when you pull weeds and an entire snake's nest comes up in the roots. Answer: freak out! (and then refuse to weed from here on out).

Hang in there. THere might not be any requests that catch your eye today, but tomorrow may bring something perfect. In the meantime, keep an eye on what's hot and see if you can jump on the bandwagon. Online training, social media, and Twitter seem to be hot right now but I haven't completely been tuning in so there may be other topics as well.

[Debbi]

Hey, what a great reason not to weed! I'm not so good with plants either. I even managed to kill a snake plant and that's pretty hard to do. My devil's ivy is growing all over my kitchen, but I think those things are pretty indestructible. Last year I had a good crop of yellow pear and Cherokee purple tomatoes, but they're not doing well this year. Luckily for me, I have neighbors on both sides who have gardens overflowing with everything imaginable.

I'm not giving up. After all, I've been here less than three months and have done ok. I guess I'm just impatient. I want to be rich and famous right now! I have been watching the Recently Sold avidly. It seems like some of the popular articles have been on dating; I can't even rememberr what that is!

Ok, back to work!

[Debbi]

Gah, I just found out my email alerts for public requests was turned off! I must have unclicked that option accidentally when I was in my Edit Account screen. D'oh, no wonder I thought public requests were slow. Hope I didn't miss too many opportunities. Guess I wasn't checking that Requested Content link as much as I used to.

[Celeste Stewart]

Aha! That makes sense. I don't pay that much attention to the public requests but I could tell that they weren't particularly slow this month based on the emails coming in. Oh well, hopefully you made the most of it by having fun indulging in writing about your own personal favorites.