Response to offer?

[allpurposeguru]

I have so far published one offer. Using the site guidelines, I priced it at $45 usage and $100 unique. I have since read that those guidelines may be a tad too expensive. Anyway, I just got an offer for $20 for full rights.

1) is that the same as "unique"?
2) even though that's far less than the price I set, to I take the money and run, or counter-offer, or wait for another offer?

I'm on several other content sites, but none quite like this one.

Thanks,
Allpurposeguru

[Lysis]

unique means it's original, but they need to post your byline (if you have one in the article).

full rights means they can do whatever they want to the article.

The price you accept should be what you believe your work is worth.

[jadedragon]

Getting that first sale through is a big milestone and important to achieving success at CC. It might be worth it to take the $20 for the "sold" counter to show you have a sale.

You can edit your prices anytime. Just go to your Content tab and then choose Edit to change the prices up or down. Good luck.

[KinsleyRoyale]

The pricing guidelines they have suggested here are very high compared to what I've found clients want to pay. I have mostly sold in the lower ranges. I've had low offers like you, but you can counter with $5 or $10 more and see how that goes. It worked for me once.

[4rumid]

Kinsley -- If allpurpose checked the Best Offer box and the offer came through the system (as opposed to someone sending an offer through an email), there's no way to counter the offer. You can only accept or reject it. That's something I feel strongly that CC should change, but there it is. (Unless that's been changed recently.)

Jade -- I don't agree that selling a first article is so important that someone should do it at any price. What buyers want to know is that an author has an article that's right for THEM at the time they need it. It's not really relevant whether the author has sold to anyone else before.

Allpurposeguru -- If you can submit a counter-offer, no reason not to. It will still be up to you whether to accept what they might come back with. In this case, I'd say if you thought $100 was a good price for unique or full rights, it's hard to imagine $20 being appropriate. On the other hand, if you're willing to let the article go for $20, you may have priced it too high to begin with.

Even though buyers may feel they have nothing to lose by making a lowball offer, I think offering $20 for a $100 article is a little ridiculous, and accepting an offer like that may send out a bad message for everyone, i.e., that CC authors will take whatever we can get for our writing.

[Antonia]

Hey allpurposeguru,

I took a look at your article. $20 is way too low for a 950 wd article, especially one in such a popular niche. There is no shortage of customers looking for well-written, original weight-loss/nutrition articles. $100 may be a little high for some buyers, but I probably wouldn't go below $50 for unique rights. Is there a reason you don't want to offer full?

If it were me--I'd hang onto this one, and write 10-20 articles more on related topics, with varying wordcounts. Try some 400-600 wd articles priced at $35-50. That way you'll broaden your appeal to customers and increase your chances of that first sale. After building up your portfolio and getting a sense of the best pricing strategies for you, you can come back to this one and adjust the price if necessary.

[jadedragon]

I didn't know what the article length is - just throwing out an opinion that getting the first sale has some extra credibility value. The author needs to decide what an appropriate price is though.

[Lysis]

It took me 30 articles before I made a sale. I don't really attribute the following sales to making that one sale, but rather I had a lot in my portfolio by that time. CC is a lot about having a good portfolio (I've been slacking a lot lately!).

For me, I received some really low bids (like $5) for my articles when I first started. That's why I stopped checking off "Best Offer." I never took them and just held out. I have one article that received 3 or 4 offers before it sold at a price I felt was fair. It sat for a few months.

I don't recommend using "Best Offer" unless you just want to clear out some articles. But, for the offers you'll get, (usually its 5 or 6 bucks), you can throw them up on AC/Suite/Helium whatever and earn rev share for more than what the buyer is offering.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

If it helps allpurposeguru, 2 months ago I sold a piece on avoiding adverse effects when trying a new dietary supplement for $85 full rights, it was 750 words. It was available for about 3 weeks before it sold (right after New Year's to capitalize on everyone making weight loss resolutions).

I would also urge you to wait for the right buyer. If you want you could lower your price a little so buyers aren't seeing $100, but $95 or $89, it's subconscious, but it works.

Also, if you got an offer, even lowball, it means someone likes your writing, so other buyers will too.